My Choice For Oppression

An exerpt from an article written by:

Sharon Davis

Professor, Ohio State University and author of

"Rising Road: A True Tale

of Love, Race and Religion

in America"

…..A radical religious group, lurking inside the country, owing loyalty to a foreign power, threatens America.  No one denies that its members have a right to worship as they please, but good Americans, patriots, feel compelled to call for curbs against the menace they present.  Because of the number of Americans sharing these fears, calls for restrictions on the religion are voiced openly and unapologetically, even proudly……The holders of such beliefs (are) not just some fringe crazies safely outnumbered by clear-eyed religiously tolerant neighbors.  To the contrary, widely popular (opposition) literature spilled from newsstands across the country like Sen. Tom Watson's Jeffersonian out of Atlanta and The Menace of Aurora, MO., whose subscriptions dwarfed those of the largest newspapers in New York City and Chicago combined.  Elections (are being) won on promises to oust (this threat).  Only true Americans should hold such positions, (goes) the warning, not (this threat) who *are) loyal first to their religious leaders (in foreign countries)….

The article goes on to describe with blistering details the various Federal and State attempts to circumvent the Constitution to counter this alleged threat.  The article also details the many acts of violence and death meted out to these people by these same "true Americans."  It is written by a noted professor but it is not about Muslims in contemporary America.   It is about Roman Catholic Americans in the 1920s.   Numerous laws on warrantless searches of Monasteries, nunneries and churches were written by several States.  Various murders of Catholic clerics and Congregationalist are drawn from various newspaper accounts.  Jews, Catholics and virtually all foreign émigrés were added to the hate roster of the burgeoning Ku Klux Klan.   In much the same manner as the forced incarceration of thousands US born Asian-American in the US, grand an elaborate apologies for our ignorance and shortcomings have been numerous but let's not forget we are not talking about ancient history here.  We are talking about several decades ago.  Will we continue down a similar road of ignorant blind hate towards our Muslim neighbors and then "make it all better" twenty or thirty years from now with some erudite apologetic blather about different times and different people?  Probably!  Then I am sure we will find someone else to hate since the American psyche does not seem to be able to function very well without someone to despise.  Whose next? Latinos – nah, they are already pretty much on the scope as targets already.  Maybe we will fall back on Eastern Europeans – they were always fun to tease.  Blacks? Probably not – hell they fight back and that is no fun.  I vote for those sneaky Canadians. Nobody can be that nice without some ulterior motive.  We need to start watching all of those Canucks now before it is too late.  Never trust anyone from Saskatchewan.  No way!!!  Yep, they are my choice and besides, we could actually drive to the war front when we invade those insidious folks from Montreal.