Just in time for Christmas, Americans are playing Scrooge.
Syrians seeking refuge from their war-torn country are not welcome on U.S. soil say some U.S. leaders, including Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback.
The xenophobia comes from the contrived link between the terrorist attacks in Paris and the hundreds of thousands of Syrians fleeing for their lives from the civil war that is tearing their country asunder.
The refugees — moms and dads and their infant children, grandparents — were not the perpetrators in Paris. Yet U.S. leaders, especially Republicans, are shamelessly trying to make such a case.
In fact, the United States should be hanging its head at how little it has done to address the refugee crisis. As of September, we’ve accepted a total 1,854 in the three years Syrians have been seeking safer shores. Germany, on the other hand, has taken in nearly 93,000.
As a country our very foundation is based on being a safe harbor for the oppressed. Instead, we’re letting the unfounded fear of a terrorist going undetected among the teeming masses to overwhelm our better nature.
Such fear-mongering, meanwhile, is playing right into the hands of the extremists who would like nothing better than for the Western world to paint every Muslim as a terrorist.
A sure way for ISIS to attract recruits is by convincing the susceptible they are being persecuted for their faith.
More open minds, and hearts, must prevail.
— Susan Lynn
ISIS is loving U.S. reaction to refugees
