BURSTPeople don’t always make the best decisions when they feel stressed, threatened and afraid.
The same is true of countries.
During World War II, the Constitution’s protections were denied to Japanese Americans who were removed from their homes and denied their freedom based solely on their ethnicity.
Decades later, Americans made some big mistakes after the 9/11 attacks.
That’s one reason I am worried about the effect here at home of President Trump's decision to enter the war between Israel and Iran.
Like many people, I am concerned about the potential for Americans to become casualties of military escalation or terrorist retaliation. The FBI has reportedly stepped up surveillance of suspected “sleeper cells” in the U.S. that are backed by Iran — a sensible move to address what seems to be a legitimate threat.
But at a time when the government’s surveillance capabilities have never been greater, we should be on our collective guard so that we do not sacrifice civil rights and liberties as we did with the Patriot Act after 9/11.
I’m concerned that wartime rhetoric and the potential for American casualties could result in a surge in racial or religious profiling by law enforcement and vigilante violence by white nationalists or other far-right extremists against people in this country who are, or are perceived to be, Muslim or of Middle Eastern origin.
Many people may remember the tragic case of Balbir Singh Sodhi, an Indian American Sikh businessman who, in 2001, was wrongly identified as an Arab Muslim and murdered by a random man who wanted to “go out and shoot some towel-heads” in response to the 9/11 attacks.
That wasn’t the only such incident of vigilante violence. The FBI reported a huge increase in anti-Muslim hate crimes in 2001. Civil rights groups documented hundreds of anti-Sikh and anti-Muslim incidents in the months and years following the attacks, as well as profiling and harassment.
Today, many communities are already on edge because of the brutal implementation of the Trump administration’s mass deportation policy. Trump and his advisers falsely claim that we have been “invaded.” Trump is claiming and abusing powers that are meant to be used only during wartime. He is also using dehumanizing rhetoric about immigrants, decreeing that people who disagree with his policies “hate” America.
This administration has even resorted to brazen wartime propaganda techniques, like an old-school Uncle Sam poster urging people to turn in their undocumented neighbors, who it describes as “foreign invaders.”
And consider the naked bigotry we’ve seen from some right-wing commentators in response to the victory of state assemblyman Zohran Mamdani in New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary. Mamdani is a Muslim American whose family immigrated to the U.S. when he was a child.
MAGA-supporting pastor Greg Locke responded to Mamdani’s primary victory by ranting, “The demonic sounds of Islamic prayer calls will soon be heard throughout the streets. ... Jews and Christians will be hated.”
The recent assassinations and attempted assassinations in Minnesota — like acts of political violence targeting Jews, Muslims, Latinos and Black people in recent years — should remind us that dehumanizing rhetoric can be deadly dangerous.
Americans have strongly differing opinions on questions of Middle East policy and U.S. military involvement overseas. Those differences cross partisan lines and political orientations.
Whether or not we have strong opinions about these foreign policy questions, wherever we stand on the administration’s recent actions, the vast majority of Americans should be able to find common ground on the principle that in this country no one should face discrimination, harassment, intimidation or violence based on their religion or ethnicity.
Let’s not repeat the mistakes of the past. Let’s reject and resist politicians and pundits who tell us we must abandon the Constitution and the rule of law because we are at war against enemies abroad or against our neighbors and fellow Americans.
If those principles do not protect all of us, none of us is safe.
Svante Myrick is president of People For the American Way.