To the Editor:
Re “Trump Wants to Block Entry of All Muslims” (front page, Dec. 8):
Donald Trump’s call to bar all Muslims from entering the United States is just the latest in a litany of scapegoating, dehumanizing and demonizing rhetoric in the presidential campaign. The list of groups singled out by candidates includes Muslims, refugees, immigrants, Latinos, African-Americans and gays.
While Mr. Trump and other candidates may have the safety and security of America in mind when they call for closing the borders, in reality their dangerous rhetoric is contributing to a climate in which hate-fueled violence is becoming all too commonplace.
The Planned Parenthood attack in Colorado Springs, the shooting of a Muslim immigrant taxi driver in Pittsburgh, and the shootings of five activists at a Black Lives Matter protest in Minneapolis did not happen in a vacuum. Every day, there are more reports of hate crimes and bias attacks against American Muslims. This is unacceptable.
To be clear, no single statement from the candidates is responsible for these incidents. But words have consequences, and the ugly rhetoric creates a climate in which hatred, bigotry and ultimately violence can result. It is time for the candidates to dial down their rhetoric before it leads America down a more dangerous path.
JONATHAN A. GREENBLATT
Chief Executive
Anti-Defamation League
New York
Note from KBJ: Nobody has a right (legal, moral, or constitutional) to emigrate to the United States. Nobody. We can admit anyone we want and refuse entry to anyone we want, for any reason we want. As for "ugly rhetoric" being responsible for violence, why does the letter writer not mention Barack Obama's incessant anti-American rhetoric? In Obama's view, the United States is responsible for all or most of the world's ills, from poverty to pollution to the extinction of species to civil war to resource depletion to wealth inequality. How is that not inciting violence by Muslims (and others) toward Americans? Sometimes I think the Left is incapable of applying a single standard. It's one standard for me and mine and another for those with whom I disagree.
