Dallas Mayor Says He’s More Fearful Of Armed White Men Than Syrian Refugees
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2015/11/23/3725109/dallas-mayor-syrian-refugees-white-supremacists/
The mayor of Dallas is pushing back against politicians who say Americans should be skeptical ofSyrian refugees, saying he is “more fearful” of armed white men than people fleeing civil war in the Middle East.
Speaking to MSNBC on Saturday morning, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings was asked to discuss the growing anxiety over Syrian refugees entering the United States, purportedly over concerns they could be potential agents for militant groups such as ISIS. Rawlings staunchly rejected the assertion that Syrians are somehow uniquely prone to violence, saying he is more concerned with the rise of white supremacy and the recent flurry of mass shootings committed by white men.
“I am more fearful of large gatherings of white men that come into schools, theaters and shoot people up, but we don’t isolate young white men on this issue,” Rawlings said.
He also said that vilifying refugees only helps ISIS, as doing so falls into their “trap.” He then pushed back on the notion that ISIS is somehow representative of Islam.
“ISIS is no more Islamic than Nazi senior staff was Christian,” he said. He also subtly challengedChristian governors and other followers of Christ who have rejected refugees, referencing Jesus’ scriptural call to “welcome the stranger” in Matthew 25:41-43, asking, “Christ following people like myself — how do we deal with this issue of strangers, and are we going to let them in?”
Rawlings’ position is in line with current statistics on domestic terrorism, which show that right-wing terrorists have killed more people than “homegrown jihadists” since September 11, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. This includes this summer’s tragic church shooting in Charleston, South Carolina, when avowed white supremacist Dylann Roof murdered 9 African American worshippers in cold blood after sitting with them in a group Bible study for an hour. Another Christian white supremacist, Larry McQuilliams, attempted to burn down the Mexican consulate in Austin, Texas last year, firing more than 100 rounds in the downtown area before being shot dead by a police officer while trying to enter a police station. More recently, the FBIsuccessfully thwarted a white supremacist plan to bomb and shoot up black churches and synagogues, and groups of armed, primarily white men continue to protest regularly outside of mosques in places such as Texas: Over the weekend, a group of armed men protested outside a Muslim house of worship in Irving, Texas.
