The image of an imperious Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, speaks volumes as he calls for a ban on Muslims entering the U.S.
The comments flood the globe, the latest expression of American fear, hatred and stunning ignorance, for it is based on an illusion of American innocence. Many, many Muslims have been in America for centuries; they’ve been invisible largely because they already were stigmatized, for they were Black.
Africans captured from sites on the West Coast in places like Senegal, they brought these beliefs with them.
So, it’s a little late for a ban.
Moreover, this call actually has little to do with Muslim immigrants and everything to do with Muslims born here, especially to white Americans who are anxious over their falling share of the American demographic — and the precipitous growth in brown America.
By imagining themselves as Christians, instead of WHAT THEY REALLY ARE – white nationalists – they position themselves as enemies of Islam — and the billion inhabitants of Muslim states in Asia, Africa and Mid-East.
Nor is it coincidence that this is a Republican endeavor, for the party has been racing toward its white self for over half a century, perhaps put best by sociologist Andrew Hacker, who, in his 1992 work Two Nations: Black and White, wrote:
One of the two major parties - the Republicans - has all but publicly stated that it is willing to have itself regarded as a White party, prepared to represent white Americans and defend their interests. Of course, Republican administrations make sure that they appoint a few Black officials, either vocal conservatives or taciturn moderates willing to remain in the background. (And they are especially adroit in finding apt candidates for the Supreme Court and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Of Staff.) An unwritten plank in the Party’s strategy is that it can win the offices it wants without Black votes. More than that, by sending a message that it neither wants nor needs ballots cast by Blacks, it feels it can attract even more votes from a much larger pool of white American who want a party willing to represent their racial identity.[The words of Andrew Hacker.]Now, some 7 to 8 million Muslim voters needn’t worry, their votes are no longer needed nor wanted by the Republican Party.
