Donald Trump takes racism to a new level

By Ismail Veli……

Like most people, the recent remarks that Muslims should be banned from entering the USA by the potential winner for the Republican nomination Donald Trump to run for the American Presidency filled me with outrage. It’s becoming crystal clear that the increase of the terrorist atrocities committed by Daesh, otherwise known as ”The so called Islamic State”, has brought out the racists tucked between the cobwebs.

Being an Atheist myself I rarely, if ever, get into these kinds of religious debates. In fact many people’s views are simply based on preconceived prejudices and claims of belonging to one or another religion of superior moral and compassionate teachings. I argue against such stupidity as like many people who I have met  from all walks of life, there are good and evil in every religion and ethnic group in this world. Many for example hate the Americans and yet people like Martin Luther King, the 1960’s civil rights leader, and Muhammad Ali, the ex heavyweight champion of the world, a Muslim, are revered and admired to the point of becoming legends. Despite the caste system in India with its immense variety of religions nearly every Indian, hero worshiped Mahatma Gandhi as a symbol of what it meant to be a human rights activist.

These were of course exceptional individuals who have captured our hearts and made a mark in history that few can emulate. But what of the ordinary Joe Blogs who allow themselves to be manipulated to the point where I have even read many of my own Facebook friends (whom I believed to be decent ordinary individuals) write comments like ”Muslim’s are scum”. ”Islam is a barbaric religion”. Many even write that ”Countries that belong to the Muslim faith have so little moral values that they cannot be human”. Some have even gone as far as to post photos of The Blessed Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus to show what a compassionate religion Christian followers belong to, while followers of Islam are barbarians. Even citing examples in history of Muslim atrocities in order to highlight the virtues of Christian countries. My argument is that there is not a single country or argument in the world that has not had its share of murdering scums, atrocities committed in the name of ethnic or religious superiority. To claim such superiority is not only delusional but dangerous.

We all know the atrocities committed by thugs and regimes today in the name of religion, ideology, democratic or so called ”moral values, and principles of righteousness”.

So what about the recent outburst by someone who is vying for the position of becoming a President in the most powerful military and economic power in the world. Some have even claimed that he is simply being ”honest”. Thank God for his honesty, now the American people may  realize what a bigot and racist man is attempting to lead them.

But what of the ordinary bigots and racists coming out of the cobwebs. It may be time to remind them that some of the worst atrocities committed in recent history are by none other than European powers. They may not have claimed to do it in the name of religion but the claim by the Nazi’s that the Jews were of a heinous breed of people belonging to a lowdown religion that had to be wiped out while murdering 5.5 million in the process, and millions of Slavs, Gypsies etc were targeted because of their perceived inferior ethnic or class status are well recorded. What about the estimated 500.000 people murdered by their own Catholic compatriots in the Spanish civil war in the 1930’s. The 150.-200.000 people butchered by their own people in the 1946-1949 Greek civil war in the name of ideology, while most of the participants belonged to a faithful Orthodox faith. The Russian loss of lives running into millions from the start to the middle of the 20th century beggars belief (some estimates put this as high as 30-40 million people). Who does not know the loss of over 50 million lives in WWII of whom the large majority of deaths were committed by the Christian West in a rivalry for supremacy that is almost impossible to comprehend by what we consider to be ‘Western values of democracy and human rights’. Not to mention at least 10 million deaths in WWI. Only recently we all witnessed atrocities that claimed no less than a quarter of a million lives in the heart of Europe, namely the Balkans. Many used this as war to rally support depending on which religion they belonged to.

Of course because of the Armenian massacres by Turkey in WWI every one ensures we are reminded of this every day of the week. The Algerian massacres by the French amounting to one million in the 1950’s hardly get mentioned. The millions of Indians starved to death in India 1876–78 (5.5 million in Madras and Bombay) and 5 million in 1896–97 Madras, Bombay Deccan, Bengal, United Provinces, Central Provinces mostly due to neglect by the Colonial power that was, is virtually unknown. The million or so Irish who died as a result of the famine while the ruling power simply ignored it because the Irish were considered to be ”A stubborn backward group of people” is also well known. The decimation of the indigenous Red Indians in the Americas is at least well known. in fact while we often say ”Americans’ committed the atrocities”, its well known that first and second generations of immigrants from Germany, England, Ireland, Scotland, Sweden, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Poles and many other Europeans were among these immigrants who decimated the proud people of north and south America, not Muslims, but people who claimed to be bringing ”European and Christian values to the New World”.

Can we imagine how European history would have read if all these were committed by Muslim countries. Perhaps we should ask Donald Trump when his ancestors went to the United States? I would imagine that his response would be that ”My ancestors were great pioneers of German and Scottish ancestry who migrated there in 1885, carved out new lands of milk and honey and helped make America great”.

The family made their fortune by opening restaurants and hotels used by people who were robbing the locals during the Klondike Gold Rush. The fact that racism, virtual slavery and the destruction of the existing indigenous people was almost completed by then seems to have escaped him.

None of us can claim to having an Angelic history. Humans by their very nature seem to have the weakness of being manipulated depending on upbringing, education, lack of travel and intermixing and above all the inability to respect other cultures, faiths and ethnic groups. It’s a sad indictment of human nature that even in the 21st century we have learnt so little as to somehow believe we belong to a superior race, while the real bad guys are from another religion. Even more sad that people like Donald Trump who makes millions in financial profit from many Muslim customers can have the gall to demand the borders of the United States be closed to Muslims.

I trust the American people to do what is right however. Most of us hope his latest outburst will result in Trump’s exit from the Presidential race. If not I have news for Mr Trump. I have traveled to the USA many times. I’m hoping to go on a Rocky Mountain tour of the USA in the not too distant future. If my Muslim name which is Ismail Mehmet Veli is not good enough for him, perhaps he should take a running jump to the museum of natural history, where other relics of dinosaurs can be seen on display. Shame about the Dinosaurs though. Even Tyrannosaurus Rex may get a tooth infection after biting such a rotten piece of flesh. OUCH!

“No human race is superior; no religious faith is inferior. All collective judgments are wrong. Only racists make them”

–Eliezer Wiesel, Holocaust survivor

“No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”

Nelson Mandela

“I resolutely believe that respect for diversity is a fundamental pillar in the eradication of racism, xenophobia and intolerance. There is no excuse for evading the responsibility of finding the most suitable path towards the elimination of any expression of discrimination against indigenous peoples.”

– Rigoberta Menchu, Nobel Peace Prize winner who dedicated her life to raise awareness on the plight of Guatemala’s indigenous’ persecutions.

“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meanings of its creed: We hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created equal”.

Martin Luther King Jr