Dear Editor
There are a huge number of people posting negative pictures and statements about the Syrian refugees. They all have something in common.
As I wade through the explicit racist rants, the careful explanation of the danger of letting in refugees – all based on lies and bad information and the rest – I realize there is one thing they share.
Every single one of them is afraid.
Now, if they were truly as naive and misinformed to believe refugees are a danger, it would be one thing. But even the major news sources are pointing to French and Belgian citizens as the perpetrators of the Nov. 13 attack.
Plenty of people from credible sources have explained that not one refugee has turned out to be a terrorist. Government websites explain refugees go through a screening process that would make us howl in outrage, including several interviews, fingerprinting and more, over the course of years. Anyone coming into our country was approved before the attack.
When you consider this is a pattern, our country turned away Jews by the shipload during WWII, we were slow and reluctant to take in the boat people from Vietnam, we’re still turning away ships, though they’re filled with Tamils this time.
There is only one conclusion: People are afraid of diluting their white privilege, which might explain that while no refugee has ever carried out an attack on our soil, 31 attacks have been attributed to white supremacists, more than all the other groups combined.
We are a nation plagued by cowardly racists. It isn’t really a surprise, but it is a tragedy.
What could we be like if we refused to live in fear? What might we accomplish if we let go of our grip on our privilege?
It was courage and the willingness to change that brought our ancestors here, many of whom experienced racism themselves.
Don’t stand up against refugees, stand up against fear.
Alex McGilvery
Flin Flon
