'Detroit Free Press': America is better than Trump's bigotry When Trump says America should close its borders to Muslims, he’s attacking our community

Detroit Free Press Editorial Board | USA TODAY

America’s Muslim community has its deepest roots here in southeast Michigan, home to more Middle East immigrants than any other part of the country.

For more than a century, our Muslim friends and neighbors chose Detroit for the good jobs the auto industry provided, the economic opportunity those jobs afforded, and a diverse community built by generations of immigrants.

From Poland, from Ireland, from Italy and Germany and Africa, from the Middle East and all corners of the world, we've come together to build a community complex in layered tradition, of such depth and richness that newcomers can comfortably live two stories: The homeland need not be forgotten for the promise of American opportunity to take hold.

From many, we are one. And we are better for the variance and unity among us.

So when Donald Trump says America should close its borders to Muslim immigrants, he’s not just attacking a fundamental American strength.

He’s attacking us — our community, our neighbors, the rich, diverse fabric that makes up southeast Michigan.

This editorial originally appeared on the front page of The Detroit Free Press.

Trump’s goal is political, and craven — near-universal outcry from across the political spectrum reinforces his identity as an outsider, and every criticism proves to supporters that Trump is a man who'll say what others fear to speak.

And so we were reluctant to lend this institution's voice to a denunciation that might further Trump's cause.

But some slurs are so heinous that they must be answered. And some lies are so vile that they become dangerous if not met with truth, and strength.

Trump's indictment of Muslims en masse is nothing more than rank bigotry and racism, a reach back to the darkest chapters of America's history and a betrayal of the founding principles of our nation.

The flimsy pretext for Trump's comments, building on a previous suggestion that Muslim-Americans should be required to register in a national database, was a mass shooting last week in San Bernardino, Calif. Shooters Tafsheen Malik and Syed Farook appear to have been supporters of the violent terrorist organization ISIS. Farook was a U.S.-born citizen; Malik entered the country on a so-called "fiance" visa after the pair married abroad.

Blame for the actions of a small number of violent extremists cannot be portioned out to every member of the world's second-largest religion. Trump's assertion that Muslims should be barred from entering this country, because they might be terrorists, slurs the integrity of more than 1.6 billion people. It defies common sense, and is likely unconstitutional.

Because anti-Muslim bigotry in America is on the rise, this is a safe political gambit. A growing number of self-identified Republicans tell pollsters that they're unsure whether Islam should be legal. Persistent rumors, sometimes encouraged by those in high places, falsely suggest that America is home to "no-go" zones controlled solely by Muslims and where sharia law holds sway. The latest, a far-fetched theory tacitly endorsed by Trump at a recent campaign rally, is that Muslim-Americans have training camps on U.S. soil to teach jihad.

It is the natural outgrowth of the Republican Party's longstanding flirtation with bigotry, its turn away from the civil rights movement, its electoral "Southern strategy," which relied on racism and bigotry to win national elections, its abandonment of affirmative action, its widespread skepticism and disdain for immigrants and immigration. Decades of the GOP walking the line of racist discourse have given Trump permission to espouse and promote outright bigotry.

That leading Republicans have denounced Trump provides only modest cover. Trump's soaring support reveals harsh truths about the party base that so-called establishment Republicans have built, with fear and bigotry and xenophobia, with the notion that a fictitious, former America should be our ideal — ignoring the reality of life for women and minorities during that golden age — and most harmfully, by perpetuating the idea that success for others, particularly non-white, non-Christian, non-heterosexual, non-male others, means they will lose. It's a false equation, but one that has given Republican candidates significant traction among some demographies.

This is the subtext for the last 50 years of Republican politics: fear. And hatred.

Those are the currents that shaped Gov. Rick Snyder's response to the ISIS attacks in Paris last month. Snyder, who for much of his administration has touted a pro-immigration stance, announced that Michigan would "press pause" on any effort to welcome Syrian refugees.

Snyder's rhetoric is more measured than Trump's, but it is rooted in the same tacit endorsement of bigotry that says any Muslim could be a threat. Both men legitimize hatred with their words, to dangerous effect.

Of course, that’s not everyone in the GOP. Those who disagree with Trump, and who are dismayed by the party’s turn toward divisiveness, are also poorly served by Trump and his ilk. It's up to mainstream, sanity-inspired Republicans to take back their party not only from Trump's raw bigotry, but from the politics of coy solicitation of that division for electoral gain. We are already beginning to hear some of those voices raised in genuine objection; we need, desperately, to hear more.

Ask Dearborn Mayor Jack O'Reilly. Because more than 30% of Dearborn's 95,000 residents are Arab-American or of Arab descent, this quiet suburban community is often the target of extremists bent on agitation or harm. Dearborn's police force monitors and responds to such threats.

Muslims and Arab Americans "aren’t some unknown people in our town," O'Reilly said. "They’ve been part of our town for almost all of our history. We have third-, fourth-generation and more. (Arab-Americans) are so much the fabric of who we are. ... They’re teachers, they’re the police force, they’re no different from anyone else here."

But Trump's words have reach, and influence. That scares O'Reilly.

"The history of humankind shows that when someone stirs the emotions of one group, they can get them to disregard their intellect and act in some pretty heinous ways," O'Reilly said. "Look at world history and we see it over and over again. For him to play that card, he makes it sound like the most prevalent enemy, that on our shores, we are inundated with all kinds of Muslims who are out to get us. ... He’s saying that the greatest danger, the thing that is the greatest exposure for Americans is Muslims, period ... That it is not a religion, but a plot to conquer the world. That’s the messaging."

That messaging has real, harmful consequences for millions of American Muslims. For millions of Syrian refugees seeking safe harbor. For Muslim immigrants from other nations, dreaming of becoming Americans. For America's reputation as a beacon of freedom and democracy, the land of equality. For American troops abroad, who are most directly affected by American politicians' actions.

This is what Trump puts at risk, for a bump in the polls.

Americans who support the real estate magnate turned reality television star turned ersatz politician either bestow approval on the candidate precisely because of his disdain for immigrants, Hispanics and Muslims — or because it just doesn't bother them that much.

Contrast Trump's statements to President Barack Obama's Sunday night address from the Oval Office:



"Muslim Americans are our friends and our neighbors, our coworkers, our sports heroes — and, yes, they are our men and women in uniform who are willing to die in defense of our country. We have to remember that."

And so: We stand with San Bernardino. We stand with Paris. We stand with Beirut. We stand with Syrian refugees, seeking a safer life in our country, still a beacon of democracy and freedom, despite Trump's efforts to the contrary. We stand with the Christians, Muslims, Jews, atheists, Hindus, Buddhists and all others who make up our community.

We stand with America.

Mr. Trump, with whom do you stand?

This editorial originally appeared on the front page of The Detroit Free Press and reflects the views of the Free Press editorial board.