Montana has a U.S. representative named Ryan Zinke.
Zinke likes to strut around the U.S. Capitol grounds wearing a large, black cowboy hat and big ol’ black Western boots. Always shined. Of course. Just like every “cowboy.”
I don’t know if he’s got any cattle in Montana. But, in Washington D.C., he is a committed member of the far-right “herd.”
Zinke's latest bellowing is about as racist as it gets. He, and a few dozen members of that small self-righteous herd, want to send any Palestinians now on visas in this country “back where they belong.”
Zinke masquerades as a supporter of Israel. He may have some limited understanding of what that means. But, he’s “all hat and no cattle” when it comes to knowing what’s currently going on in the Mideast. Especially where Palestinians are concerned.
Zinke not only wants to stop issuing visas to Palestinians, he wants to revoke any such documents back-dated to October 1.
“I don’t trust the Biden Administration any more than I do the Palestinian Authority to screen who is allowed to come into the United States,” he said.
Zinke and others of his ilk have authored a bill to pause issuing visas for Palestinians issued since October 1.
Zinke says “This is the most anti-Hamas immigration legislation I’ve seen and it’s well-deserved.”
The title of the bill he’s backing is “Bill to Expel Palestinians from the United States.” The measure would direct the Department of Homeland Security to “identify and remove covered aliens without lawful status” including those whose lawful status has just been revoked by the same legislation.
Zinke’s bill – which has the backing of about 10 others of the far-right “Freedom Caucus” – stands no chance of passage. But, it does represent an increase of anti-Muslim and anti-Arab noise from those on that ragged edge of the ultra-conservative element in Congress. Marjorie Taylor-Greene is another sponsor of the same garbage.
While the actual fighting action is in the Mideast, it seems there’s a wave of antisemitism sweeping the world at the moment. While antisemitism is normally defined as opposition to Jews, haters appear to have lumped into the word about everybody with black hair and dark skin.
Even in the rather small Northwest community in which this writer lives, I saw a window sign along the highway last week saying “Jews Go Home.” It disappeared after a couple of days. But, I’d bet the thought still lingers on the property.
Reading it, I suddenly thought “What if the Jew in question was born in Seattle? Is Seattle far enough away to go ‘home’?”
Hatred of others because of religion or skin color – or anything else – is a damnable thing. It’s totally unreasonable and without any basis in thought. I’ve never felt the urge to stigmatize others for the way they worship or for living a lifestyle different from my own. What a terribly boring place this would be if we were all the same.
The Ryan Zinkes of the world would have us believe people with dark skin or who worship the one God differently should be shunted off to somewhere else. Preferably out of the country. They should be ostracized because….. Because…. Oh, Hell. For some ill-conceived “reason” totally unreasonable.
What’s happening now in the Mideast has roots going back thousands of years. Thousands of years before there was a United States. Thousands of years before there was a Western world. The combatants probably wouldn’t admit to that but, it’s true.
Jews have been battling for many thousands of years for a homeland and they’ll likely battle more thousands of years to keep what they now have. While we Westerners may look at the fighting and killing as just another “skirmish” in the Mideast, the distrust – the hatred – goes further back than most of us can truly understand.
My father told me he’d like to live long enough to see peace in that historically war-torn region. He didn’t. I have much the same thought. But, peace there won’t happen in my lifetime. And, likely not in my children’s. Or their children’s children either.
The Ryan Zinkes of the world will keep the distrust and the hatred alive. You can bet on it. But, that doesn’t mean the rest of us can’t prevail with understanding and love. That doesn’t mean we can’t overcome his ignorance with wise thought and wise action.
I’ll bet we can.
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