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Trump Administration Stigmatizes Islam and Undermines Civil Liberties

Muslims Praying
Muslims Praying
Brian Tashman,
Former Deputy Division Director,
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August 11, 2017

On Saturday, just as worshipers were gathering for morning prayers in the Dar Al-Farooq Islamic Center in Bloomington, Minnesota, a bomb shattered the office of the imam.

Fortunately, no one was injured in the explosion, and the FBI is still trying to find the perpetrator. The mosque in the past, and bias-driven incidents against Muslims in America 鈥 several mosques have been the target of .

While many public figures against the bombing, President Trump has remained silent. Trump鈥檚 adviser Sebastian Gorka, however, has not. He has defended the president鈥檚 silence by suggesting that the attack might have by a left-wing activist.

Gorka, like the president, has a long record of . Before taking his White House job, he was reportedly fired by the FBI for his 鈥.鈥 In an interview on Wednesday with Breitbart News, Gorka went so far as to the Oklahoma City bombing and other attacks committed by white supremacists:

Look at [New York Times reporter] Maggie Haberman and her acolytes in the Fake News media who immediately have a conniption fit and say, 鈥榃hat about Oklahoma City?鈥 What about Oklahoma City? A) That individual is not a jihadi. My comments were about jihadism post-September 11. Second, Timothy McVeigh had an accomplice. Second, by the way, this the one I love, that event was twenty-two years ago. Can you talk to me about the last sixteen years of hundreds of thousands of people killed in the Middle East by jihadis? It鈥檚 this constant: 鈥極h, it鈥檚 the white man. It鈥檚 the white supremacists. That鈥檚 the problem.鈥 No it isn鈥檛, Maggie Haberman. Go to Sinjar. Go to the Middle East and tell me what the real problem is today. Go to Manchester.

Or he could look closer to home. Gorka simply ignores the fact that violence associated with has been a law enforcement .

Violence of any kind is condemnable. But by mocking the notion that white supremacists can commit horrific acts of violence, Gorka effectively dismisses the reality 鈥 and the victims 鈥 of the recent attacks at ; the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in Oak Creek; ; ; ; ; .

In dismissing the Oklahoma City bombing as a one-off, Gorka is signaling that the Trump administration isn鈥檛 , and in the U.S. that have been committed by people like Timothy McVeigh very seriously. They have already decided who the 鈥渞eal problem鈥 is and are determined to target particular communities鈥攊n this case, Muslim communities.

Such remarks also play into the of Muslims as terrorists and help justify policies, like the travel ban and unlawful profiling, that unmistakably undermine civil liberties, while doing nothing to enhance safety.

In fact, this anti-Muslim rhetoric serves no purpose but to play on people鈥檚 fears and stigmatize and stereotype Muslims under the guise of national security, rather than focusing resources on violent behavior. But the Trump administration does not seem interested in effective policies, just as it is not interested in the bombing of the Dar Al-Farooq Islamic Center.

With one of the president鈥檚 top security advisers dismissing attacks like Oklahoma City and suggesting that the recent mosque attack was the work of a left-wing extremist, the Trump administration appears determined to put politics and bigotry before public security and civil liberties.

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