Congress Condemns Bigotry and Violence
H.Con.Res 227 condemns “bigotry and violence” against Arab Americans.
I have difficulties with nearly every line of this resolution, as much for what it doesn’t include — ‘racism’, ‘racist’, ‘hate’ do not appear — as for what it does.
It seems to predicate its condemnation on there being “good” people of color; it seems to appeal to the same racial stereotype — that some Americans are not real Americans, and cannot be trusted, because they are of a particular ethnicity — which led to the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII; it seems to base its repudiation of violence against Sikhs on the (to me) quite remarkable ground that Sikhs “aren’t Arabs”. Sikhs aren’t any particular ethnicity necessarily; Sikhs are, like Christians and Muslims, members of a transethnic, global religion. To suggest that racial violence against Sikhs is wrong for a different reason than racial violence against Arab Americans is wrong is not the basis of a sound or sensible antiracist message. And it may well appeal to a racist idea itself.
I say “seems” and “may” because, given the events of the past week, and given the overflowing of racial hatred that I’ve seen in person and seen reported, I’m not entirely sure my sense of critical judgment has survived intact.