Loading ...Bill Clinton: "If you're a Muslim and hate terror, stay here and help us win."
BY: Tamara Wong Azaiez/Contributing Writer
Former President Bill Clinton spoke at the Democratic National Convention this week, urging American Muslims to be on Hillary’s side during the presidential elections. Although his words were admirable, he essentially created a sense of other for the Arab American population.
By saying, “If you love America and hate Terror”, he was creating an underlying message that sounded more similar to: “If you are not part of the 0.1% of Muslim terrorists, then you can come hang out with the Democrats.”
Furthermore, by way of attempting to be very inclusive, he ended up pushing away the supposed “main message” of how being a Hillary supporter means loving everyone and equality. But was that really the message Bill conveyed in his speech?
Bill Clinton: “If you’re a Muslim and you love America and freedom and you hate terror, stay here and help us win.” https://t.co/pWyPz0uYvW
— ABC News (@ABC) July 27, 2016
Clearly, Bill Clinton worked off a shallow assumption about Islam to encourage American Muslims to vote for his wife. Arab American and Muslim voter were extremely quick to pick up on Bill’s distasteful attempt at “welcoming” American Muslims to the Democratic Party. Imraan Siddiqi of the Council of American Islamic Foreign Relations responded, saying, “Muslims aren’t foreign entities.”
This echoed the sentiments of many other Americans who thought his speech was a way of saying Hillary is the candidate to welcome American Muslims into this country, despite the fact that they’ve been here for over 100 years, and are as much American as the Clintons themselves.
Currently, the election is between two very different candidates: one who bears an obvious animosity toward Arabs and Muslims, and the other being Hillary Clinton. Following the Nice attacks, avid Trump supporter and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said, “Western civilization is at war. We should frankly test every person here who is of a Muslim background as to if they believe in Sharia otherwise they should be deported.”
With remarks likes these, it is a wonder how Trump has American Muslim supporters. Although Clinton then becomes the obvious choice for voters, Bill diminishes that possibility during a major DNC speech. Politicians need to understand that Arab Americans and Muslim nationwide are not looking for a candidate who has not discriminated against them.
Bill Clinton’s choice of words assumes that as long as people don’t like violence and terrorism, they deserve to vote and be considered Americans. In a way, one could say it is similar to comparing his words to the “Black Lives Matter’ movement, where politicians say “if you don’t engage in violence and debauchery,” then let us stand together, which dismisses the real issues the group is trying to solve.
The tone for the past two days of the Democratic Convention suggests that Clinton has been using Trumps anti-Muslim attacks as a leg up, insisting that she is completely equal to all the races. But if that is so, why bring up Arab Americans as a special interest group that needs to prove its humanity to the more “civilized” white Americans who lead the country?