This week, Senate Republicans on the
Judiciary Committee—with the hesitating exception of Jeff Flake— have chosen to
ignore credible testimony that a Supreme Court nominee sexually assaulted a
woman who testified before them under oath. So much for the party of law and
order.
So, here is an interesting example of
the absurdity of the GOP's double standard.
In 1885, President Grover Cleveland
whipped up a raging fever of anti-Chinese bias that swept the nation. His inaugural
address remarked:
“The laws should be rigidly enforced which prohibit the
immigration of a servile class [Chinese laborers] to compete with American
labor, with no intention of acquiring citizenship, and bringing with them and
retaining habits and customs repugnant to our civilization.”
Three years later, two naturalized
American citizens, Kevork Guligyan and Bedros Iskiya, traveled to Turkey with
U.S. passports in hand.
Turkey—like the U.S., a nation that discriminated heavily in favor
of nativity—only accepted people of born in the Ottoman Empire.
But these two men qualified for admission.
Their problem?
They were Jews.
Grover
Cleveland’s Secretary of State intervened at length, lecturing the
Constantinople government: “The power to expel a Jew from Turkey is claimed,
notwithstanding that, as a foreigner, he may have treaty rights of residence…. In
its dealings with Turkey, as with Russia, this (U.S.) Government cannot
acquiesce in the executive imposition of a penalty, especially on account of
race or creed.”
To summarize this confusing account:
In America, we could boot out resident Chinese on account of their race and
customs—but Turkey could not exclude Jews on account of their faith and ethnicity.
By that twisted logic, we can now understand the absurdity of the Republican Party’s passion for law and
order: Muslims and immigrants are a public safety threat; men who sexually assault
others are privileged, above the law.
No comments:
Post a Comment