When Islamophobia Takes Precedence Over The Facts

America has an irrational fixation with terrorism. While acts of terrorism can be catastrophic and tragic, less than 200 Americans have been killed in a decade. 200 people too many to be sure, but 20 deaths a year is far from a threat to America's fundamental institutions. Comapre that to 34,000 firearms deaths in the U.S. each year, from mass shootings to suicide. As a matter of fact, America's gun suicide and homicide rates as well as its mass shooting rates are through the roof. The same party that decries terrorism for its affront on American liberties chooses to ignore gun violence.

     An even more telling statistic involves the statistics regarding terrorism itself. Of the approximately 200 planned terrorist attacks in the past 10 years, 115, or 60%, have involved right-wing terrorism; only 63; or 30%, have involved Islamic terrorists, and, of these, the majority are born in the United States. In essence, by banning Muslims from entering the country, Trump had the chance of reducing terrorism by 5%, assuming no other acts of terror increased: at the expense of America's founding principles, that works out to 1 person a year saved.

     The governmental response demonstrates the implicit bias in law enforcement. 65% of right-wing extremists were successful, compared to 24% of Islamic terrorist attacks, and nearly three times as many right-wing attacks involved fatalities. These terrorists attacks are not covered nearly as frequently by the news for the simple reason that Americans don't like seeing Americans commit acts of terror when it is far more digestable to believe that we are perpetually-virtuous folk under attack in all direction from foreign threats. Federal authorities handled 91% of Islamic cases compared to 60% of right-wing ones, perhaps an indication that minorities are viewed as a foreign threat whether or not they come from a foreign land.

    Also worth noting is that America spends most of its military budget fighting foreign terrorism and essentially spends tens of billion dollars on each person while pro-death penalty advocates argue that a million dollars is too much to spend keeping someone in prison. 40% of a nation's budget for 20 people!!! Yet wearing a mask for 160,000 people or banning assault rifles for 34,000 people is seen as extreme.

     Trump was elected because he represents America: He was a Democrat when Bush was president and switched parties numerous times. He, like America, needs an enemy, and we choose to blame another religion in a volatile region of the world because it is easy, and because our nation is built on a foundation of racism and discrimination. If we are to make real progress economically and racially, we must address the real issues facing our nation