Refugee vote betrays values
It is hard to see how the irony was lost on the members of the York County Council who voted Monday for a resolution opposing resettlement of Syrian refugees in their county.
Surely they know the details of the Christmas story we celebrate at this time of year.
The story of how a weary Middle Eastern family fleeing persecution seeks refuge, only to be told there was no room for them. How it meant the long-awaited Messiah had to be born in a lowly manger.
Surely all of that was known by members of the four-member majority who approved the resolution supporting Gov. Nikki Haley’s request that Syrian refugees be barred from settling in South Carolina.
And yet there they were, boldly voting to tell war-weary Middle Eastern refugees that no, there is no room for you.
In the week of Christmas, no less.
A blinding, irrational fever of fear has swept too many Americans up in its grasp. Council member Bruce Henderson voted against the resolution not because he thought it wrongheaded. He voted no because it wasn’t tough enough. After all, he told his colleagues, people could be murdered, raped or “burned alive” if Syrian refugees enter the U.S., according to the (Rock Hill) Herald’s account.
Never mind that that’s the kind of fear-fanning that surely delights the Islamic State fanatics. Never mind the fact that no governor, be it Haley or North Carolina’s Pat McCrory, can tell federal officials where refugees can or can’t be resettled. Even after Haley issued her request, two Syrians were resettled in the state without her office being told (though it probably should have been).
Council member Britt Blackwell, who voted for the resolution, said he thought it “unfair that patriotic Americans have been called racist or religiously intolerant when they stand up for traditional values.”
But that’s just the thing. They aren’t standing up for traditional American values – at least not the ones this nation was built upon. This is a nation of immigrants, of religious minorities fleeing political persecution, of people who knew – at least at the outset of the American story – that we are at our strongest when we offer shelter to the refugee and protect the weak from persecution.
How sad it is that even the Christmas season, and the Christmas story, failed to clarify things for most York County Council members. They, like Donald Trump’s followers around the country, can’t seem to hear the kind of common-sense logic offered at Monday’s meeting by the Rev. Sam McGregor of Allison Creek Presbyterian Church.
The minister, the only member of the public who spoke against the resolution, reminded the York County crowd that, yes, Jesus himself was a Middle Eastern refugee at birth. His parents, too, were fleeing political persecution.
“This resolution,” McGregor said, “seems to be response out of fear, and fear is not a good thing.”
Amen, reverend. Amen.
As Christmas 2015 recedes into history, let’s hope fear’s fever soon breaks, and more Americans come to understand that simple, timeless truth.
This story was originally published December 25, 2015 at 11:25 AM with the headline "Refugee vote betrays values."