It is getting progressively difficult to keep politics out of this www.tourguizhou.com web site. As an American, I am affected by activities in my home country and don’t feel inclined to be silent. Expats around the world have the same problem.

Securing the borders against marauding Mexicans and Muslims is nothing new. In fact, the history of the USA shows some very heavy handed actions against a variety of minorities. We are all familiar with the slavery issue and how freed slaves were persecuted in the Democratic South after the Civil War. Native Americans were also being killed on the frontier. The displaced slaves moved north and west (actually following the “Trail of Tears”) and had a variety of problems integrating themselves into the host society.  See: Tulsa Riots

Not as familiar is the Chinese Exclusion Act, which had essentially the same effect as the Trump action, blocking borders and preventing legal citizens and immigrants from re-entering the USA (1882-1943) . . . see:  Chinese Exclusion Act.  The net effect of this 60 years of evolving legislation was to greatly limit the growth of the Chinese Community in the USA. The USA was a white and Christian place and wasn’t about to allow large communities of minorities to prosper at the expense of the majority.

Even Jews and Catholics were persecuted in various ways, with the most flagrant abuse taking place in the USA’s courts between 1921 and 1927. Two Italians, Sacco and Vanzetti, were executed for a murder that they didn’t commit (There had been a confession to the murders in 1925).  See:  Sacco and Vanzetti .

The desire to prevent large groups of potentially hostile minorities from undermining national initiatives was also evident against the Japanese during WWII. The Roosevelt administration rounded them up and put them in internment camps. See:  Japanese Internment .

Without belaboring the point too much, the Trump ban on Muslims is inconvenient to explain to the young people who have studied civics, but it is not out of line with our history. It needs to be confronted and discussed in a rational way. What are the objectives and are they legitimate and justified? If justified, how can the adverse impacts be mitigated? This isn’t a partisan issue, even though Trump is a Republican. In history, Democrats were presiding during much of the hostility to minorities. The more shrill this debate gets, the less likely that we’ll have a rational outcome.