Boom! George Takei Has the Perfect Response to One of the Craziest Remarks About Syrian Refugees Yet

[yuiyoshida]

On Wednesday, David Bowers, the mayor of Roanoke, Virginia, piled onto the backlash against Syrian refugees led by state governors, in the wake of last week's terrorist attacks in Paris that killed 129 people. Bowers requested that all local agencies "suspend and delay any further Syrian refugee assistance until these serious hostilities and atrocities end…and normalcy is restored." Then he attempted to draw this historical parallel:

I'm reminded that President Franklin D. Roosevelt felt compelled to sequester Japanese foreign nationals after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and it appears that the threat of harm to America from ISIS is just as real and serious as that from our enemies then.

Within hours, Bowers's statement drew fierce criticism from several Roanoke city council members—who called his remarks "narcissistic" and "unrepresentative" of the local community. And then actor and social media sensation George Takei weighed in. The Star Trek cast member has long been outspoken about his family's history inside American-held Japanese internment camps, a story chronicled in his Broadway musical, Allegiance.

In a searing open letter to Bowers on Wednesday afternoon—posted to Facebook—Takei called the remarks a "resort to fear-based tactics" and a "galling lack of compassion for people fleeing from these same terrorists." The post received more than 9 million likes in one day.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/11/george-takei-perfect-response-mayor-syrian-refugees?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+motherjones%2Fmain+%28MotherJones.com+Main+Article+Feed%29

[valerief]

1. We love us our George! nt

[tabasco]

2. George is too smart to be in government

but I'd vote for him for President.

[immoderate]

3. One smart fellow...

--imm

[KamaAina]

4. Oh, my!

[vlakitti]

5. Mister Takei is a good man.

Always has been. Given his history the resurgence of this racist crap ought to be getting him down, but it hasn't.