So Molly White's now claiming that all those screen shots of what she wrote using her own words were "taken out of context." Right.
— Harold Cook (@HCookAustin) January 30, 2015
Freshman state Rep. Molly White, R-Belton, is not in Austin today to celebrate Texas Muslim Capitol Day. But she left instructions for the staff in her Capitol office on how to handle visitors who are, including asking them to declare allegiance to the United States…. “I did leave an Israeli flag on the reception desk in my office with instructions to staff to ask representatives from the Muslim community to renounce Islamic terrorist groups and publicly announce allegiance to America and our laws,” she posted on Facebook. “We will see how long they stay in my office.”
This story comes to us straight from the “If you ain’t got Jesus, you ain’t got s—t!!” file. A Texas legislator, elected to represent TEXANS (no qualifiers, no dividers, no classes), has once again decided to impress upon Muslim-AMERICANS that they really aren’t equal partners.
As if that idea wasn’t offensive enough, Muslim-AMERICANS are being asked by White to “publicly announce allegiance to America and out laws” before being granted access to her office in the Texas State Capitol. Hmm…seeing as how these are Muslim-AMERICANS we’re talking about…you, know AMERICAN citizens…shouldn’t the presumption be that we already know where their allegiances lies? And that they’re already committed to obeying our laws? Or was Belton just trying to be gratuitously insulting?
What Belton seems to forget is that she represents TEXANS- a community that includes Christians, Jews, Muslims, and even those who don’t believe in God- of any flavor. And you know what? Since American governance is secular, it doesn’t matter what a person’s faith tradition (or lack of same) happens to be. It’s not about advancing the narrow interests of Christian Texans, it’s about Texans. ALL Texans.
White responded to criticism of her Texas Muslim Capitol Day plan in the comments on her Facebook post.
“I do not apologize for my comments above,” she wrote in one comment. “If you love America, obey our laws and condemn Islamic terrorism then I embrace you as a fellow American. If not, then I do not.”
“Isn’t it amazing when you stand for America, our allies and against terrorism how much vile and angry responses you get?” she wrote in another comment. “I will never cow to anti Americanism and extremists.”
Isn’t amazing how, when you treat a class of people like criminals, you come off looking look a fool and a bigot. White should be ashamed of herself, and her constituents she be outraged at her ugly display of hatred, arrogance, and religious bigotry. I lived in Texas long enough to know that most Texans are decent, tolerant sorts who have no problem with the idea of “live and let live.” Yes, there are more than a few knuckle-dragging bigots like White (many of them in the Legislature), but they’re a minority- an ugly, hateful minority, but a minority nonetheless.
The people attending Texas Muslim Capitol Day were neither anti-American nor extremists. They were Muslim-AMERICANS who have the same rights and access to government that Christians do. No loyalty oath or pledge of allegiance should be required for an American citizen to enter an elected official’s office. White should be apologizing up one side and down the other in absolute contrition for her display of bigotry and self-righteousness. Instead, she doubled down on the ugliness.
Stay classy, eh?
It’s not a stretch to say that Texas didn’t cover itself in glory on Thursday. A vocal and aggressive, if small, group of protesters disrupted Texas Muslim Capitol Day, and Molly White compounded the ugliness with her hijinks. All in all, Texans came off looking like haters and bigots, the minority succeeding in creating an stain of bigotry and religious repression that won’t soon wash away.
Nice work.
