George Takei: Of Course Trump Is Wrong — Problem Is, He's Dangerous
- 6 years ago
Stereotypes have consequences, especially when they're reinforced by loudmouths like Donald Trump.
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Transcript - Donald Trump, 14th candidate for the Republican nomination for president, made the statement that we have a porous border and that rapist and criminals are coming right through the border and that's why we've got to build a fence paid for by Mexico. And he's what, number one in the polls now? Isn't that interesting? That extreme position, at least with the Republicans, is getting all that support that puts him in the number one position. The fact is the legal emigration rate has gone down by practically a half since 2009. Illegal immigrants are going back to Mexico. We hear the term Ferguson, which represents what's been happening all over the United States and various different cities, Baltimore, Wisconsin, Staten Island where young male African-Americans unarmed are shot down and killed by law enforcement officers. So there's another example. The racial profiling of Arab Americans in this country because they look like terrorists. That's precisely what happened to Japanese-Americans during the Second World War. We happen to look like the people that bombed Pearl Harbor. We Japanese-Americans are very, very mindful of the power of the media. Right prior to the Second World War, the Asians were depicted as inscrutable, vicious, cunning, and every minority group has been characterized by stereotypes and that's been perpetuated by the media, whether it be television, movies, radio, comic books, all these various forms have strengthened those stereotypes. And when it's inflamed by an individual or a current event then the country is swept up by that hysteria.
Read more at BigThink.com: http://bigthink.com/videos/george-takei-on-donald-trump-and-xenophobia
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Transcript - Donald Trump, 14th candidate for the Republican nomination for president, made the statement that we have a porous border and that rapist and criminals are coming right through the border and that's why we've got to build a fence paid for by Mexico. And he's what, number one in the polls now? Isn't that interesting? That extreme position, at least with the Republicans, is getting all that support that puts him in the number one position. The fact is the legal emigration rate has gone down by practically a half since 2009. Illegal immigrants are going back to Mexico. We hear the term Ferguson, which represents what's been happening all over the United States and various different cities, Baltimore, Wisconsin, Staten Island where young male African-Americans unarmed are shot down and killed by law enforcement officers. So there's another example. The racial profiling of Arab Americans in this country because they look like terrorists. That's precisely what happened to Japanese-Americans during the Second World War. We happen to look like the people that bombed Pearl Harbor. We Japanese-Americans are very, very mindful of the power of the media. Right prior to the Second World War, the Asians were depicted as inscrutable, vicious, cunning, and every minority group has been characterized by stereotypes and that's been perpetuated by the media, whether it be television, movies, radio, comic books, all these various forms have strengthened those stereotypes. And when it's inflamed by an individual or a current event then the country is swept up by that hysteria.