Santiago Durango Quotes

The term “gentile” was used in the Old Testament to indicate someone who was not of God’s Chosen People—one who was not a Jew. But the Mormon’s used the Biblical term to refer to people who were outside the Mormon faith. When Bamburger ran for the Governorship, there had been only one other Jewish governor in America. At a campaign rally a Mormon anti-Semite called him a “Damned Gentile.” This reply was typical of his humor, and the majority of the state voters and the Mormons voted for him making Bamburger the second Jewish Governor in America.

This quotation was used by the Lyndon B. Johnson 1964 Campaign as: “We represent the majority of the people in Alabama who hate niggerism, Catholicism, Judaism, and all the isms of the whole world.” So said Robert Creel of the Alabama Ku Klux Klan. He also said, “I like Barry Goldwater. He needs our help.” The second statement was made at a different time.

In September of 2005 a Danish Newspaper published some political cartoons showing the hypocrisy of some Muslims who use Islam to justify murder of innocents and terrorism. Months later, in January of 2006 many in the Middle East protested vehemently and Muslim riots broke out because the Prophet Muhammad's visage was depicted against Islamic tradition. Many Muslim nations started a boycott against Denmark. Many Muslim leaders claimed that insulting religion was an “abuse” of freedom of speech including those from nations which regularly publish material that is virulent against Christians and Jews.

A Capuchin monk and his Muslim servant had disappeared from the streets of Damascus just before the Jewish Passover. A rumor got started that Jews had kidnapped and murdered them so that they could use their blood in making the traditional Passover matzoh. This was an old disproven canard from the Middle Ages. This absurd lie, which persists in some Islamic nations, was referred to as the “Blood Libel”. However many Jews were rounded up and jailed with calls for their execution. Protests were made by countries the world over. Syria and the rest of the Middle East was then part of the Ottoman Empire. Van Buren mobilized the American diplomatic machinery in one of America’s first coordinated diplomatic campaigns in defense of human rights. It was successful. See {613358}.

As long as the bigotry took for form of speech, writing, and voting he was a defender even of anti-Semites. However, when that leads to violence or an infringement on other people’s rights, then the bigotry becomes criminal.

President Trump did not personally believe in the tenets of White Supremacism, but a significant part of his political base did. His public approval in his first year in office was the lowest in history since such were measured, and he was desparate to hold on the the support of his base. So, unlike most Republicans who castigated and condemned White Supremacism and other hate groups, and the alt-Right, Trump not only remained silent, but actually tried to create a moral equivelence between some of the White Supremacists and some of the Left Wingers who were protesting the White Supremicists. Trump insisted that he did not condone or encourage hate groups or white supramacy advocates, but most of the public did, and, most importantly, they thougth that he did and gave him public credit for that as in this quotation. See {645359}.