Trump signs order banning refugees; Muslim Americans to file lawsuit

Officers and attorneys of the Council of American-Islamic Relations during their press conference announcing their lawsuit against President Trump's executive order.

WE SHOULD NOT BE SURPRISED. President Donald Trump did exactly what he promised he would do during the campaign. Any hope that Trump would moderate his views once he was elected should be thrown out the window.

Trump signed an executive order Friday afternoon that bans all immigrants and visa holders from seven majority-Muslim countries from entering the U.S. for 90 days, and opens the door to expand the order to include Asian countries that have Muslim populations, such as India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.

It also bans all refugee admissions for 120 days — and bans Syrian refugees indefinitely.

"On Holocaust Memorial Day, Trump restricted refugees from Muslim-majority countries. Make no mistake — this is a Muslim ban," Sen. Kamala Harris, D-California, said in a statement.

Shortly after the new restrictions were announced, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest Muslim/American civil rights organization in the country, announced its intention to challenge the executive order in court.

"There is no evidence that refugees – the most thoroughly vetted of all people entering our nation – are a threat to national security," said CAIR National Litigation Director Lena F. Masri, Esq. "This is an order that is based on bigotry, not reality."

The lawsuit, to be filed in the U.S. District Court – Western District of Virginia, will challenge the constitutionality of the order because its apparent purpose and underlying motive is to ban people of the Islamic faith from Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States.

"Our First Amendment is under attack. We, as attorneys, are foot soldiers of the American Constitution and took an oath to protect all from being targeted by the government because of their faith," said Attorney Shereef Akeel, Esq., who is also co-counsel on the lawsuit.

"There is no evidence that refugees – the most thoroughly vetted of all people entering our nation – are a threat to national security," said CAIR National Litigation Director Lena F. Masri, Esq. "This is an order that is based on bigotry, not reality."

Malala Yousafzai, the youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize winner, said she was "heartbroken" in a statement condemning the Trump's latest Executive Order. Yousafzai, originally from Pakistan, said:

“I am heartbroken that today President Trump is closing the door on children, mothers and fathers fleeing violence and war. I am heartbroken that America is turning its back on a proud history of welcoming refugees and immigrants — the people who helped build your country, ready to work hard in exchange for a fair chance at a new life.

"I am heartbroken that Syrian refugee children, who have suffered through six years of war by no fault of their own, are singled-out for discrimination.

"I am heartbroken for girls like my friend Zaynab, who fled wars in three countries — Somalia, Yemen and Egypt — before she was even 17. Two years ago she received a visa to come to the United States. She learned English, graduated high school and is now in college studying to be a human rights lawyer.

"Zaynab was separated from her little sister when she fled unrest in Egypt. Today her hope of being reunited with her precious sister dims."

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"In this time of uncertainty and unrest around the world, I ask President Trump not to turn his back on the world’s most defenseless children and families.”

Sign of the times: Making America White, again

KOB SCREEN CAPTURE

This sign was posted in a New Mexico business.

OMINOUS SIGNS are starting to appear.

On the last day of 2016, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, urged a New Mexico business to remove an anti-Muslim and anti-President Obama sign.

A convenience store in Mayhill, N.M., has a notice posted on its door reportedly stating, "Obama & other Muslims Not welcome here." The hate sign has also been sold to customers. Last year, an image stating "Kill Obama" was reportedly posted in one of the store’s windows.

“While everyone has the First Amendment right to free speech – even offensive speech – we urge the store’s owner to remove the sign in the interest of common decency and of our nation’s unity at a time of increasing divisions,” said CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper.

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• Merger of race and politics means troubled future for U.S.
• Trump's America off to a scary start

CAIR’s national headquarters in Washington, D.C., has noted an unprecedented spike in hate incidents targeting Muslims and other minority groups since the Nov. 8 election.

The sign is reminiscent of earlier times in U.S. history when businesses would bar people of color from their premises. 

When Donald Trump began using the phrase, "Make America great again," for his campaign, many of his supporters interpreted that to mean the time in the U.S. when whites were guaranteed social, business and educational privileges and status by virtue of the color of their skin.

By inference and by practice, that meant people of color were not worthy of those same "entitlements " that were accorded to white residents of the United States.

We thought that the U.S. had progressed beyond the blatant racism of those signs. believed they were remnants of the past. We can't say for sure whether the business owner voted for Donald Trump, but white supremacists have been emboldened by his victory. Is this the new normal? This is 2017, after all. 

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Muslim Americans ask to meet with Trump

NYPD photo

NYPD Officer Aml Elsokary, who was wearing a hijab and was off-duty with her 16-year-old son, was harassed and threatened in Brooklyn.on

ASAM NEWS
A MUSLIM POLICE HERO with the New York Police Department who saved a baby from a burning building two years ago is asking for a meeting with President-elect Trump.

Yahoo reports the request was inspired after that officer, Aml Elsokary, witnessed her son being shoved by a man who later threatened to cut off her throat, told her to go back to her country, and called her a terrorist.

Elsokary was off duty at the time.

There are about 1,000 Muslims in the NYPD. The incident prompted a meeting with the NYPD Muslim Officers Society which wrote a letter to Trump requesting a meeting.

The NYPD says there has been a 115 percent spike in hate crimes since the election. Many have pointed to the incendiary rhetoric of Trump during the campaign and white supremacist groups have openly stated their alt-right movement has gained legitimacy due to Trump’s victory. 

The President-elect, when asked by the media, has told his supporters to stop, but he has been more outspoken about the way he is portrayed in comedy sketches on Saturday Night Live than he has about hate crimes.

“President-elect Trump needs to hear from and respond to the concerns of Officer Elsokary and other Muslim members of our law enforcement community,” said Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams. 

“They are not only the first line of defense on our streets; they are ambassadors of the American diversity that they represent, and millions of their brother and sister citizens are as concerned about their welfare as they are their own. Whether or not we have an invitation to Trump Tower, I promise that their message will be directly delivered.

Last week, almost 300 Muslim leaders released an open letter to Trump expressing their "serious concerns" about his policy proposals and calling on him to protect their communities.

The letter includes American Muslims at the forefront of community service, education and empowerment in diverse settings such as the academy, mosques, advocacy, and civic and interfaith engagement.

Prominent signatories include Nihad Awad of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Khizr Khan (the Gold Star father who spoke passionately in defense of the Constitution at the Democratic National Convention), Dalia Mogahed (Author of "Who Speaks for Islam?"), Imam Suhaib Webb (CenterDC) and Husain Abdullah, a former NFL player for the Minnesota Vikings and Kansas City Chiefs.

The letter states in part:

“Like other Americans, we love our country and are committed to preserving religious freedom, equal opportunity and equal protection under the law for all. As our President-Elect, one of your duties is to ensure our collective safety and security. This includes protecting the First Amendment rights of all Americans to freely practice their faith, without fear, intimidation or reprisal. . .

“Your recent denunciation of such behavior on 60 Minutes was a positive first step, and we urge you to clearly and strongly condemn bigotry, hate crimes and bias-based school bullying directed at any American, including American Muslims. We call on you to make mutual respect and acceptance a hallmark of your presidency."

The Department of Justice revealed that Attorney General Loretta Lynch will be visiting the All Dulles Area Muslim Society Center in Sterling on (Dec. 12) Monday morning.

In a video statement issued last month, Lynch said the spike in hate crimes and the new numbers should be "deeply sobering for all Americans." She said some of the acts have happened in schools and others have targeted houses of worship.

"We will continue to enforce our nation's hate crimes laws to the fullest extent possible," Lynch said. "We will continue to uphold our conviction that all men and women deserve to lead lives of safety and dignity. And we will continue to champion the values of diversity and inclusion that have always been the bedrock of our nation's progress, and that point the way to a brighter future.

Since the Nov. 8 elections, there has been a spike in anti-Muslim attacks, reports the Southern Poverty Law Center, which keeps track of hate crimes.

Most recently, the Oklahoma chapter of the CAIR-OK on Dec. 9 called on the FBI to join a hate crime investigation of a dead pig being dumped at an Islamic center in that state. (NOTE: Muslims are prohibited from consuming pork products and bigots often use pigs or pork to offend Muslim sensibilities.)

Police say the pig was dumped at the Islamic Center of Lawton in Lawton, Okla., Dec. 7. Surveillance video shows a pick-up truck pulling into the parking lot of the center and turning around. The truck backs up and the pig’s carcass falls off the tailgate. The vehicle then drives away.

Earlier this week, police reported that a uniformed MTA officer - who wears and Islamic head scarf (hijab) – was assaulted by a man who yelled “You’re a terrorist and you shouldn’t be working for the city.” The alleged attacker, reportedly shoved the MTA employee down a flight of stairs, injuring her knee and ankle. The NYPD and New York State Division of Human Rights are investigating the attack as a bias incident.

There has not been a response from Donald Trump or his anyone in his transition team to the requests for a meeting with Muslim/Americans.
(Views From the Edge contributed to this report)

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Ben Carson for HUD? Appointment raises concerns and fear for Muslims

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Dr. Ben Carson

WELL, WHY NOT? Is anybody really surprised that Dr. Ben Carson is Donald Trump's pick to head up HUD? It makes a lot of sense since the decision to pick the neurosurgeon, who is totally unqualified for the HUD postion, was made by Donald Trump, who is also unqualified to become President of the United States.

The reality show that is the Trump presidency will keep you on edge, keep you guessing, leave you wondering what comes next or what Tweet will state the position of the Most Powerful Man in the Free World.

President-elect Donald Trump has nominated a man for secretary of Housing and Urban Development who thinks Islam isn’t a religion and has argued that there’s a covert Muslim plot to destroy the U.S. from within. 

Carson told Breitbart News’ Steve Bannon in February that he was concerned about a “civilizational jihad” against the U.S. wherein “jihadists” who “disguise themselves as moderate Muslims” would “infiltrate, multiply and take positions of power” in order to “replace our Judeo-Christian values with Islam.”

RELATED: Steve Bannon thinks there are too many Asians in Silicon Valley

The idea of “civilizational jihad” is a popular and thoroughly debunked conspiracy theory," states a CAIR press release. "It holds that Muslims have somehow conspired to eliminate and destroy Western civilization from within. It has been promoted extensively by Frank Gaffney, who heads up the the Center for Security Policy, which the Southern Poverty Law Center considers a hate group.

Aside from his anti-Muslim views, why not appoint a man to head an agency he doesn't like to take it down the rabbit hole to who-knows-where-land. As HUD Secretary, Carson would be responsible for setting housing policies for the Trump administration, including access to affordable housing and community development. The agency has a $47 billion budget and helps 5 million low-income families.

"These government-engineered attempts to legislate racial equality create consequences that often make matters worse," he wrote in an op-ed in June 2015. "There are reasonable ways to use housing policy to enhance the opportunities available to lower-income citizens, but based on the history of failed socialist experiments in this country, entrusting the government to get it right can prove downright dangerous."

His described HUD's efforts as "social engineering," an apparent  swipe at Obama-instigated efforts to open housing and schools in mostly well-to-do, overwhelmingly white communities to minority home-buyers and renters. The Housing Voucher Program and Section 8 have come under heavy criticized by suburbanites who fear the people from the more urban areas. The agency also enforces fair housing laws that bar racial discrimination by lenders and landlords.

Perhaps Trump believes that if the programs aimed at assisting the poor and the most vulnerable can be weakened or dismantled, it wouldn't look so bad if done by an African/American who grew up poor and raised by a single mother. 

But Carson's story makes him the perfect candidate for conservatives. "Ben Carson is the ideal candidate of color for the right," MSNBC's Joy-Ann Reid told Goldie Taylor of the Daily Beast. "He rejects race as a construct for explaining social and economic mobility, just as white conservatives do; and he even rejects the public programs that helped his own family survive, mirroring the donor class of his party who want to get rid of those programs."
Appointing a neurosurgeon to manage HUD makes as much sense as picking a white nationalist as your senior policy advisor ... but wait a minute .... uh, that's exactly what  Trump did when he picked Steve Bannon to whisper in his ear as his senior advisor. 

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Minnesota man pleads guilty to threatening Islamic center

The FBI reports a spike in anti-Muslim hate crimes.

A MINNEAPOLIS MAN pleaded guilty last week to a federal hate crime for writing and mailing a threatening letter to an Islamic Center. Daniel George Fisher, 57, was charged with obstructing, by threat of force, the free exercise of religious beliefs.

According to the Dec. 1 guilty plea, in September 2015, Fisher wrote and mailed an anonymous letter to the Tawfiq Islamic Center (TIC), located in Minneapolis. In the letter, the defendant threatened to “blow up your building with all you immigrants in it.” The letter also included statements demonstrating strong anti-Muslim animus. Fisher subsequently admitted to the FBI that he wrote the letter to scare and intimidate the TIC’s Muslim members. 

“America protects the free exercise of religion for all people in every community,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

“Threats of violence that target religious communities violate federal law; corrode the ideals of our democracy; and threaten the foundation of an inclusive, free and open society. The Justice Department will continue to vigorously prosecute hate crimes that target people because of where they worship.”

“Threatening to blow up a mosque is simply un-American,” said U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger. “It is a bedrock principle of our country, enshrined in the First Amendment to the Constitution, that all people are free to practice their religion of choice. Tens of thousands of law-abiding Muslims do so in Minnesota. The U.S. Attorney's Office and FBI will not allow any resident of our state to have that most basic freedom jeopardized by the threat of violence.” 

U.S. District Judge Wilhelmina M. Wright of the District of Minnesota accepted Fisher’s plea. Fisher faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. 

A recently released report by the FBI confirmed an uptick in anti-Muslim hate crimes. Another report by the Southern Poverty Law Center shows a sharp increase in anti-Muslim incidents since the Nov. 8 election attributed to the hateful rhetoric of the Donald Trump campaign.

REPORT:

• Trump inspired hate continues to ooze out of America's sewers
• Hate crimes vs. Muslims spike, reports FBI

A photocopied letter received by the Islamic Center of Ann Arbor on Nov. 30 was also sent to mosques across the country this week, addressing Muslims as "children of Satan" and declaring President-elect Donald Trump as the "new sheriff in town." It is the same letter sent to three mosques in California last week.

"Mr. Trump, for an entire year, stirred up xenophobia and racism in our community to give a level of public acceptability for expressing those things," said Dawud Walid, executive director of the Michigan Chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations. "I blame him for this more caustic climate we live in right now. If he is to be a real leader, he should be much more robust in speaking out against all these different expressions of hate that are being done in his name."

Rise in Islamaphobia is creating new political awareness among Muslim/Americans

Ghazala and Khizr Khan's speech at the Democratic National Convention was one of the surprise impactful moments in the event held last July in Philadelphia.

THE PUSH to get more Muslim/Americans to vote has been going oneven before Donald Trump said he would ban all Muslims from entering America in order to get a handle on the terrorist threats that might be coming into the U.S. The proposed ban injected a sense of urgency to the campaign.

But it was the appearance and speech of a mild-mannered man and his wife at the Democratic National Convention and the aftermath that really underscored the need for more voter registration among the Muslim/American population.

When Khizr Khan spoke about the loss of his son, 27-year old Capt. Humayun Khan, who was killed while serving in Iraq was going on smoothly uneventful when Khan challenged GOP candidate Donald Trump to read the Constitution. Many thought that might have been the unexpected emotional highlight of the convention. He pulled a copy of the Constitution out of his suit pocket, waved it in the air and offered to loan it to Trump. 

By then, he had the attention of all the delegates. "Have you ever been to Arlington cemetery?," asked Khan, looking directly into the TV cameras. "Go look at the graves of brave patriots who died defending the United States of America. You will see all faiths, genders and ethnicities. You have sacrificed nothing and no one." Standing ovation!

In response, Trump belittled Khan and the silence of his wife, Ghazala, who stood at Khazr Khan's side but was too emotional to speak.

RELATED: 

• Backlash against Trump after he attacks the Khans
• Muslim/American offers powerful, emotional moment at the DNC

Trump's attacks drew the wrath of America's veterans and parents of soldiers who died in the Middle East. It threw Khan and his wife into the middle of the presidential campaign and gave a face and rallying point for the Muslim/American community. Trump's poll numbers plummeted from which he has yet to recover.

Robert McCaw, CAIR’s director of governmental affairs for the Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), told Yahoo News that since 2012 there have been a number of failed attempts to launch Muslim voter registration initiatives. And while he agrees that the Trump campaign has certainly motivated more Muslim voters to get involved in the election process this year, McCaw argues that the rise in registered Muslim voters is also partly the “gradual result of Muslim community becoming more engaged with electoral process.”

When CAIR launched its 2016 Muslims Vote campaign, the goal was to lead 1 million Muslim constituents to the voting booths.

American Muslims are the most diverse religious community in the country, said McCaw, noting that African-Americans make up one-third of the Muslim community, while the other two-thirds comprise immigrants — or the children of immigrants — from the Middle East and South Asia.

“It’s taken some time for immigrant Muslims to connect and work with domestic groups like the African-American community,” McCaw told Yahoo. “Only now are we getting to see the fruits of that labor.”

At the same time, McCaw said, Trump’s anti-Muslim agenda seems to be pushing the Democratic Party to work “twice as hard to engage Muslim voters,” who, although composing only 1 percent of the country’s population, are highly concentrated in key battleground states like Ohio, Virginia and Florida.

“I don’t know if there would have been half as many Muslims speaking onstage at the DNC if Trump had not brought them into the spotlight,” he said.

According to CAIR, 78 percent of Muslim voters cast their ballots for Republican presidential nominee George W. Bush in 2000, but ever since Sept. 11, 2001, American Muslims have been making a steady exodus from the GOP. Results of a CAIR poll of Muslim voters following the Super Tuesday primaries in March revealed that 46 percent supported Hillary Clinton, 25 percent backed Bernie Sanders, and only 11 percent favored Trump. The poll also found that the top issue concerning Muslim voters was rising Islamophobia in the U.S.

Like other AAPI voters, although their numbers are relatively small when compared to other ethnic groups, in some areas and states, Muslim voters could tilt elections.

According to the Pew Research Center, Muslims represent just 1 to 2 percent of the country’s population, but they tend to live in strategic places — swing states like Florida, Ohio and Virginia.

“When the vote is close, then in fact, the Muslim vote in those swing states can play a significant role. They ... will be seen as a significant minority community,” Georgetown University Islamic studies professor John Esposito said.

Esposito, who directs the university’s Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, said, “There certainly are Republican Muslims but they are a significant minority, and given [Republican presidential nominee Donald] Trump’s position with regards to Muslims … I don’t see many Muslims being attracted to Trump.”

To McCaw, as well as the leaders of the New Jersey Muslim Voter Project, 2016 marks the beginning of a new era of Muslim involvement in American politics.

Once registered, groups like the NJMVP and CAIR will need to work hard to get them to the polls this November. Past experience in their original countries may have tainted their voting experience, say Muslim/American leaders.

“The South Asian Muslim community is the least involved in politics because most of them are first-generation immigrants,” said Shawn Butt, one of the founders of the NJMVP with a small group of local Muslim leaders. In their countries of origin, said Butt, "We’ve seen absolute levels of corruption in politics, and we kind of bring that mindset that ‘It didn’t work back home, it’s not gonna work here, so why bother?’”

For many Muslim Americans — who have been the target of vitriol and discriminatory policy proposals throughout much of the 2016 campaign cycle — there’s never been a more important time to get out the vote.

“It’s the divisive rhetoric that makes us feel we’ve got to prove ourselves,” said Butt. He described its mission as “(mobilizing) the Muslim population, get them registered to vote, and push them to go out and vote come Election Day.”

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REPORT: Political hate rhetoric catalyst for the rise in anti-Muslim/American acts

"BEING MUSLIM/AMERICAN already carries a decent amount of baggage.," writes actor Aziz Ansari in a New York Times oped published over the weekend. "In our culture, when people think 'Muslim,' the picture in their heads is not usually of the Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar or the kid who left the boy band One Direction. It’s of a scary terrorist character from Homeland or some monster from the news."

His fears are justified. A report from the UC Berkeley Center for Race & Gender done in collaboration with The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)  was released last week. Entitled Confronting Fear: Islamophobia and its Impact in the United States, reports the increase in hate crimes against Muslims or people mistaken as Muslims.

The last two months of 2015 saw 34 incidents in which mosques were targeted by vandals or those who want to intimidate worshippers. This is more incidents than usually recorded in an entire year.

Aziz Ansari

Islamophobia has unfortunately moved from the fringes of American society to the mainstream. Contenders for the office of the presidency have suggested un-constitutional policies such as banning all Muslims from the United States or suggesting that a Muslims could not be president of the United States. Elected officials in 10 states have enacted legislation designed to vilify or otherwise target Islam. In at least two states, the way school text books are selected was changed because some activists wrongly believe that introductory religious courses that teach children Islam’s five pillars are “indoctrination” and “proselytization.”

The last two months of 2015 saw 34 incidents in which mosques were targeted by vandals or those who want to intimidate worshippers. This is more incidents than we usually record in an entire year.

The strategy outlined in this report is an evolution from the opposition-centric strategy CAIR’s Department to Monitor and Combat Islamophobia has pursued since we published Legislating Fear in 2012. The proposed strategy focuses instead on changing the environment.

Islamophobic groups have enjoyed access to at least $205 million to spread fear and hatred of Muslims, says the report. Inner-core groups, which have a primary purpose to promote prejudice against or hatred of Islam and Muslims, have seen an increase in total revenue from $42,692,945 in 2008 to $205,838,077 in 2013.

“The hate that these groups are funding and inciting is having real consequences like attacks on mosques all over the country and new laws discriminating against Muslims in America,” Corey Saylor, author of the report and director of CAIR’s department to monitor and combat Islamophobia, said in a statement.

He also said politics has played in a role in perpetuating the prejudice, including the rhetoric of the current U.S. presidential race.

“The 2016 presidential election has mainstreamed Islamophobia and resulted in a number of un-constitutional proposals targeting Muslims,” he said.“’Confronting Fear’ offers a plan for moving anti-Muslim bias back to the fringes of society where it belongs.”

The study examines two overlapping time periods: January 2015 through December 2015 and March 2015 through March 2016 (the 2016 presidential election season). It found approximately 180 reported incidents of anti-Muslim violence: 12 murders; 34 physical assaults; 49 verbal assaults or threats against persons and institutions; 56 acts of vandalism.

Confronting Fear acknowledges that acts of violence committed in the name of Islam “have undoubtedly contributed to negative public perceptions of Islam and Muslims in the United States.”

However it states that Islam and Muslims “are more likely to be held collectively responsible for the actions of an aberrant few.”

A goal of the report is to promote societal rejection of Islamophobia, as attrition in the acceptability of this form of prejudice would bring about change. It notes that societal rejection of the hate group Ku Klux Klan and its message resulted in less public support, visibility and impact.

“Islamophobia and groups that promote bias will likely always exist,” Nihad Awad, executive director of CAIR, said in a statement. “But the current environment that grants anti-Islam prejudice social acceptability must change so that such bias is in the same social dustbin as white supremacism and anti-Semitism.”

"Today, with the presidential candidate Donald J. Trump and others like him spewing hate speech, prejudice is reaching new levels. It’s visceral, and scary, and it affects how people live, work and pray," writes Ansari, a comedian and actor, whose TV series Master of None received accolades for its depiction of people of color. "It makes me afraid for my family. It also makes no sense."

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For more news about Asian/Americans & Pacific Islanders, read AsAm News

Muslim's denounce Trump's incendiary tale of bullets dipped in pigs' blood

Gen. John Pershing

THE COUNCIL on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) denounced Donald Trump's tale of a phone  story Friday evening that alleged that U.S. General John Pershing shot Muslim prisoners in the Philippines with bullets soaked in pigs' blood.

Nihad Awad, the executive director of the CAIR, a Mulim/American civil rights group, said in a statement Saturday (Feb. 20) that Trump's comments "crossed the line from spreading hatred to inciting violence."

"By directly stating that the only way to stop terrorism is to murder Muslims in graphic and religiously-offensive ways, he places the millions of innocent, law-abiding citizens in the American Muslim community at risk from rogue vigilantes," Nihad Awad said in a statement. 

"He further implies that our nation should adopt a strategy of systematized violence in its engagement with the global Muslim community, a chilling message from a potential leader. We pray that no one who hears this message follows his gospel of hate."

Trump told his supporters the story at a rally in South Carolina days before the state's primary elections.

Pershing “took 50 bullets and he dipped them in pig’s blood,” he told his audience. “And he had his men load his rifles and he lined up the fifty people, and they shot 49 of those people. And the 50th person, he said, ‘You go back to your people and you tell them what happened.’ And for 25 years there wasn’t a problem.”

Snopes.com previously rated the story, which has circulated on the Internet for years, as a "legend." It traced the tale's origins to a scene in a 1939 film, but found no mention of the alleged incident in various Pershing biographies or historical records.

The story of the bullets definitely didn't work. Muslim resistance didn't go away. Muslim rebels have been fighting the U.S. and the Philippine government continously to the present.

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For more news about Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders, read AsAm News.