For Obama, A Little Religion Might Be A Little Too Much

Originally published in Illume Magazine. Found at alt.muslim

In a 1937 Gallup poll, 47 percent of Americans said they would not support a Jewish candidate for President, regardless of a candidate's qualifications. During the past 70 years that number has dropped to a low of 15 percent, even prompting a Vice-Presidential hopeful in 2000 (Joe Lieberman).

The zenith of that anti-Semitic era was the "Red Scare" of 1919-1920. Mitchell Palmer, the US Attorney General of the time, accused Jewish Americans of being "foreign-born" subversives, claiming that in their midst they had 60,000 organized agitators of the Trotsky doctrine (much like today's "Green Scare", which claims that Muslim sleeper cells hide in every mosque).

Leon Trotsky was a Ukrainian-born revolutionary who lived in New York before leaving to lead the Red Army against communist opponents, including American troops.

Two decades later, half of all Americans said that they would never vote for a Jewish president; and in a subsequent poll (1944), one-quarter accused them of being "less patriotic".

So, why rehash this dark chapter in our history? Because, in truth, bigotry never dies, it merely blends in to its chronometric background; like a chameleon stepping from yesterday's narrative into today's, seeking a modern antagonist.