Seth Kaper-Dale: Oppose Insidious “Terrorist” Label – for Transgender (and Any Other People!)
Seth Kaper-Dale righteously speaks out in defense of our Transgender citizens and residents who are endangered by the potential false labeling of the perjorative “terrorist” by Trump signed fiat. Similarly Trump has already signed an Executive Order labeling people opposed to fascism as terrorist. Terrorism is a crime and you have to commit it and they need evidence to convict you of it. Declaring swatches of the population as criminals is an action step toward lethal attacks and severe violations of civil and human rights – in effect bringing the bipartisan supported genocide of US and Israel against Palestinians in Gaza to the US streets. Trump is chomping at the bit for an excuse to start executing us en masse and he is taking practice shots blowing up fishing boats off the coast of Venezuela and slaughtering Venezuelans for no reason. That is coming here and Transgender might be targeted and anyone who is against fascism – and protests – will be called ANTIFA as a justiification for lethal attacks. The threat is also to Palestine supporters under the fascist IHRA narrative that has widespread support among Democrats including NJ Democrats in the State Legislature.
Regardless of your personal opinions on every nuance of the gender fluidity issue and even if you are religiously opposed to the idea of a sexuality spectrum – surely everyone agrees and is ready to defend if Trump tramples civil rights and starts physical attacks and round ups on Transgender – or opponents of fascism – or Palestine freedom supporters – or immigrants – and all other groups being targeted. Small differences can be set aside in unifying against big fascist attacks.
You can not make someone guilty of any crime they did not commit by signing a piece of paper. Media and attorneys should be screaming every time they try to do it but it all is about creating a pretext to bring every kind of harm including legal, economic and physical against all of us at the whim of politicians and that includes Democrats playing the fascist IHRA card against our pro-Palestine movement!
Much of what Trump does is create bluster but there is true danger that he and his MAGA barker minions can be activivated – any minute of any day. Get We Ready to Defend We!
I have, for months, had a hard time reflecting on any topic other than the genocide in Gaza and the U.S. responsibility for it.
There are a million other things I’m also concerned about (immigration, refugees, unaccompanied children, victims of trafficking, affordable homes, sports betting, etc…) but while we’re turning Palestinian children into dust with our weapons, or permitting slow starvation for those who have so-far avoided the bombs and missiles, it’s been hard to focus my mind elsewhere.
That is, until I saw Kash Patel, head of the FBI, start talking about the Transgender community as a “Nihilistic Violent Extremist” (NVE) group. The Bureau defines “Nihilistic Violent Extremism” as “criminal conduct… in furtherance of political, social, or religious goals that derive primarily from a hatred of society at large and a desire to bring about its collapse by sowing indiscriminate chaos.” It’s a new B.S. category they just came up with.
The complete and totally atrocious lying in that statement needs to be called out. The abusive behavior of the President, the FBI, and the Heritage Foundation needs to be named for what it is. I want to hear Democrats at all levels loudly calling out Trump and co. Sins of Omission (i.e. silence) are almost as bad as sins of Commission. Sometimes they are worse.
It seems to me that the goal of this kind of anti-trans rhetoric within FBI categories is purely to sow seeds of hate and to try to set the stage so that any time it is possible to link a trans person to any sort of incident it can just further perpetuate the lie that all trans people are a certain violent way.
Trans people are people. They are made in the image of God. They are trying to figure out their identities as human beings like everyone else is. We are all on a journey to understanding and we ought to exercise extreme love and generosity with anyone who is journeying toward a fuller understand of the self.
Making blanket statements about communities, especially in ways that perpetuate stereotypes and leads to violence, is to commit an egregious sin.
The President, Kash Patel, and all who are attempting to poison the lives of trans people by perpetuating lies, need to repent and make amends. Seriously, you must be very, very sick, at the level of your soul, if you think that trans people are the biggest threat to the world right now.
That ‘sin, repentance, amends’ stuff is ‘Christian language’ that I don’t tend to use in posts like this. But, since most of this hate is being perpetuated by those who claim to be Christians I thought I’d use some of the traditional words related to faith. Do you take your own lives with God seriously? At the moment it appears you don’t. To unlove your transgender neighbors to such a degree is to live separated from God. To live separated from God is to live in hell–hell on earth. You have a choice. Be kind, generous, slow to violence toward the Trans community and maybe find the God made manifest in Christ’s incarnation.
peace, seth
