The Daily Show is getting to the bottom of why so many governors are refusing to let in Syrian refugees—and it’s not just to show how tough they are.
In the wake of last week’s Paris attacks, there’s been a lot of panic among politicians and the public. The governors who don’t want Syrian refugees have no authority to block them. Republicans in Congress are trying to halt the current plan to bring in refugees or modify it to only bring in Christians. President Obama strongly opposes those efforts.
None of the men identified so far as Paris attackers were from Syria; the man in charge is Belgian. And the tone with which many politicians are discussing Syrian refugees is already raising comparisons to the attitude Americans had toward Jewish refugees prior to World War II.
LITERALLY THE SAME WORDS pic.twitter.com/saTpAHfSP4
— Jack Mirkinson (@jackmirkinson) November 17, 2015
The first governor to refuse refugees was Alabama’s Robert Bentley. But it’s not because he thought he could actually prevent refugees from settling in Alabama, Roy Wood Jr explained to Trevor Noah. Instead, it’s that Alabama just hasn’t figured out how to be racist to them yet—aside from the xenophobia and perpetuating the belief that there are terrorists among them.
“Oppression is like good barbecue,” Wood Jr. explained. “If refugees can just hold out a little while longer, we’ll have some racism ready for them that will fall right off the bone!”
Screengrab via The Daily Show