Our View: Refugees not supervisors’ problem, but angry words could be

The local tea party is boiling over with the thought that some Middle Eastern refugees have been relocated to Stanislaus County. Stoked by fear-mongering politicians from coast to coast, these frightened people are apparently ready to march on the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors meeting at 9 a.m. Tuesday at 1010 Tenth Street.

We’re not certain what they hope to accomplish. The county board has nothing to do with immigration policy. Supervisors aren’t responsible for bringing refugees, or anyone else, to the county and they can’t order them to leave.

Instead, we hope supervisors and everyone else would make them feel welcome.

We remind everyone that the word “refugee” doesn’t mean “terrorist.” In this case, it describes families – mothers, fathers and children.

With the attacks in Paris, Beirut and Mali, people are scared and angry.

Directing that anger at refugee families or Muslims who have lived among us for generations is wrong and cowardly. And while their fear is utterly understandable, it is not reasonable.

As much as they want to, the radical Islamists who have perpetrated these terrible attacks have not been able to reach targets in America. Instead, they attack those closest to them – more often than not, other Muslims. That’s why so many are risking their lives to flee.

As bloody and vicious as the attacks have been, their targets are not those they murdered. Their actual aim is to shake the psyche of all civilized societies.

By standing before our Board of Supervisors and venting their fear, we give the terrorists what they want. We show them that their methods are working.

Last Thursday, a county staffer counted 50 phone calls from people concerned about the refugees. Of those, only three offered support for the refugees.

Many callers believed, wrongly, that the county would be addressing the refugee question Tuesday. Perhaps they had been fired up by Bakersfield Assemblywoman Shannon Grove, who last summer blamed the drought on God’s anger. Now she wants all 58 counties to pass resolutions demanding California not accept refugees.

That can’t happen Tuesday; it’s not on the agenda. We hope it never is.

“People are trying to pull the board into a controversy,” said Stanislaus County CEO Stan Risen, a devoutly religious man working diligently on issues affecting the county’s poorest and most hopeless.

We have a suggestion for those who support our nation’s careful approach to accepting people fleeing violence in their homelands – drop in on the meeting. And if the angry, fearful rhetoric boils over, be willing to release some of the steam by speaking up for those who want to show compassion.

Your words of encouragement are the only way to confront unreasonable fear and anger.

This story was originally published November 22, 2015 at 3:57 AM with the headline "Our View: Refugees not supervisors’ problem, but angry words could be."