No courage without fear

Searching for sanity on the refugee issue

In the weeks since ISIS-affiliated terrorists murdered hundreds of civilians in Beirut, Paris and elsewhere, Americans have been treated to a display of anti-refugee hysteria from our political class that would be comical if it weren’t so dangerous. At least 31 governors have said Syrian refugees are not welcome in their states. Candidates for the presidency compete for who can most loudly and callously stoke fear of Syrian refugees, insinuating or outright suggesting that there’s a Fifth Column hidden among them intent on murdering Americans. With this kind of overwrought panic, not only do we turn our backs on families in desperate need of our help without doing anything to improve real security, we also do harm to our own communities. 

In leadership, tone matters. 

Shortly after the attacks, Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett joined the chorus of leaders spreading fear with a Facebook post in which he said he would urge the president “not to accept any more Syrian refugees into our country and we should have never allowed this to begin with.” It was a low point in a mayoral administration that I believe has otherwise capably guided Tulsa through a period of cultural and economic growth.

In the letter Bartlett ultimately sent to the White House his tone and message were markedly different. He did encourage the president to “immediately improve the procedures of evaluating and approving applications of individuals claiming refugee status” and that U.S. borders be “secure and controlled” before any more Syrian refugees are settled in the United States. But he closed by saying that “Our ‘heart of the country’ values to help our fellow man are never in question. Our humanitarian outreaches to all mankind are prevalent and well documented. We are ready to be of service, but we must have a confident and verifiable answer to the question, ‘are we safe regarding our national security at our borders, especially regarding the present and future inflow of non-U.S. citizens?’”

Bartlett’s concerns are shared by many Americans, on evidence when the House of Representatives recently voted to pass legislation to toughen screening procedures for Iraqi and Syrian refugees. Critics of the legislation say it will effectively block refugees from ever entering the country by adding significant delays to a vetting process that can already last as long as three years. FBI Director James Comey has also denounced the legislation and said the FBI’s vetting process is sufficiently stringent. 

Nevertheless, the events of the last few weeks have illustrated a new level of depravity and reach from Islamist terrorists, and it’s reasonable to question our security protocols. We can and should remain as vigilant as possible to protect our communities from attack. 

But vigilance must mean more than strident and misinformed calls to keep out refugees. While fear mongering about Syrian refugees is, obviously, bad for Syrian refugees, it’s also bad for us. It has the effect of demonizing and imperiling people in our Muslim communities, who are some of the civilized world’s greatest allies in the fight against Islamist terrorism. It brings out our worst inclinations, toward suspicion, tribalism, cruelty and indifference to our fellow humans. And spreading terror helps terrorists achieve their primary goal, which is, unsurprisingly, to terrorize us. 

Fear is understandable. Fear is human. Indeed, there can be no courage without fear. But fear also clouds our judgment. Fear is petty. Fear is as bad for our communities as it is for our hearts. And fear is easy. Our leaders are supposed to galvanize and sensibly guide us through periods of fear—to inspire courage in times of terror—not exacerbate our worst tendencies. Despite an initial careless misstep on Facebook, Mayor Bartlett sounded more like that kind of leader in his letter to the president. One hopes he continues down that path of courage and that other leaders who’ve been stoking fear follow suit. 

While we protect ourselves we should reject the politics of fear in favor of the politics of compassion. At times like these it’s especially important that our leaders remind us of our best selves and lead by example in displaying, to borrow the mayor’s phrasing, our “‘heart of the country’ values.”

Denver Nicks is a Tulsa native and a reporter for TIME magazine. He’s the author of Private: Bradley Manning, Wikileaks and the Biggest Exposure of Official Secrets in American History.