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Ethnic profiling is not democratic, nor is it polite.
But during wartime, people who have characteristics in common with the
enemy are looked upon with suspicion, even malice. Like it or not, the
burden of loyalty is upon those who are suspected, not upon those who
suspect.
During the Civil War, insinuations of disloyalty were
made against American Jews. Like the Muslims of today, they constituted a
distinct ethnic group, recently arrived immigrants, with language, customs
and religious beliefs different from other Americans. The appointment of
Judah P. Benjamin to a prominent position in the Confederate government
provided additional motivation to suspect Jewish loyalty, even though
Benjamin was an assimilated, intermarried secularist estranged from his
own community. Jewish travellers were harassed by Union patrols at state
lines who had been given specific orders to single them out:
I have been very busy in answering the innumerable questions of
civilians, and hope they are now about through. I found so many Jews and
speculators here trading in cotton, and secessionists had become so open
in refusing anything but gold, that I have felt myself bound to stop it.
This gold has but one use—the purchase of arms and ammunition, which can
always be had for gold, at Nassau, New Providence, or Cincinnati; all the
guards we may establish cannot stop it. Of course I have respected all
permits by yourself or the Secretary of the Treasury, but in these new
cases (swarms of Jews) I have stopped it.
General William T. Sherman, July 30, 1862.
Refuse all permits to come south of Jackson for the present. The
Israelites especially should be kept out.
General U.S. Grant, November 9, 1862.
Give orders to all the conductors on the road that no Jews are to be
permitted to travel on the railroad southward from any point. They may go
north and be encouraged in it; but they are such an intolerable nuisance
that the department must be purged of them.
General U.S. Grant, November 10, 1862.
I have long since believed that in spite of all the vigilance that can
be infused into post commanders, the specie regulations of the Treasury
Department have been violated, and that mostly by Jews and other
unprincipled traders. So well satisfied have I been of this that I
instructed the commanding officer at Columbus to refuse all permits to
Jews to come South, and I have frequently had them expelled from the
department, but they come in with their carpet-sacks in spite of all that
can be done to prevent it. The Jews seem to be a privileged class that can
travel everywhere. They will land at any wood-yard on the river and make
their way through the country. If not permitted to buy cotton themselves
they will act as agents for some one else, who will be at a military post
with a Treasury permit to receive cotton and pay for it in Treasury notes
which the Jew will buy up at an agreed rate, paying gold.
General U.S. Grant, December 17, 1862.
The Jews, as a class violating every regulation of trade established by
the Treasury Department and also department orders, are hereby expelled
from the department within twenty-four hours from the receipt of this
order.
Post commanders will see that all of this class of people be furnished
passes and required to leave, and any one returning after such
notification will be arrested and held in confinement until an opportunity
occurs of sending them out as prisoners, unless furnished with permit from
headquarters.
No passes will be given these people to visit headquarters for the
purpose of making personal application for trade permits.
General U.S. Grant, December 17, 1862.
The response of the Jewish community to this
uncalled-for profiling, in addition to protesting the injustice, was to
underscore their firm loyalty to the Union cause. Cesar F. Kaskell, a
Jewish citizen of Paducah, Kentucky, and a Union Army veteran, sent this
letter of protest to President Lincoln:
Hon. ABRAHAM LINCOLN,
General Orders, No. 11, issued by General Grant at Oxford, Miss.,
December the 17th, commands all post commanders to expel all Jews, without
distinction, within twenty-four hours, from his entire department. The
undersigned, good and loyal citizens of the United States and residents of
this town for many years, engaged in legitimate business as merchants,
feel greatly insulted and outraged by this inhuman order, the carrying out
of which would be the grossest violation of the Constitution and our
rights as good citizens under it, and would place us, besides a large
number of other Jewish families of this town, as outlaws before the whole
world. We respectfully ask your immediate attention to this enormous
outrage on all law and humanity, and pray for your effectual and immediate
interposition. We would respectfully refer you to the post commander
and post adjutant as to our loyalty, and to all respectable citizens of
this community as to our standing as citizens and merchants. We
respectfully ask for immediate instructions to be sent to the commander of
this post.
D. WOLFF & BROS.
C. F. KASKELL.
J. W. KASKELL.
It was not enough for loyal Jews to protest against
discrimination and injustice, but they felt compelled to prove their
loyalty by more than lip service. They demanded justice, not only because
they were entitled to it, but because they felt that they had earned it.
When the war broke out in 1861, Jewish Messenger
editor Samuel M. Isaacs called on his readers to
Stand By The Flag!
and urging American Jews to show their loyalty by “taking up arms in
defense of their country, pledging themselves to assist in maintaining
inviolate its integrity, and ready to respond, if need be, with their
lives, to the call of the constituted authorities, in the cause of law and
order.”
A Jewish recruit in the Army of the Potomac affirmed, “we are
quite satisfied to fight with our Christian comrades for one cause, one
country, and THE UNION.”
A century and a half later, we have another
distinctive group of newly-arrived immigrants whose loyalty to the United
States is called into question. How are Muslims in America responding to
the challenge? Are there Muslim newspaper editors urging their readers to
Stand By The Flag! even if it means taking up arms against
other Muslims, as Samuel M. Isaacs urged American Jews to do? Have Muslim
clerics proclaimed an unequivocal fatwah against those who commit
murder in the name of Islam? If they are, they haven’t been too successful
in conveying assurances of their loyalty to non-Muslim Americans. When
confronted, most Islamic leaders in America mumble a feeble deprecation of
“all forms of terrorism” before they segue into very loud complaints
against other Americans for making them feel “unwelcome.” As though they
believe that they should continue to enjoy the hospitality of the United
States without showing even the slightest gratitude to America or anger
against those who attacked her, even when it comes at the expense of their
comfort and convenience.
At one time or another all newcomers have had to
pass the test of loyalty—to choose between their adopted country, the
United States, and the country that they left behind. The Jews, English,
Irish, Germans, Italians, Chinese and Japanese who came to America have
chosen the United States. The time has come to stand by the flag without
equivocation. Can the Muslims, as a class, accept this challenge?
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