Is the US operating concentration camps right now? Liz Cheney’s ignorant attack on AOC sparks debate – with experts saying yes
Thanks to AOC (and Liz Cheney’s Ignorance) America Is Having a Conversation We Need to Have
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) attacked her fellow Member of Congress, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Tuesday, after the New York Democrat said in a video that the Trump administration is operating concentration camps to house migrants.
“The U.S. is running concentration camps on our southern border and that is exactly what they are,” Ocasio-Cortez declared.
Cheney, who is the third most-powerful Republican in the House, attacked AOC, telling her she should “spend just a few minutes learning some actual history.” She further criticized Ocasio-Cortez, saying, “6 million Jews were exterminated in the Holocaust. You demean their memory and disgrace yourself with comments like this.”
Congresswoman Cheney’s tweet drew a great deal of attention – and anger.
It wasn’t long before historians and authoritarianism experts weighed in – to tell Cheney was she was absolutely wrong, and AOC is correct.
Among those wanting to set the record straight were actor and activist George Takei, who at the age of five was taken from his home with his parents and sent to live in a U.S. Japanese internment camp.
I know what concentration camps are. I was inside two of them, in America. And yes, we are operating such camps again.
— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) June 19, 2019
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Some also criticized or corrected journalists for refusing to use the term “concentration camps,” for fear of upsetting conservatives.
AOC: Close Concentration Camps!
ADVERTISEMENTGOP: Study history—they’re NOT Concentration Camps
Historians: Yes they are
GOP: No—ask Japanese
ADVERTISEMENTJapanese: Yes they are
GOP: No—ask Jews
Jews: Yes they are
ADVERTISEMENTGOP: No—we simply detain large numbers of refugees under armed guard
Dictionary: 🤔 pic.twitter.com/reh0x5NuHu
— Qasim Rashid, Esq. (@QasimRashid) June 19, 2019
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Some are claiming calling the concentration camps “concentration camps” invokes Godwin’s Law, which notes that the longer an internet discussion goes on, the more likely Hitler will somehow be invoked. They should know the creator of Godwin’s Law, Mike Godwin, retweeted this:
I did my dissertation on #ConcentrationCamps, so I have a few thoughts about @AOC‘s use of the term to describe the build up of camps on the US southern border. For those in a hurry, here’s the take-home message: By any reasonable definition, these are concentration camps
ADVERTISEMENT— Lester Andrist (@landrist) June 18, 2019
He also engaged with MSNBC’s Chris Hayes, saying that yes, these are concentration camps.
Last comment on this: “concentration camp” is an extremely charged term and I get why many people are, in good faith, uncomfortable with its application for Godwin’s Law purposes among others. So let’s just call them “detention camps” and focus on what’s happening in them.
— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) June 18, 2019
Here are other experts making sure Americans understand that we, indeed, are operating concentration camps:
“Things can be concentration camps without being Dachau or Auschwitz. Concentration camps in general have always been designed…to separate one group of people from another group.” – Waitman Wade Beorn, Holocaust and genocide studies historian at the University of Virginia https://t.co/1gaFpj0pwK
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) June 18, 2019
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Hi, historian specializing in Eugenics and the Holocaust here. Hitler didn’t snap his finger and suddenly kill Jews one day, he imposed a system of oppression towards them including but not limited to work camps before it got to that. Aka: ur wrong. 😊✌️ https://t.co/Om5FNshlZL
— allie (@janetsnakeholez) June 19, 2019
Hi @Liz_Cheney ! Speaking in my professional capacity as a real-life historian AND Jew, just letting you know there is/was a difference between concentration and extermination camps. Also “we’re not as bad as the Nazis” is not a great defense of policy. https://t.co/t9MF6Aqz2s
— Suzanne Schneider (@suzy_schneider) June 18, 2019
1/x Historian here, @Liz_Cheney: The term “concentration camp” does NOT refer only to Nazi or more specifically Holocaust camps. In fact (yes, just a fact: please read up) it is also commonly used for camps in other contexts, for instance the Boer War or former Soviet camps. @AOC https://t.co/tS8PvHBsm1
— Tarik Cyril Amar (@TarikCyrilAmar) June 18, 2019
‘It would be funny if it weren’t so tragic’: Nicolle Wallace recalls the Republicans who once denounced Trump’s racism
MSNBC anchor Nicolle Wallace on Tuesday let loose on the Republican Party for refusing to stand up against President Donald Trump's racism.
Following President Donald Trump's racist attacks on four young women of color in Congress, the House of Representatives is debating a resolution to condemn the commander-in-chief's racism.
Not a single Republican voted to allow debate on the anti-racism resolution.
Presiding House Dem bangs gavel and quits after GOP throws a fit over Pelosi calling Trump’s tweet racist
A House Speaker's words have not been taken down from the record since 1984, but Tuesday, Republicans waged a war against Speaker Nancy Pelosi for having the temerity to call President Donald Trump's recent tweets racist.
Trump told four Congresswomen of color to go back to the country they came from. Democrats sought to pass a resolution saying that the tweets were "disgusting, disparaging and racist," but Republicans said doing so violates House rules.
After an hour of discussion between the two parties, a frustrated Congressman Rev. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO), acting as the chiar, responded.
Republican strategist Tara Setmayer told a CNN panel that the only way the GOP is going to be willing to stand up to President Donald Trump is if he uses the N-word.
In a panel discussion with CNN's Jake Tapper, Setmayer said that the Republicans in office will bend over backward trying to defend everything the president says and does.
"I think we’re at the point where I think anything short of the N-word they will make excuses for because at that point there is really no question about it, right?" she said. "So, it is obvious to everyone else, it is amazing to me how many of the Republicans are going out there and I said this yesterday, try to white-splain to people of color what racism is and what it feels like to deal with that every single day."
Kellyanne Conway blows up on Fox: ‘We’re sick and tired of many people in this country’ who support Democrats
‘White nationalists will never love you’: Hispanic Trump supporter goes down in flames during CNN debate
McConnell stumped after reporter asks if it’s OK to tell his immigrant wife to ‘go back to your country’
Trump has a white-hot Twitter meltdown over the House vote condemning him as a racist
MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow shows what Trump was trying to distract from with his latest racist attacks
‘It would be funny if it weren’t so tragic’: Nicolle Wallace recalls the Republicans who once denounced Trump’s racism
Presiding House Dem bangs gavel and quits after GOP throws a fit over Pelosi calling Trump’s tweet racist
GOP strategist Tara Setmayer says Republicans will defend Trump until he uses the N-word
The media’s ‘Made in America’ problem: Trump creates racist controversy — and gets free campaign coverage
‘Devastating, illegal, and unethical’: Trump denounced for imposing sweeping attack on abortion rights nationwide
‘It would be funny if it weren’t so tragic’: Nicolle Wallace recalls the Republicans who once denounced Trump’s racism
Presiding House Dem bangs gavel and quits after GOP throws a fit over Pelosi calling Trump’s tweet racist
GOP strategist Tara Setmayer says Republicans will defend Trump until he uses the N-word
GOP congressman demands Pelosi’s House floor statement be ‘taken down’ after she denounces Trump’s racist tweets
