• Joel Brown

    Staff Writer

    Portrait of Joel Brown. An older white man with greying brown hair, beard, and mustache and wearing glasses, white collared shirt, and navy blue blazer, smiles and poses in front of a dark grey background.

    Joel Brown is a staff writer at BU Today and Bostonia magazine. He’s written more than 700 stories for the Boston Globe and has also written for the Boston Herald and the Greenfield Recorder. Profile

  • Cydney Scott

    Photojournalist

    cydney scott

    Cydney Scott has been a professional photographer since graduating from the Ohio University VisCom program in 1998. She spent 10 years shooting for newspapers, first in upstate New York, then Palm Beach County, Fla., before moving back to her home city of Boston and joining BU Photography. Profile

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There are 11 comments on Hundreds Protest Trump’s Immigration Ban at Marsh Plaza Rally

  1. Unfortunately, it seems that this nation has lost its collective mind. The FBI has dropped the ball on the Boston marathon bombers (who were asylum seeking refugees) and on the most recent terrorist act as well even after the perpetrator basically told them of his intentions. All of these terrorist acts had one common denominator and it was not a connection to the Irish Republican Army! If the FBI cannot effectively determine who among those individuals already here wants to commit a heinous act of terrorism then it logically follows that an effective system of vetting those seeking refuge here does not cirrently exist.

    It is sad that innocent people waiting to come here may have to wait longer but by comparison the victims of the Boston bombers will never recover from the harm inflicted upon them by the two political asyum seeking refugees. Sadly those who oppose this ban would rather hollar feel good slogans in the streets than confront this harsh reality.

    1. Missy-

      Please note the difference between “asylum seekers” and “refugees” as they have a COMPLETLEY different legal meaning and therefore, a different process of vetting and applying for admittance to the United States. Your lumping together of the two is NOT factually correct. Please also note that those who committed the terrorist acts in Boston grew up here.

      Do you actually know ANYTHING about the refugee resettlement process? Do you know how long it takes to go through it and the extent of it? What about all the Green Card holders who have been detained and deported? How is it EVER okay to discriminate against someone based on their religion? How is that humane…how is that American at all?

      It is concerning to see people like you make comments like this when you seem to know NOTHING at all even when it comes to different types of legal statues of those inside our country, as well as those trying to enter it.

    2. Two things in response to this comment:

      1) A person can migrate to the U.S., while having no intention to commit acts of terror, and then years later, make a decision to do exactly that. My understanding is that is what happened with the Boston bombers: they were radicalized years after immigrating here.

      2) Just because the FBI cannot identify every person who wants to commit acts of terror (which is an unfeasible goal anyhow) that does not mean our vetting process for refugees is inadequate. The two have nothing to do with each other. It takes years for potential refugees to be vetted, by multiple gov’t agencies, and there is no guarantee an applicant will make it to the U.S. Navigating the refugee process is perhaps the least effective way for a potential terrorist to reach our shores. Much easier would be flying to Canada and crossing over the border. And yet no one has even done that yet.

      Long story short, don’t let fear and ignorance drive our decision making. People are fleeing war zones and we are turning them away. We did this before during WW2 – let’s not repeat the mistakes of the past.

    3. What Trump is doing is analogous to the following:

      A couple of people have been pushed onto subway tracks in NYC. Therefore, I am now going to arbitrarily ban all people from the subway who fit a certain profile (whether it’s religion or national origin) and only if they live in certain neighborhoods. It’s arbitrary, haphazard and ineffective, not to mention WRONG.

  2. Headline: Spurred to action by staff and faculty at Boston University that side with liberal media and politicians in opposing an action the President promised during his campaign, impressionable young people duped into demonstrating for a cause they barely understand. If he had not taken this temporary measure, they all would have been crying that he did not keep his campaign promises. Contrast that with the former President who pledged to support traditional marriage and then “evolved” and completely betrayed many of his constituents by failing to enforce federal law (e.g., DOMA).

  3. As an alumnus (CAS’55) and former BU campus minister, I am heartened by student protests. The University has evolved from my time into an international institution. I trust that the administration will do everything within its power to protect all our students. “America First” is a retreat from the best we have to offer – and unfortunately a reminder of isolationist nationalism that needs to be confronted. We can be silent and be run over or we can resist.

  4. Very proud of BU students for making their voices heard. Agree or disagree they are engaged & taking their duty as citizens seriously. This ban is doing far more to hurt our nation’s security than help. I defer to those in the intelligence community who think this is a bad idea. The “ban” was ill thought out and poorly written. The lack of any legal and/or policy experience/input is glaring. Having a conspiracy theorist like Bannon as your go-to guy is a bad idea, to say the least.

  5. “We are all different. There is no such thing as a standard or run-of-the-mill human being, but we share the same human spirit.”
    — Stephen Hawking

    Prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one’s own race is superior is Racism. And we must never underestimate the danger of racism.
    The list of major tragedies in our history that were caused solely by this phenomenon is mind-boggling. Slavery, the Holocaust, The Crusades, the genocide of the American Indian. The list could go on and on. So many people have died or been deprived of basic rights because of a lack of understanding — an understanding that difference in appearance, belief, or way of life does not make one person better than another. That is why racism is against the law. Has party of Lincoln just nominated a racist to be president? We shouldn’t toss around such accusations lightly. One early red flag arose in 1973, when President Richard Nixon’s Justice Department — not exactly the radicals of the day — sued Trump and his father, Fred Trump, for systematically discriminating against blacks in housing rentals.
    Fred Trump appears to have been arrested at a Ku Klux Klan rally in 1927; Woody Guthrie, who lived in a Trump property in the 1950s, lambasted Fred Trump in recently discovered papers for stirring racial hatred.
    Yet even if Donald Trump inherited his firm’s discriminatory policies, he allied himself decisively in the 1970s housing battle against the civil rights movement. Here we have a man who for more than four decades has been repeatedly associated with racial discrimination or bigoted comments about minorities. Because of his problem is one of temperament and character, it will not get better. It will get worse, as power intoxicates Trump and those around him. It will probably end in calamity — substantial domestic protest and violence, a breakdown of international economic relationships, the collapse of major alliances, or perhaps one or more new wars

    We must consciously embrace diversity and say no to racism. For our country for our children.

  6. Civic engagement is the bedrock of our society within America as well. These students represent the university and its welcoming values valiantly. I’m very proud to see them stand up for equality and promise for all.

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