MSNBC’s Ali Velshi used his Saturday show to ponder if Ukrainians fleeing the war zone in their country benefit from being white Christians while Syrians and Afghans do not.
Velshi asked him his question about Atlantic’s Caitlin Dickerson and was confident that he already knew the answer, “I think I know the answer to this, but why have we not been good at this? We—we– were not good with the Afghans, we were not good with the Syrians, we’re—we’re– doing better with the Ukrainians, and a lot of people do sort of seem to think, and they deserve all the help we can give them, but a lot of people seem to think it’s because they’re white and Christians and the other ones aren’t.”
Dickerson tried to have it both ways, “There are so many factors at play here and I’ve spoken to a lot of experts this week who say it would be reductive to chalk up this distinction solely up to race. But as you point out, there’s this undeniable difference that has a lot of people frustrated.”
Velshi spoke of Afghans. It would have been a good idea for him to mention that the U.S. took in approximately 75,000 Afghans between last summer and all those who came after 2001. This makes it less stark than what he claimed.
Dickerson did, however, point to several differences, comparing Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion to “large numbers of people from Vietnam or from Cuba seeking communism” and using the situation as a way to portray Vladimir Putin as the bad guy, although she clearly meant to say “fleeing communism.”
She also argued that the obvious difference between good guys and bad guys in this war makes accepting refugees easier as well as President Biden’s efforts to “show a sense of solidarity with the E.U.”
Unfortunately, Dickerson concluded by undermining her own argument, “But again, you know, we were talking about Syrians earlier, you know, Syrians who are facing a ground war just years ago as well as chemical weapons with help from Putin and couldn’t get that same support from the United States.”
MSNBC can make decent arguments but they destroy it when they immediately disown themselves in the interest of the story.
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This transcript is for the 26 March show.
MSNBC Velshi
3/26/2022
9:00 AM ET
ALI VELSHI: Why do you think, I mean, why—why—have we, I think I know the answer to this, but why have we not been good at this? We—we– were not good with the Afghans, we were not good with the Syrians, we’re—we’re– doing better with the Ukrainians, and a lot of people do sort of seem to think, and they deserve all the help we can give them, but a lot of people seem to think it’s because they’re white and Christians and the other ones aren’t.
CAITLIN DICKERSON: There are so many factors at play here and I’ve spoken to a lot of experts this week who say it would be reductive to chalk up this distinction solely up to race. But as you point out, there’s this undeniable difference that has a lot of people frustrated. I mean, I can talk about, you know, what’s specific in this conflict and also just historically how the U.S. has used these policies. You know, as you and I have discussed, policies like asylum, policies like refugee resettlement and temporarily protected status which we recently opened up to Ukrainians as well, that gives people who are already in the U.S., undocumented or waiting for a resolution on their asylum case, a year of protection.
These aren’t just altruistic policies, they never have been. They’re also geopolitical tools that we’ve used historically to show our superiority, in a way, as a nation. So when we accepted large numbers of people from Vietnam or from Cuba seeking communism, it was the same thing. It’s sort of the ultimate dig on the international arena to say to your enemy, you know, your people are fleeing or people in this case in the territory that you’re trying to take over, are fleeing and coming to us for protection. That’s just how much superior we are as a country.
And so it’s a way of helping people, but also showing our strength. And also in this case we have President Biden trying to show a sense of solidarity with the E.U. As—as– you know, the entirety of the West is strategizing right now to prevent this conflict from growing into something larger, and so this is a way of saying to Europe we’ve got your back. There’s a clearer sort of dog in the fight that the United States has at least in the eyes of people who are making these decisions in Washington. But again, you know, we were talking about Syrians earlier, you know, Syrians who are facing a ground war just years ago as well as chemical weapons with help from Putin and couldn’t get that same support from the United States.
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