Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right

by Arlie Russell Hochschild

With the arrival in 2015 of Syrian refugees to the United States, fleeing the flames of war at home, one more set of faces seemed to my Tea Party informants to be pulling ahead in line—and they were dangerous, besides. Lee Sherman saw the Syrians as potential members of ISIS. “Ninety percent of them are men, and I think we ought to put them in Guantánamo,” he said. “But they aren’t enemy combatants,” I reminded him. “I know, but you can take the fences down, make it less like a prison,” he replied. “If you let them into the U.S. they will have all our rights to things.” Comparing the refugees to Southerners during the Civil War, Mike Schaff, himself a refugee from the Bayou Corne Sinkhole, said, “General Lee led brave Southerners who, though grossly outnumbered and woefully under-armed, refused to flee their country as refugees. They stayed, fought, and many died. Their wives and children, many raped and murdered, also stayed to care for their homes. After their defeat, again, they did not flee. They stayed to eventually reshape our government. The Syrians should stay, take a stand, and fight for what they believe in. If you flee, in my mind, you’re a traitor unto yourself. This is harsh, I know, but sometimes we have to make tough choices.” Jackie Tabor said, “We are protecting Muslims and persecuting Christians. Have you ever seen a Muslim charity event for people in need, or soup kitchen for the homeless? A Muslim Thanksgiving? Where is the Muslim name on the Declaratio...