In the wake of this week’s tragic Brussels terror attacks, Sen. Ted Cruz issued an offensive and logistically dubious statement suggesting that “We need to empower law enforcement to patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods before they become radicalized.”
It didn’t take long for a wave of criticism to rain down on Cruz, from other presidential candidates, news anchors, and journalists who not only noted the bigotry of this statement, but also its nonsensical nature (Cruz couldn’t even cite a single Muslim neighborhood in the United States with high incidences of radicalization.)
Below are some of the best condemnations of Ted Cruz’s comments.
1
President Barack Obama
“As far as the notion of having surveillance of neighborhoods where Muslims are present, I just left a country that engages in that kind of neighborhood surveillance,” Obama said, “which by the way, the father of Sen. Cruz escaped for America, the land of the free. The notion that we would start down that slippery slope makes absolutely no sense.”
Chanclazo Score: ? ? ? ? ?
2
CBS This Morning's Norah O'Donnell and TODAY's Savannah Guthrie
Media Slam Ted Cruz For Calling To Surveil Muslim CommunitiesTed Cruz said he wants to surveil Muslim communities in America, and for once the media called out anti-Muslim bigotry in no uncertain terms. It’s about time.
Posted by Media Matters for America on Wednesday, March 23, 2016
The women of CBS This Morning and TODAY really went in on Cruz, pressing him for specifics. “How would you define a Muslim neighborhood?” Savannah Guthrie asked him. “Is there a certain percentage of Muslims that have to live there? And do you have to have any particular suspicion that they’re being radicalized, or is it just the mere fact that they’re Muslims, in your mind, means police officers should be securing and patrolling those areas?”
Chanclazo Score: ? ???
3
New York City Police Commissioner Bill Bratton
Speaking at a news conference, Bratton said “The statements he made today is why he’s not gonna become president of this country,” noting that Cruz has “no idea what the hell he’s talking about.”
Bratton also added, “I have almost a thousand Muslim officers in the NYPD. Ironically, when he’s running around here, we probably have a few Muslim officers guarding him [Cruz].”
Chanclazo Score: ? ?? [We wanted to give this burn more, but let’s not forget The NYPD really did target and surveil Muslims for years, so….]
4
The #MuslimNeighborhood Hashtag
Muslim Americans have responded to Cruz’s offensive comment with the Twitter hashtag #MuslimNeighborhood, which simultaneously debunks the idea that there even are radical Muslim neighborhoods to begin with, and also shows images of Muslims living their daily lives like any other Americans.
Chanclazo Score: ? ?
5
Michael Ian Black
In dark times such as these, acerbic sarcasm is sometimes all you can muster.
Chanclazo Score: ? ??