America’s Skittles: Syrians Are People, Not Candy
On Monday, September 19, Donald Trump Jr. tweeted this message to his audience of over 660,000 followers. The photo likens America’s Syrian refugee crisis to a bowl of Skittles, some of which he screamed are deadly. It has since sparked much discussion on Twitter and has been retweeted over 17,000 times, mostly by critics of the analogy.
We believe that Trump Jr.’s logic is flawed, exaggerated, and not grounded in reality. The image implies that there is a significant chance of being a victim of a refugee-committed terrorist attack. However, the chance of being murdered in a terrorist attack committed by a refugee is just one in 3.4 billion a year. There have been only 20 refugee terrorists admitted since 1975, and they have only succeeded in murdering three Americans (most refugee terrorist attacks have taken place in Europe, not the United States). While all of these deaths are tragic, terrorist acts perpetrated by refugees are few and far between, and don’t pose a significant risk to our public safety.
More often than not, today’s terrorist attacks are committed by radicalized Americans that have been brainwashed by extremist ideology. We should focus our efforts on stopping ISIS from recruiting even more followers. For example, Omar Mateen, the mass shooter who killed 49 and wounded 53 others in an Orlando nightclub several months ago, was not a refugee, but a radicalized local.
The tweet in question was originally written by former conservative Illinois Representative Joe Walsh. Walsh responded to Trump Jr. on Twitter, saying,
Trump Jr.’s tweet is only creating unnecessary fear among Americans—something that is vital to the success of the Trump campaign.
“Hey @DonaldTrumpJr, that’s the point I made last month. Glad you agree.” Many people have blamed Trump Jr. for “stealing” Walsh’s words. Soon after the tweet was posted, Jason Miller, a spokesman for the Trump campaign, issued a statement saying that the message was “speaking the truth,” and that Trump Jr. is “a tremendous asset to the campaign.” In true Trump fashion, the campaign refused the opportunity to distance itself from this controversy despite the large number of liberals and conservatives alike criticizing the message. Hillary Clinton’s campaign spokesman Nick Merrill responded to the tweet stating: “This is disgusting.” Additionally, Wrigley Americas, the company that produces Skittles, disapproved of the post. They stated, “Skittles are candy. Refugees are people. We don’t feel it’s an appropriate analogy. We respectfully refrain from further commentary as anything we say could be misinterpreted as marketing.”
We agree with the company’s sentiment; not only is the tweet a gross exaggeration of how many refugees are actually affiliated with terrorist groups, but the analogy removes the humanity of refugees, and radically oversimplifies a very nuanced issue. The chance of being killed by a refugee in a terrorist attack is approximately 0.000000000029 percent per year. Trump Jr.’s tweet is only creating unnecessary fear among Americans—something that is vital to the success of the Trump campaign. This Skittles debacle is just the latest in Trump’s string of controversies. It will simply further enrage his opponents, and do nothing to change the minds of his supporters.