Fear is relevant, but we are over reacting too early

There is a lot of buzz surrounding the ISIS attacks that occurred in Paris and other parts of the world, and speculation about 14 Syrian refugees entering Louisiana has everyone on their heels.

Many citizens in our state fear they will be in danger of an epidemic of diseases and the possibility of a terrorist attack on Louisiana grounds. The lack of information about these refugees is creating a stir because little is known about the Syrians that crossed our border. While the fear is relevant, we are overreacting too early. State Police Colonel Mike Edmondson released a statement ensuring that there is no indication of threat to any person, business or organization within Louisiana.

The Syrians are fleeing from a four-year-long civil war and religious persecution since January. So far there have been 1,809 refugees (most of them women and children) that have made their way to the United States; however, according to the Obama administration, the plan is to resettle 10,000 Syrians in 2016. As of right now, seven refugees have resettled in Kenner, six were placed in New Orleans and one in Baton Rouge.

Gov. Bobby Jindal was infuriated with this decision by President Barack Obama and sent him a letter saying, “As Governor of Louisiana, I demand information about Syrian refugees being placed in Louisiana in hopes that the night of horror in Paris is not duplicated here.”

On Monday Jindal signed an executive order preventing additional refugees from entering Louisiana. Several other state officials have joined Jindal in rejecting all other Syrians on their territory.

This debate has opened the door for politics and a debate between gov. candidates John Bel Edwards and David Vitter. During a debate, Edwards called out Vitter for not being at hearings in Washington about the refugee crisis and claimed that he could have stopped the issue.

A poll released by Bloomburg Politics poll yesterday found that 53 percent of American adults do not want Syrian refugees resettled in the U.S., while 28 percent said the Obama administration should proceed with the plan.

To have these refugees in our state without any information is frightening for our state and country, but we can’t stop our lives. This refugee plan was already in the works and for Syrians to come to Louisiana a couple of days after the tragedy in Paris was definitely premature. Despite this, we cannot compare our lives to the Syrians because they never had the freedom that we take for granted.

ISIS released a statement this week saying Washington D.C. will be next on their hit list. There is a misconception that the organization is all, Syrians when there are many different members of different ethnic groups not native to Syria. We cannot fear just Syrians, we need to fear our world.