Daily Rant: Msnbc political analyst Michelle Bernard reacts to Rep. Peter King’s upcoming hearings on radical Islam saying, he “should remember the mistakes made by our predecessors so that he does not place our nation in a position to repeal their transgressions.”

MSNBC TRANSCRIPT:

>>> within the american community. for a long time, we thought this couldn’t happen in our country, but the fact is, it is.

>> it’s a disturbing use of a congressional hearing. and to use it to essentially go after a religious minority group i think is a scary proposition.

>> well, the debate heating up in peter king’s hearings on the radicalization of muslim americans. since he announced the hearings, the congressman has been called everything from a concerned american to a modern day joe mccarthy. here with more is michelle bernard. hi, michelle.

>> hi, dylan. on thursday, house homeland security chairman peter king will hold hearings to allegedly seek to examine the radicalization of american muslims. this hearing is solely about muslims and no other group. now, unless congressman king drastically alters its scope, he will lead what will be remembered as another flawed and discriminatory hearing in the wake of a national tragedy. now, it’s been said that those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. congressman king should remember the mistakes made by his predecessors so that he does not place our nation in a position to repeat their transgressions. it was our nation that passed the chinese exclusion act in 1882, which stopped the flow of chinese immigrants into the country for ten years, making it virtually impossible for chinese immigrants of that time to become a true part of our nation. after that law, japanese immigrants became a major source of labor on the west coast. these japanese immigrants were employed by railroad companies and factories. many eventually started their own businesses. and like all immigrants to the united states, they came here to experience freedom and pursue the american dream. but in the 1920s, congressman albert johnson, a republican from washington, convened hearings to investigate whether japanese immigrants could be assimilated into american society. now, congressman johnson later co-authored the 1924 law that curtailed most immigration to the united states considered non-white, including japanese. many historians believe that that set the stage for the persecution and internment of the japanese american population during world war ii. since 2004, i have had the honor of working with hundreds of muslim women and men from afghanistan, iraq and iran to promote the universal principles of human rights, women’s rights and democracy. every one of the women and men i have worked with have demonstrated nothing but admiration for america, all that she’s been, all that she is and all that she can be. like the attack on pearl harbor, the attacks of september 11th took the lives of thousands of innocent people and forever stole our sense of security. however, these attacks did not change in any way what it means to be american. in light of the fight for freedom and democracy in tunisia, egypt, yemen, libya and elsewhere in northern africa and the middle east, congressman king’s targeting of american muslims will undoubtedly make us appear to be a nation of hypocrites. that this could take place in the nation that gave birth to the greatest democracy this world has ever known is truly beyond comprehension. congressman king’s hearing does our nation an enormous disservice. the desire for life, liberty and freedom live within each of us, muslim americans included. now, ironically, today muslims and arabs across the world are drawing lessons from an old comic book entitled ” martin luther king and the montgomery story.” congressman king would be wise to do the same thing.

>> and what would he learn?

>> he would learn that people — that you cannot discriminate against one group of people, that what we should be doing as a nation of people who think that espousal belief in liberty and freedom is look at the actions of terrorists and what terrorists do and not conclude that because someone is a muslim, because someone is of a certain race or ethnicity, that it means that they are a terrorist, that they are un-american and that they are a danger to our country. that’s what he would learn and that’s what he needs to concentrate on.

>> and do you think it’s a matter of him being educated or do you think that he may already know everything you just said and is just using this as a political opportunity to exploit the ability to get people scared, and again, muslims do look different than a lot of white americans, and that tends to be a good way to generate fear and confusion and exploitation?

>> you know, i am hoping that he really does understand this, and i’m hoping that it is not a political ploy. but the bottom line is, we hear so many people talking about american exceptionalism. this is not america at its best.

>> all right. listen, a fine rant, michelle. thank you so