A conversation with Jonathan Turner, former refugee aid worker in South Africa and USAID employee<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vermont\/Washington \u2013 When the White House announced its new executive order on February 15, 2025, granting preferential entry to white South Africans, there was little immediate international reaction. President Donald Trump, surrounded by advisors from the \u201cWhite Protection Initiative,\u201d justified the decree with alleged \u201ctargeted killings\u201d of the white Afrikaner minority. In South Africa, Trump claimed, there was a \u201csilent massacre\u201d the media refused to report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In fact, it is a long-debunked narrative, spread for years by far-right networks \u2013 and amplified through Fox News, Telegram channels, and MAGA-aligned radio shows all the way to the White House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The consequences are real: Within weeks, over a thousand visas were issued to white South Africans \u2013 without thorough vetting, without assessing actual need. Meanwhile, the wait for Afghan allies, Latin American dissidents, or Syrian opposition figures is growing by the month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jonathan Turner, 46, spent ten years as a refugee aid worker in South Africa \u2013 for the Peace Corps, for USAID, later as a human rights consultant. Today he lives quietly in Vermont \u2013 but he does not stay silent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"I was a Peace Corps volunteer in South Africa from 2015 to 2017. The village where I served was one of the so-called 'Tribal Homelands.' That\u2019s where Black people were forcibly relocated during apartheid \u2013 driven from the areas where they had lived for generations.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He describes places without running water, without sanitation infrastructure, without any real prospects. Extreme poverty. Minimal education. Few jobs. No access to participation. Then came Trump\u2019s announcement \u2013 and for Turner, it felt like someone was rewriting history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"It is outrageous that President Trump is granting white South Africans immediate entry into the U.S. as a \u2018persecuted minority.\u2019 These people live in modern cities with shopping malls, air conditioning, private clinics \u2013 they are not persecuted. They are privileged.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What hits him especially hard is the comparison with those truly in need of protection \u2013 those to whom the U.S. is closing its doors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"Many brave people who worked alongside our military in Iraq and Afghanistan are still stuck in camps. Their applications are stalled. And then well-off white South Africans arrive and are welcomed with open arms. That is a slap in the face.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Between the myth of white persecution in South Africa and reality lies a wide gap. But in America, the lie flourishes \u2013 fueled by right-wing media and silence at the top.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"Most Americans have no idea how complex the social reality in South Africa really is. Yes, there is crime \u2013 but it affects everyone. The idea that white people are being systematically murdered is a lie. The victims are overwhelmingly Black. And Trump knows that. He is using this lie for his politics.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then Turner speaks about how he experiences the U.S. today \u2013 and what it means to him to be an American. A quiet protest against what his country has become.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"I\u2019m not the kind of neighbor who likes to pick fights with the people around me. I just say what I think \u2013 citizen to citizen. I want to tell you how I feel about your American flag \u2013 the one with Donald Trump superimposed on it. What that flag says to me is: \u2018Trump is America, America is Trump.\u2019 That is dangerous and wrong. If you are tempted to say, \u2018Heck yes!\u2019 \u2013 then please think about the following: At the infamous 1933 Nazi rally in Nuremberg, one of Hitler\u2019s henchmen said, \u2018Hitler is Germany, Germany is Hitler!\u2019\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"The problem I have with that flag is this: The flag of the United States is supposed to represent all of us \u2013 you, me, and yes, even Trump \u2013 but not only Trump. If you truly are a patriot, whatever that\u2019s supposed to mean \u2013 maybe someone who believes in what this country is meant to stand for: a nation of the people, by the people, for the people \u2013 then take that flag down and raise a normal Stars and Stripes flag, one that represents all of us.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But for Turner, it\u2019s no longer just about symbolism. It\u2019s about a climate that has changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"Trump\u2019s presidency has changed the way people relate to each other. Many folks behave like they\u2019re under hypnosis. It\u2019s eerie at times. People speak more quietly. They watch their surroundings. You see a police car and feel panic \u2013 even though you haven\u2019t done anything wrong. It\u2019s like you keep telling yourself: Stay hidden. Protect your family. Don\u2019t speak.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I ask him: How will this end?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"You asked me: How will this Trump thing end? I don\u2019t know. I hope it can be resolved peacefully \u2013 I truly hope so.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the Democrats?
\"What\u2019s going on with the Democrats? Your Democrats?\" \u2013 he smiles crookedly<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"A lot of people are ready to fight. But in the leadership, there are problems. Still \u2013 I\u2019m sure the Democrats will fight Trump and the MAGA movement. For the country. For the Constitution.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why do so few step in when people are taken by ICE in residential neighborhoods?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"You know,\" Jonathan says, \"any wrong word about that can land you in jail. Or they\u2019ll slap an ankle monitor on you. And if you\u2019re a foreigner \u2013 you get deported. Just like that. I hear it all the time.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He lifts his gaze, his voice steady.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"But a lot of people \u2013 even here in the U.S. \u2013 don\u2019t see it. They live in another world. Go to Missouri \u2013 people there think everything\u2019s fine. But it\u2019s not fine. And in Arkansas? There, you don\u2019t count the days forward. You count them backward.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What remains is not an answer \u2013 but a warning:
\"I\u2019ve seen refugees who lost everything \u2013 and still held on to their dignity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The question is: Do we still have enough of that left to find ourselves again?\"<\/p>\n
Ein Gespr\u00e4ch mit Jonathan Turner, ehemaliger Fl\u00fcchtlingshelfer in S\u00fcdafrika und Mitarbeiter der USAID. Vermont\/Washington \u2013 Als das Wei\u00dfe Haus am 15. Februar 2025 seine neue Sonderverordnung zur bevorzugten Aufnahme wei\u00dfer S\u00fcdafrikaner ver\u00f6ffentlichte, blieb es international zun\u00e4chst still. Pr\u00e4sident Donald Trump, umgeben von Beratern der \u201eWhite Protection Initiative\u201c, rechtfertigte das Dekret mit angeblichen \u201egezielten T\u00f6tungen\u201c an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1787,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"iawp_total_views":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[49,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-state-news","category-trump-usa"],"yoast_head":"\n