I woke up on November 9th, wondering, like many Americans, WHAT THE FUCK (okay, another buck in the swear jar) happened. What it would mean. Would we come together as one country, under God, and somehow plug through the next few years, or would we allow the divisive campaign raged by Trump to divide us?
I went to work that morning, as I did many mornings, and my smug freight manager (a yuge Trump supporter) asked how I felt. I was honest, saying, "about like I've been punched. I don't know how this happened, and it scares me for the next four years."
It scares me for immigrants like my husband. It scares me even more for people like my dear friend, who's from a country actually ON the list. It scares me for his wife, who has to wonder now not only about being Muslim, but also about being married to someone on the list and being of that heritage herself, even though she's a US citizen.
While Lebanon isn't on THIS list and wasn't on the last one, what's to stop the POTUS from reissuing a ban WITH Lebanon on the list somewhere down the line?
It has become "okay" in Trump's America to attack places of worship-- Jewish synagogues are being attacked, and mosques are being sent threatening letters left and right. All of the local masjids here in metro Los Angeles have received one, even the Islamic Center of Orange County, which is extremely welcoming to those of other faiths.
This scares me. We are all "People of the Book" as Islam refers to us all. The 1st Amendment guarantees ALL Americans the right to freely practice their religion. There's no "except Muslims or Jews" clause. EVERYONE should feel welcome to practice their religion, no matter how "unpopular" it might be. EVERYONE should feel safe in their place of worship and not have to worry about looking over their shoulder during a worship service. EVERYONE should feel free to wear hijab or other symbols of their faith (like a Jewish yamulke) without feeling threatened.
But this is Trump's America, where it's somehow acceptable to attack people for their faith. To send places of worship vague, slightly veiled threats which undermine the 1st Amendment and also, the security all of us should be able to feel as Americans. The bigotry which was undercover for much of my life is now on the surface. This isn't my America. It makes me even more determined to engage in interfaith activities with Muslims, with Buddhists, with others.
I call for everyone who reads this: DO NOT LET BIGOTRY WIN. DO NOT LET HATE WIN. America was already great, without the POTUS' hate. We are STILL great, but we cannot lose sight of what made us great.
And that's immigrants. That's all of the religions of the world being present in this country. Heck, they're all present in this COUNTY of mine. Our collective fabric is made up of Muslims. A Jewish heart surgeon was one of the ones that helped to save my father's life when he very nearly died from a heart attack in February, 1996. She helped to place the cardiac stents in his coronary arteries, which SAVED him, and has prevented, as of the past 21 years, further MI's.
Muslims have contributed greatly to many of the things we all take for granted in this country and world we all share. Without Muslims, we wouldn't have algebra, and all of the things that algebra helps us do in society. Without Muslims, the Dark Ages would've remained, because the important learning and breakthroughs which took place during this time... didn't happen but in Muslim lands.
We owe Muslims a lot... and it's time we remembered it.
In the next few days, I'll likely be sending up a "New Muslimahs Hijab Fund" on Go Fund Me. I want to do my part to encourage those entering this faith.
I know it's hard. I'm a convert (to Catholicism) myself. My Mom wasn't the most supportive initially, although she's come around. She still sees my faith as a "rebellion" against all I was taught as a child, and against her personally. In a way, she's right. The church I grew up did so many things contrary to the fabric of Christianity. I felt if they'd do what they did, then their other beliefs, namely that Catholics were really, really BAD, were also wrong. I'd gone to Mass as a teen, with my Catholic Aunt and Uncle. And as a nearly 25 year old, I began going to Mass again, as part of the RCIA process. It felt like home, and I had that sense of religious community, of belonging, that I needed. That I hadn't ever had.
I went to work that morning, as I did many mornings, and my smug freight manager (a yuge Trump supporter) asked how I felt. I was honest, saying, "about like I've been punched. I don't know how this happened, and it scares me for the next four years."
It scares me for immigrants like my husband. It scares me even more for people like my dear friend, who's from a country actually ON the list. It scares me for his wife, who has to wonder now not only about being Muslim, but also about being married to someone on the list and being of that heritage herself, even though she's a US citizen.
While Lebanon isn't on THIS list and wasn't on the last one, what's to stop the POTUS from reissuing a ban WITH Lebanon on the list somewhere down the line?
It has become "okay" in Trump's America to attack places of worship-- Jewish synagogues are being attacked, and mosques are being sent threatening letters left and right. All of the local masjids here in metro Los Angeles have received one, even the Islamic Center of Orange County, which is extremely welcoming to those of other faiths.
This scares me. We are all "People of the Book" as Islam refers to us all. The 1st Amendment guarantees ALL Americans the right to freely practice their religion. There's no "except Muslims or Jews" clause. EVERYONE should feel welcome to practice their religion, no matter how "unpopular" it might be. EVERYONE should feel safe in their place of worship and not have to worry about looking over their shoulder during a worship service. EVERYONE should feel free to wear hijab or other symbols of their faith (like a Jewish yamulke) without feeling threatened.
But this is Trump's America, where it's somehow acceptable to attack people for their faith. To send places of worship vague, slightly veiled threats which undermine the 1st Amendment and also, the security all of us should be able to feel as Americans. The bigotry which was undercover for much of my life is now on the surface. This isn't my America. It makes me even more determined to engage in interfaith activities with Muslims, with Buddhists, with others.
I call for everyone who reads this: DO NOT LET BIGOTRY WIN. DO NOT LET HATE WIN. America was already great, without the POTUS' hate. We are STILL great, but we cannot lose sight of what made us great.
And that's immigrants. That's all of the religions of the world being present in this country. Heck, they're all present in this COUNTY of mine. Our collective fabric is made up of Muslims. A Jewish heart surgeon was one of the ones that helped to save my father's life when he very nearly died from a heart attack in February, 1996. She helped to place the cardiac stents in his coronary arteries, which SAVED him, and has prevented, as of the past 21 years, further MI's.
Muslims have contributed greatly to many of the things we all take for granted in this country and world we all share. Without Muslims, we wouldn't have algebra, and all of the things that algebra helps us do in society. Without Muslims, the Dark Ages would've remained, because the important learning and breakthroughs which took place during this time... didn't happen but in Muslim lands.
We owe Muslims a lot... and it's time we remembered it.
In the next few days, I'll likely be sending up a "New Muslimahs Hijab Fund" on Go Fund Me. I want to do my part to encourage those entering this faith.
I know it's hard. I'm a convert (to Catholicism) myself. My Mom wasn't the most supportive initially, although she's come around. She still sees my faith as a "rebellion" against all I was taught as a child, and against her personally. In a way, she's right. The church I grew up did so many things contrary to the fabric of Christianity. I felt if they'd do what they did, then their other beliefs, namely that Catholics were really, really BAD, were also wrong. I'd gone to Mass as a teen, with my Catholic Aunt and Uncle. And as a nearly 25 year old, I began going to Mass again, as part of the RCIA process. It felt like home, and I had that sense of religious community, of belonging, that I needed. That I hadn't ever had.
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