(note: the title of this blogpost is meant to be ironic, not denote embarrassment or shame of my beliefs)
Donald Trump, you are a disgrace not only to Americans but to humanity on a whole. Your rhetoric is not what America stands for.
America does not stand for (in no particular order): racism, ignorance, hatred, division, deprivation of rights, religious intolerance, intolerance of any kind, fear monger ins, discrimination, inequality, closed borders.
America, I was taught growing up, was a place where all are accepted. All are treated equal. All are given equal opportunity to reach for their goals regardless of (how many times and in how many places do you find the following words listed?) race, sex, gender, Creed, Ethnicity, religion, political affiliation, etc. In America anything is possible; anyone is possible. The land of freedom and opportunity, our ancestors called it wistfully (to sound wistful now), before boarding huge ships, usually penniless, to come and achieve their dreams and a life of milk and honey.
As I have gotten older I have realized that this Americs, the one we are taught in our history books and in literature (Dear America books, anyone?) does not exist anymore. Or maybe it never really did to some extent. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer. Women’s rights are going backwards. So too are race relations (or perhaps they never went anywhere in the first place) and, apparently, religious tolerance.
You should be deeply ashamed of this so-called proposal to ban all Muslims from entering the United States. You and every single one of your followers, who support you for whatever cause and reason. Name calling is nothing but immature, but let ,e say this: in the words of Jeb Bush, your fellow party candidate, you are unhinged. You are a egotistical, crazy, ignorant madman. I have faith enough that you will not win this election, let alone your party’s nomination, but in the meantime we still have to deal with your immature, big man antics, and that is torture enough.
For even entertaining you in our media, we as a nation have become a laughingstock. If the world feared us before, they should doubly fear us now, because it seems that we have lost our sanity completely. I should not be even writing about you, but forgive me Allah, I cannot help but address this madman, because my words are meant for his sheep too, who might not be mad but certainly have gone astray from the American dream and Americsn values. Even your fellow Republican candidates are denouncing you: I never thought I’d agree with Dick Cheney, who said that your proposal “goes against everything we stand for and believe in.”
Mostly, though, I cannot help but address Trump because I, too, am a Muslim.
What will you do with me, Trump? The next time I leave the country, will you bar me from re entry? Will you question me for hours? Will you make me wear a badge like. Jew in a concentration camp, or even better, send me to a concentration camp? Will you monitor my every move and action, force me to wear an ankle bracelet like a criminal? Force me to register with my fellow Muslims like cattle, or gun owners (because the NRA does such a good job with that?)?
Even worse, will you try to stop me from. Practicing my faith? Will you ostracize me, send me to a reserve in Oklahoma, burn down the osques and Islamic centers? Will you ban all travel to Middle eastern countries for non Muslims too? (because why would you want to set foot in a majority Muslim nation?) really, to look at the picture internationally, do your words mean you intend to prevent Muslim diplomats from entering the nation? Will you cut off all ties with the Muslim world? Dark ages indeed, look what happened to Europe while The Middle East blossomed.
You have outed me, Donald Trump, before I was ready to tell everyone that I have converted to Islam. I am not ashamed of my belief. I am proud. But people will not take lightly to my conversion. They will, no rhyme intended, feel revulsion. Perhaps none of my family members or friends will read this, so I will be in luck. My faith is personal and it is private. I am not going to throw it in people’s faces and make demands, except to leave me in peace. To tolerate me or leave me alone in dignity. But I would like to throw my faith in your face, like a bucket of cold water, but I doubt you would be reborn. You disbelieve, but more importantly, you do not show respect.
What will you do to me? A 26 year old new Muslim? Will you ban me from speaking, from writing? What will you do if I decide to wear hijab, which I do always in the winter cold? Will you come into my home and burn my religious books? Will you tap my phones? Will you convert me back to Christianity?
If you saw me on the street you would not believe I am Muslim. Contrary to some assertions that I Look Russian like your very immigrant wife, I look like A stereotypical American of yesteryear: white, blue eyes, light brown hair with hints of red and gold. I dress like an “ordinary” American girl. Even more, I am patriotic! My favorite food is cheeseburgers and fries; I love big band jazz music; I love Hollywood movies of all kinds. I even support our military forces, because even though I hate war and hate what we have done to the world I feel for the men who are forced to go into these asinine wars and risk their lives fighting for Big American capitalism.
Why do you hate me, Donald Trump? I am more patriotic than you. I have more logic and reason than you. I am certainly smarter than you, although perhaps not in business but to me capitalism is an ungodly sin. I believe in American values that you do not. I also believe in a higher being than America and this world, and that is Allah. I am not perfect, but I am a Muslim, and I am a human being.
There is one thing you cannot do, Trump: you cannot censor what I think and feel in my head and in my heart. So in fact, you can try to “ban” me all you want, but my faith lies in my head and heart.
S-L-M
