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The past few weeks have been an inherent mess. Not just for me, but a lot of my peers as well. With the election in our rearview mirror, we now face the daunting task of living under a Trump presidency. From the current point-of view, we have regressed roughly seventy years into our past. Islamophobia, homophobia, xenophobia, and bigotry were key elements of our president-elect's campaign, so it wasn't surprising when I read that neo-Nazis were rejoicing the election of the orange-tinted oligarch.
What was surprising was listening to so many young people agree with the notion that America was "under attack" by forces from within, namely Muslim Americans. As if it weren't bad enough that neo-Nazis now have a legitimate voice in the world, we are hearing Trump loyalists float the idea of a "Muslim registry" because "we did it with the Japanese."
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A few days ago, I met with a peer of mine for coffee while working on various manuscripts and articles. We'll call her "Anna." I met Anna at a local hang out spot and found her already delving in my articles, editing them because she's a helpful person. We exchanged pleasantries and ordered our drinks before I handed her more of my works so she could give them a read.
Our conversation went a little something like this:
"You need to finish writing your chapters online. Heck, you can't leave people hanging like that. It's cruel," Anna began.
I couldn't help but smile because I knew that I had been neglecting my Wattpad and Facebook pages for a few weeks. In my defense, we had a terrible election and I was traveling. I needed time to recuperate.
"Nice work on the jinn and convert stories. Still, you need to get back to it," Anna continued while pulling out a red marker and slashing through my rough drafts. There's just something so cruel about the way she edits my works.
"I will. I'm glad people are enjoying my works," I countered.
"With the way this election turned out, The Terrorist is only a few scenarios away from becoming the truth. Might as well start packing now," Anna grumbled.
"What?" I asked in utter confusion.
"Camping. We're going to be carted away like Dawood and much like his peers not caring, our peers won't care. Can you imagine what I'm going to tell my dead Oji-san?" Anna asked while shaking her head in disbelief. Now there's something very interesting about Anna and that is the fact that she's also and Asian American who just happens to be Muslim.
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I had never thought about life from my friend's point-of-view. She was roughly third generation Japanese-American and her grandfather (Oji-san) had been one of the persecuted during WW2. How would a man that survived the internment camps of that age feel about his granddaughter facing the same reality, this time because of her personal faith?
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If that wasn't enough, we now have a huge increase in racially and religiously motivated attacks by those that feel they are making "America great again." We are once again speaking about Nazis and internment camps as if this is the norm. We are subjecting an entire religious group to the same persecution we promised we'd learn from all those years ago.
Muslims are the most DIVERSE group of individuals in America. I think that's something that many non-Muslim Americans keep forgetting. When spewing rhetoric along the lines of "sending them back to where they came from," they fail to realize that there are numerous Caucasian, Japanese, Korean, African, and Hispanic Americans who are Muslim.
This election was frightening enough due to the pivotal momentum granted to the "alt-right" political spheres (namely white supremacists), but it didn't help seeing the ugly it brought out amongst our neighbors and those we considered friends. In the past few weeks, I have heard non-Muslim acquaintances explain to me why my own religion is at war with my country. Yes, it's as confusing as it sounds. There's a lot of "sharia, jihad, and refugee" talk thrown in there. I have also heard from those in the medical field that patients have flat out rejected medical care from Muslim physicians for themselves and their children.
In conclusion, there has been an uptick in discrimination towards Muslims as well as talk of normalizing neo-Nazis and registering Muslims.
