By At first sight, the current events surrounding us are frightening. The banning of immigrants from seven Muslim majority countries is enough to send shivers down anyone’s spine. But, like I always say in any situation in my personal life: there’s always a positive side. No matter what is happening, there is always something good to look out for.
On Monday, The Daily Show With Trevor Noah hosted Hasan Minhaj, a Muslim correspondent on The Daily Show, and he gave us a positive perspective to Trump’s executive order. Minhaj acknowledged that being at an airport while being Muslim is not the easiest thing to do; but, since the executive order, things seem to have changed.
Following the executive order, protests took the country by storm; people have been standing in solidarity with Muslims, sending encouraging words to Muslims through posters, and sending an immense amount of love through social media.
Think about it: for the first time, in what could be all of American history, people are standing in solidarity with Muslims.
When asked about his hatred for Donald Trump, Minhaj answered the question with another question: “How could I hate Trump right now?” And maybe he’s right. Yes, Trump attempted to tear our country apart; he attempted to turn us against one another and become divided between Muslims and those that aren’t Muslims. But, the exact opposite happened.
Think about it: for the first time, in what could be all of American history, people are standing in solidarity with Muslims. People are supporting Muslims, and having protests in our favor. As Minhaj mentioned, white women are wearing their scarves as hijabs to show solidarity. Even better than that, there are Muslims praying in airports, the same airports that feared Muslims. Minhaj noted that the best part of this was that while Muslims were praying, people were cheering them on.
As Americans, we have a great privilege and blessing in front of us: civic engagement. There will always be hate thrown towards Muslims, but what we do as Americans to reverse that hatred is what defines us.
It’s not a matter of political or religious affiliation; it’s standing up for the rights of our fellow humans and practicing one of our First Amendment rights and our civic engagement.
Even better than that, there are Muslims praying in airports, the same airports that feared Muslims.
“United we stand, divided we fall” is astonishingly true. The executive order signed by Trump did nothing but bring us all together and remind us that we are all American, that we all represent a different part of America, and that America represents us all.
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