Unapologetically Muslim, Unapologetically Human

Donald Trump’s Speech on Combatting Radical Islam

That Republican presidential candidate (hurts to write that) Donald J. Trump has targeted Muslims, Hispanics, women and other minority groups with hateful rhetoric and outrageous suggestions and claims is nothing new. That Islamophobia and hate crimes committed against Muslims has also increased in the past two years is also well documented, as is the spate of recent attacks (claimed by ISIS or attributed to Muslims) in San Bernardino (California), France, Belgium, Syria, Pakistan and other parts of the world.

That Europe has seen a rise in refugees fleeing from Syria and other war-torn parts of the Middle East is also nothing new. But conflating influxes of refugees and immigrants with crimes and acts of terrorism simply hasn’t panned out, though it’s a misconception widely touted by Trump.

In his latest stump speech in Ohio, Trump doubled down on his proposed ban against Muslims coming into the United States and laid forth a number of proposed initiatives to tamp down on immigration, saying that people who have “hostile attitudes” towards the United States must be blocked from coming, as well as those “who believe that sharia law should supplant American law.” His plan called for “extreme vetting” of people looking to immigrate or visit the U.S. with an ideological screening to “weed out those who don’t share our values.”

Trump went onto discuss ISIS, or Daesh calling for “joint and coalition military operations, cutting off funding and shutting off access to the Internet.”

That the whole world needs to come up with better strategies to combat ISIS, guard against terrorism and work towards that ongoing, ubiquitous goal of world peace is very much needed. It’s good that Trump recognizes that. In fact, it’s pretty much all he talks about as he pushes forth a fear-based campaign to “Make American Safe Again.”

But how does Trump propose “shutting off access to the Internet?” How will extreme vetting and refusing entrance to the U.S. unless people pledge allegiance to American values do this? How is this not echoing the footsteps of hate-fueled regimes of past world history?

How do we stay unapologetically Muslim, unapologetically human in the face of this?

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