The Muslim Ban Reaction - Part 1

Last night I went to JFK Airport because Donald Trump had gone ahead and done a watered down temporary Muslim ban via executive border. I did not attend the Women's March for multiple reasons but I committed myself to acting out against any specific piece of legislation that I found objectionable as it came (you know, "give Trump a chance" style). And then a week later his executive order immediately suspended travel of passport holders from 7 random Muslim nations regardless of whether or not their asylum had been approved, if they had a green card or how long they've had a green card for. It was so senseless both in intention and in its hasty execution that Trump's inhumanity and Steve Bannon's influence became wholly naked. As an immigrant it rocked me how quickly the war on the vulnerable escalated and then it frustrated me to see folks both part of the Trump administration and the general public scramble to defend this.

I encountered one of these Trump apologists on the internet yesterday and his insistence that there was something inherently suspicious about these brown bodies that Trump singled out and his use of incidents in Germany and in San Bernadino to justify un-American inhumanity and jingoism stunned me. When I got home from the rally at the airport, I laid into him with this.

[Edited]

"I still can't get over the suggestion that my #moral compass, my compassion and my #humanity--much less our #refugee resettlement policy--needs to be contingent on whether or not someone comes from a certain country, or if they are likely to be homophobic or misogynistic, or if they're culture conforms more to arbitrary (cough, Eurocentric) ideals that make their culture inherently "superior"; and not based on the question of whether whether they are in need (see "huddled masses" quote).

Like is THAT where we are now? Is this where the conversation is now? Is that who we are now?

The chance I got as an #immigrant for a better life isn't going to be given to someone else because we gave into our fears? I'm not going to be able to hold the same door open for someone else that was held open for me (or you/your parents/grandparents/great grandparents) because we're afraid now? Because it's easier to run away from the tough questions that come with making sure we don't admit potential threats by not admitting anyone. Is it no longer self evident that all men are created equal?

What happened to the better angels? Are they dead now?

Maybe it'll be in two years. Or in four. Or in eight. Or sixteen or even twenty. Whenever it is, the day will come when every American citizen will have to answer for where they were and what they did the day they turned on their tv/smart phone/laptops and heard about the executive order. Every #Republican will have to answer for whether or not they consigned or even silently accepted this as the new normal. Every #Democrat and Independent will have to answer for whether or not they resisted. And every fundamentalist, pro-life, saved sanctified and sanctimonious #Christian is going to have to answer the question of whether or not they lived Mark 12:31 and Matthew 25:34-49 when the time came and it wasn't the easy or "safe" thing to do.

I know what my answer will be. I know that my #moralcompass and my #politics are not subject to change based on fear. I know that I told Washington that I want the same door I came through held open for someone else who needs it much more than I did. I know that I still hold this truth to be self evident that ALL MEN are created equal and this equally deserving of a chance to freaking LIVE. I'll be able to say I didn't steer us away from the tough questions of what we do to properly protect our people and stop #terror threats from entering while admitting our share of refugees.

I guess that's just not who we are anymore. Evidently."