Trump and American Muslims

Leila Lak

On November 9th, for millions of liberals the unimaginable happened, Donald Trump was elected 45th President of the United States.  After months of tirades against Mexicans, Muslims, women and immigrants the elections left many terrified of what a Trump Presidency will look like. The fear is not simply of President-elect Trump himself but of what effects his hateful diatribe has had on America.  FBI statistics suggested that hate crimes against Muslim Americans had increased by 65% in 2015.  Of course the spike could also be partly due to more cases being reported. Incidents of anti-Semitism, hate crimes against LGBT community and Latinos have also gone up. A group calling itself “American’s for a better way” sent letters to southern Californian mosques threatening ethnic cleansing.

“There is a new sherriff (sic) in town President Donald Trump and he’s going to cleanse America, and he is going to start with you Muslims” reads the letter addressed to the “Children of Satan.” The local police are investigating this as a hate crime.  

CAIR the Council of American Islamic Relations, American’s largest Muslim civil rights organisation, has asked Muslims to report any cases of hate crimes to them. Their website is now littered with stories of hate focused on Muslims in America. Like a woman who’s hijab was almost torn off in a shop and other incidents of violence against Muslims or those mistaken as Muslims. They did not respond to a request for an interview with Revista Diaspora.

The White House Chief of Staff, Reince Priebus, has refused to rule out a registry of Muslims. Trump’s nomination for National Security advisor is retired General Michael Flynn, whose views could be defined as Islamophobic. He has said in the past that Islam “is a political ideology” and that it “definitely hides behind being a religion,” a view that Priebus defended on ABC news as similar to President Elect Trump’s.

This hostility has left the Muslim community, like the Latinos and the Jewish community afraid for the future. The elections did have one positive development for the Muslim community, Ilhan Omar a hijab wearing Somali American, was elected State representative for Minnesota, the highest office a Somali American has ever held. The 34 year old came to America as a refugee from Somalia. Exactly the kind of person Trump has promised to keep out of his America. Her family fled war-torn Mogadishu for the refugee camp in Kenya. After 4 years they were resettled in the United States.

Omar’s been inundated with press requests and has only agreed to speak to the larger outlets, but her struggle from the 12 year old girl, who spoke little English to being an elected political figure has captured the world’s attention.  Her liberal agenda to work for fellow Muslims, equal pay for women and better schools lies in stark contrast to Trump’s rhetoric. A few days before her victory, Trump went to Minnesota, where one in 3 of all Somali Americans live, and called the immigration of Somali Americans a “disaster.”

“Here in Minnesota, you’ve seen firsthand the problems caused with faulty refugee vetting, with very large numbers of Somali refugees coming into your state without your knowledge, without your support or approval,” Trump said. “Some of them [are] joining Isis and spreading their extremist views all over our country and all over the world.”

His words came after 3 men of Somali descent admitted to joining ISIS. Officials claim 30 young men of Somali descent left Minnesota to join Al Shabab in Somalia.  Omar says that it is rhetoric like Trump’s that alienates Somali youth and attracts them to militant Islam.

In a congress and House of Representatives dominated by Republicans Omar will have to fight to get her voice heard.  In an America where Muslims are more openly targeted in hate crimes her win seems to have been a small wave in a giant ocean of intolerance.