I’m scared.
I think I have the right to be. For the first time after a Presidential Election, in one of the most powerful countries in the world, I have seen the numbers for suicide hotlines floated around. I have watched as my black, latino, and female friends deeply worry that generations of progress in building their rights will suddenly be destroyed.
“The rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened” — John F. Kennedy
As a teenage Muslim who has family back in one of the most conservative states in the nation, I too worry. Trump’s presidency isn’t the worst part of this election cycle; it’s the fact that bigots, racists, and backwards-thinkers alike will see this as validation. They will view this election as a “confirmation” of their beliefs, that in a world which repeatedly told them their beliefs were wrong, Trump finally told them that their attitudes are right.
Most importantly, as a Muslim, I know that harassment towards Muslims reached an all time high after Brexit. Bigots screamed things such as “YES! WE WON! NOW SEND THEM BACK.” at citizens, and those whom rode the public transportation could not do so without being told they were “dirty little f**king immigrants”.
Now, along with worrying about my next problem set, or my next exam, I will continually worry for my family’s safety. I have to worry if anyone has harassed my hijabi mother at her business, or taunted my wonderful older sister in college. Donald Trump has taken away the one thing I previously deemed to be impossible; a warm, impenetrable sense of security for my family within this nation. It feels like we just don’t belong.
Coming from Oklahoma, it hasn’t been easy. We’ve heard things like “I’m not walking into your store until you take that rag off of your head”, or “Why don’t you dress like the rest of us?!”, and now, I know that they’re only going to get worse. Except this time, I’m miles away from my family and unable to defend them.
For minorities everywhere, America just had a referendum, and it feels as if it just voted that our existence was fundamentally incompatible with its future growth.
Yet, I don’t think there’s only darkness at the end of this tunnel. I know that I live within one of the finest countries in the world. It’s a country where citizens help each other; it’s a country where kind-hearted patriots have told off bigots whom disrespect my family.
For each man whom has uttered ugly insults at my mother or sister, I can count several whom have been kind, compassionate, and truly curious to learn more about Muslims and they ways we live. These are the citizens I know still remain in America, and these are the citizens which keep me hopeful.
It’s this nation I love which has repeatedly told me there is no upward limit of my achievement; if you can dream it, you can achieve it. It’s this nation which I hold so dear to my heart; the one that allowed a student whose parents didn’t even attend college, to attend one of the finest universities they had to offer. Even in the darkest of days, you’re not too shabby America.
Therefore, I know we’re going to be okay.
This isn’t going to happen on its own, but I hope that we can see this day and turn it one which incites change within all of us. It’s time to lick our wounds, take the loss, and start working to incite real progress within America. It’s time to turn our citizens rage into political activism. We must not allow this election to define us by what we didn’t do, but rather by what we did.
This election can be defined by last night’s result, or it can be defined by the choices we actively made to ensure something like this doesn’t happen again. I sincerely hope we do the latter.
This is my simple asking: do something to make your country better today. If you know an immigrant or minority, hug them, remind them that they’re loved and have a place within this country. If you’re an immigrant or minority, look at your peers with a sense of love and belonging and remind them that you belong here. We all belong here, regardless of what anyone else has to say.
If you’re a coder, I implore you to join me in brainstorming ways to increase civic engagement. Drop me a line (twitter: Moin Nadeem, email: mnadeem@mit.edu), and let’s chat. I hope to get a group of dedicated hackers together and work tirelessly to transform the way citizens interact with the political process. If you can dream it, you can achieve it.
I dream of an America Becoming Great Again, but this time, Donald Trump will have nothing to do with it.
