#MuslimsReportStuff: Calling Out The Final Two
It is beyond important to remain critical of politicians, whether they may be big names or your local legislators. Holding these individuals to high standards is not ‘too much’ — it is fair. Knowing a candidate’s stances on a variety of issues, analyzing what they say, and having their track record in mind should be the duty of any informed citizen.
The 2016 Presidential election has been nothing short of mind-boggling, stomach-turning, and (especially) eye-opening. With Hillary Clinton as the Democratic nominee and Donald Trump landing the Republican bid, quite a lot was said, maybe even too much for comfort. The final two seemed to have more than your typical ‘beef’ between a Republican and Democrat, vying for the presidential win. The personal jabs had reached a level so uneasy that many shunned Trump as an option, automatically giving their vote to Clinton. However, Hillary’s track record was not popular with many Americans, leaving them skeptical of whom to cast their vote for this November. Regardless, both candidates had one thing in common: somehow boiling down the significance of Muslim-Americans as pawns to avoiding/combating terrorism.
During the first presidential debate on September 26, 2016, moderated by Lester Holt, issues such as the economy, America’s social progression, and foreign policy were brought up within 6 different segments. Although issues of immense concern were brought to the stage, the back-and-forth — basically, bickering — between Trump and Clinton was not easy to digest. When it was time to address the “Securing America” segment, cyber warfare and ISIS were hot topics of debate. The discussion then shifted to the role Muslim-Americans play in our society. Clinton rightfully called out Trump on his constant bigoted remarks and belittlement towards Muslims here and abroad. However, Hillary’s words were troubling. “They’re on the front lines. They can provide information to us that we might not get anywhere else.” Muslim-Americans have been embedded into this nation’s fabric way before the inception of the United States. To imply that “they,” categorizing all of America’s 3.3 million Muslims as citizens only useful for having “information” on whereabouts of terrorist activity, is absurd.
As a Muslim-American, I do not have any information on potential ISIS recruits or when the next lunatic is going to commit an inhumane act in the name of my religion. I am a college student, just trying to make sense of my 20-somethings, and neither I nor any other Muslim should have to answer to government officials because of what faith we choose to practice. To say that Muslims in America need to be “close working cooperation with law enforcement” is an undesired chore that none of us signed up for. As prestigious doctors, lawyers, activists, successful artists and musicians, Muslim-Americans have way more to offer than information that they DON’T have.
A student at Rutgers University, Hana Morsi voices her concerns as a Muslim-American. “I feel like our narrative is being taken from us, I feel like we are being reduced to a post-9/11 fear and being treated like a burden on the back of America when we contribute to this country just as much as anyone else.” She continued, “Our voices deserve to be heard, we are misunderstood and that’s why these politicians can reduce us to a security issue.”
In the second presidential debate, an audience member, Gorbah Hamed took the stage, asking, “You’ve mentioned working with Muslim nations, but with Islamophobia on the rise, how will you help people like me deal with the consequences of being labeled as a threat to the country after the election is over?” Trump’s commentary was not surprising, and stirred up a priceless reaction from the Muslim-American community via social media. “Whether we like it or not, there is a problem and we have to be sure that Muslims come in and report when they see something going on,” Trump said. “When they see hatred going on, they have to report it.” Baffled and lightheartedly, but completely serious, Twitter became the home of the next hashtag: #MuslimsReportStuff.
Brooklyn College professor and author, Moustafa Bayoumi, tweeted, “I’m a Muslim, and I would like to report a crazy man threatening a woman on a stage in Missouri. #debate” Author Reza Aslan went on, “You don’t want to know what we actually put in hummus. #MuslimsReportStuff.” As these tweets continued, many going viral, the situation became a source of wittiness and sarcasm for Muslim-Americans.
The issue at hand of constantly labeling regular citizens of this country based on their faith as indefinite suspects of interest has become so ridiculously normalized, that laughing it off has been one of the only ways to cope. However, it is crucial that we call out these toxic narratives when we see them, because injustice lies within the simplest of words. Injustice takes form into action due to the simplest of words.
