Donald Trump,
I question so many of your beliefs now that it’s getting tiring – a mental marathon of sighs and confusion. I often find myself asking, which star-spangled bubble are you absorbed in – and how far away is it currently floating from Earth? Mr Trump, I know that you are a man of faith. You have said yourself: “I believe in God. I am a Christian. I think the Bible is certainty, it is THE book. It is the thing. I think religion is a wonderful thing. I think my religion is a wonderful religion”. As I can understand, you are not simply showing your stream of admiration for faith, or Christian belief, but religion – the institution of religion. It does make me wonder how you can persecute people because of the contents of their Holy book, whilst glorifying that of your own; for let’s remember, Muslims, Jews and Christians share the Old Testament alike. However, the Quran is illustrated as a toxic instrument, leading many disillusioned individuals down a rocky path. Whilst the Bible is certainty and certainly enlightening. As not all Christians believe fundamentally in the parables that reside within their Holy text, surprisingly, not all Muslims believe in the inevitable global attack on non-believers.
I – Mr Trump – have been brought up in a lenient, Islamic family. Unlike some Muslims, I will accept that some aspects of Deash could be considered “Islamic” by some – despite this, jihadist pursuit of deviation is completely voluntary. The people of Syria do not wish to live under the shadow of Daesh and it’s intransigence from Islamic principles. However, the real question is: how much reform is required within Islam? The line drawn is usually far prior to such actions and beliefs curtail the human rights of others and in some cases, lead to harmfully violating them. But how can I think that when there does exist a plethora of atrocities within the Old Testament and elsewhere within the Holy text? Because, like members of Daesh, many Muslims decide to discriminate within the scripture and follow that which preaches for peace, equality and harmony. Most of us are not dangerous and for this reason I ask, is the refusal to allow all Muslims within the US really solving anything? At the same time as implementing such policy, Daesh will continue to use the internet and social media, tactically and skilfully, in order to spread the wills of their ideology – Western nations have done little to curtail the implementation of Daesh’ (IS) propaganda. Are we really trying to solve this matter?
Jihadist attacks have devastatingly taken lives, which have loomed over us long after the travesties which they inflict. We can remember, for example – the Charlie Hebdo shooting in January 2015, the November 15th Paris attacks. Whilst many attacks occur across Europe, it is profound to consider the Islamic countries which are persecuted by extremist groups at a more persistent rate; action throughout one single month of 2014 in such regions can be viewed here: (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-30080914). You feul a rhetoric that such groups have white Westerners at the forefront of their crosshairs. However, this is generally not the case. Mr Trump, please appreciate the factionalised and diverse demographic of Islam and how these groups find other singular strands of Islam more worthy of attack than people who do not believe in Islam at all. Daesh, who identify themselves within the branch of Sunni Islam, view their way as the pure essence of Islam. And so for this reason, other sectors of Islamic teaching are considered to be the first opposition of their cause.
That does not mean to say that because there are more disastrous attacks across Africa and the Middle East, militant Islam has not wielded its threatening streak in the US. However, it’s interesting how this is held in comparison to white extremism. There’s clearly a strong temptation to divert from the facts, which I’m no less than certain you’re already aware of. According to the Council on American Islamic Relations, reports of hate attacks against American mosques have tripled in the last year in comparison to previous years. And most strikingly, white ring-wing terrorists have killed more Americans in homegrown attacks than radical Islamists have. If you’d like examples of such action, the Wisconsin Sikh temple shooting which occurred in August 2012 and the Charleston church massacre in June 2015, which tragically took many lives with the motivations of racial conflict at their core. These attacks do not simply exist in the US, but they surpass the deaths caused from Islamic extremism.
And it’s not just within your own seemingly distorted mind that Islamic extremism is more worthy of attention than white extremism, but the criminal justice system equally shaddows this. Judges are generally more harsh towards jihadists, than their white counterparts who are commonly found guilty of racial conflict – please give me a valid reason why these individuals deserve a shorter sentence.
You speak of the fact that you have “Muslim friends” who are keen and happy to see you implement such policies – those strongly keeping all Muslims out of the US. Whilst this is questionable and you have not given any examples of these avid Islamic friends, surely this is black-and-white evidence of the factionalised views amongst followers of Islam. The fact is, a lot of Muslims are scared about the creation of a caliphate or an authoritarian state as we are seeing from Daesh. The strength of your hideous speech does not even mildly dilute and diffuse into talk of the US’ role in the creation of these terrorist groups. Cherry-picking to it’s finest, the “United States of Amnesia” seems to forget that they once drove for Muslim allies in order to sustain their own national security. In addition, the Iraq War was staunchly illegal and strongly led to the destabilisation of the entire Middle East, which allowed for groups such as Al Qaeda to find their footing. This however is treated as action which is necessary. The roots of this problem are deeply entrenched within politics, and not simply religion. The rife discrimination against minority groups in the US, swollen in political tension, has contributed to the successful recruitment of groups such as Al-Shabaab and their appeal to some members of the Black community.
I ask you, Mr Trump, you may have spent your life negotiating with deals, but don’t spend your time negotiating with the lives of many law-abiding citizens. We are not rabid animals. We are daughters and sons, mothers and fathers, aunts and uncles and generations of grandparents. We are friends and coworkers, men and women in uniforms, at times serving on the front line fighting for the US itself. Yet our identities are being pawned off – tossed into a haemorrhage of twisted ideology that many of us detest, stand up against and even fear. Mr Trump, you are not a brave man, fighting a war of political correctness. You can have your say. You can tell us how terrorism is atrocious. We know.