The double standards in the United States are prevalent in many ways, but the extraordinary religious surveillance of Muslims is something altogether un-American. In the wake of 9/11 and the heightened senses in the Nation, Americans were united in a way that hadn’t been felt in years prior. Still, to the shock and dismay of Muslim-Americans, some people were closed off in fear or anger toward “Arabs” which was a term loosely used to refer to any Middle Easterner, Muslim, or brown person.
The text evokes a very real sense of urgency in looking at today’s world, a world where not only are Muslims being persecuted in the United States, but whole communities of Latino people are seemingly vanishing in the face of ICE raids and deportation abductions. Even in the small world of Muhlenberg, this concept of “standing against the other” has resulted in a student being abducted and taken to a questioning center.
The “Muslim Ban” which was Trump’s exec. order to ban entry into the US from many Muslim countries, was very highly supported by Americans, reaching levels of 48% approval nationally, although after being implemented was quickly unpopular. For such an order to flip the hearts of the American public gives one hope in trusting the nation to understand what is right and wrong, although what will come of increased fear-mongering resulting in possible long-term action? If the trump admin wished to take extreme action against individuals or groups in this nation, a chilling thought would be that they’ve learned not to implement such extreme proposals and may rather gradually implement small orders compounding into a dangerous system.
