On September 11th, 2001, two hijacked planes flew into the Twin Towers in New York City, another plane hit The Pentagon, while another was brought down in Pennsylvania. Ever since that day America has used 9/11 as justification for many actions - some less moral and acceptable than we care to admit. Around this time, the "us vs. them" mentality came into play. We labeled "them" as terrorists who hated women, freedom, Americans, and tortured and killed innocent people. We identified the men who attacked our country as Arabic, and Muslim, and so we viewed "them" as Arabic, and Muslim. We saw these people as the villains, and ourselves the heroes.
9/11 was used as justification for the invasion in Iraq - though we had little evidence that Iraq was involved. We went on a wild goose chase for terrorism - a intangible thing with no country or borders - and expected to find it easily. America rallied and fought for those innocents killed in the towers but we did not consider the many Iraqi innocents that died - more than 10,000 - due to our actions in their country. We claimed "they" were the ones that used torture, that we as Americans did not do something so heinous, yet the photos released from Abu Ghraib prison in 2006 showed American soldiers torturing Iraqis and seemingly enjoying it - posing for photos and leading prisoners on leashes. Not only did this defy the "us vs. them mentality", it showed American soldiers regarding other humans as lesser beings, and eventually led to criminal charges against the soldiers involved.
It has been 14 years since 9/11 yet the "us vs. them" mentality still persists today in America. Presidential candidate Donald Trump has made numerous radical assertions, many about Muslims and Arabs, and has inspired hate among many American people. Since Trump's December 7th speech proposing a ban on Muslims in America, hate crimes against Mosques and Muslims has increased dramatically, including 20 reported incidents in just three days after Trump gave the speech. Trump has been labeled as a candidate that speaks his mind when in reality he is unqualified to run this country and resorts to spewing hate sentiments to rally people behind him. As Jeb Bush said "he's a chaos candidate and he'd be a chaos president."
It is truly terrifying that someone who speaks of denying access to our country, which has welcomed immigrants since its creation, won the New Hampshire caucus and is ahead in the Republican polls. Our country is full of immigrants, full of different races, full of different religions and beliefs - it is what makes America America. In times where there is terrorism, mass shootings, and fear, we need to ban together as a country, not divide ourselves. Donald Trump calls it "The Muslim Problem," but terrorism has no race or religion. There is no "us vs. them," there is only we - all Americans - and only when we overcome hate and discrimination can we become a truly great country.
