In recent Trump news, he has signed a bill that temporarily puts a ban on incoming and outgoing immigrants, specifically immigrants of the muslim demographic. A lot of people have stated, "it's just like Obama did in 2011." Let me stop you right there. Obama put a six month ban on Iraq and Iran immigrants. Why? We were going to war with them. Who would want immigrants from the country we are fighting to come over and possibly let all hell break loose? No one. Trump has put a huge ban on a whole religious demographic; unconstitutional, bias, and disgraceful.
Protests have been happening at many-if not all-international airports on Sunday, shortly after the bill was signed. I had the honor of participating in the one happening at John Glenn International Airport in Columbus, Ohio. The original group was a Facebook event, only 89 people responded to the post, but more then 500 people attended. It was such a beautiful thing to watch countless people walk up to the terminal shouting chants like:
"No Trump, No KKK, No Fascist USA"
"No ban, No wall"
"You build a wall, we'll tear it down"
"Build bridges not borders"
Even the Black Lives Matter protesters of Columbus showed up to show their support for this cause. The protest started in the passenger drop off area of the outside area. They actually walked inside and I was expecting police to be pushing us away and doing horrible things, but they were more than cordial with allowing us to have a sit-in in front of ticketing. I was so happy to be able to interview a few people for this article.
Ohio lawmakers including Senator Sherrod Brown and Congresswoman Joyce Beatty were among the crowd. They took the megaphone and spoke to us as well. They said they hear their constituents loud and clear, “Come Monday we’re going to return to Washington. We’re going to fight back in the United States Senate.”
Maddie Legg from Cleveland, Ohio commented "I was in Hocking Hills when I heard about this protest; we drove all the way here and we don't plan on going anywhere!"
Jill Camren from Lexington, Kentucky commented "We drove 9 hours to get here in time, we are so happy Columbus opened their arms to us and welcomed us into their protest. Columbus is a great city!"
The chanting continued on for hours. We were having a protest but that didn't mean we were immune to hateful comments from employees and other pedestrians. You could tell who voted for who when you are in a protest, that's for sure. They spewed things like:
"Stop and get a job"
"You're being stupid"
"This is irrelevant"
This made the chants get louder and louder with every comment. "This is democracy, we stand united." This is one of the best chants we had. We had a protester stand up and speak to the hate from around us. I didn't get her name, but she states "my family came here from Iraq 3 years ago. We all wanted to get away from something, my fathers business was failing, my mom was sick, my brother wanted to go to school. We couldn't afford to stay there anymore. We came here and it was wonderful, a big world to explore while my home is miles away. We stand together today to fight for our rights to go home!"
The crowd showed nothing but love and support. This is democracy, this is the U.S.A!
