It's terrifying. It's terrifying to think that your friends, neighbors, professors, and associates would be OK with potentially banishing you from the country. It's sickening to think that a presidential candidate thinks that the world would be better off without you. It's nauseating to see Trump 2016 banners on cars and wonder if that person hates you for your religious beliefs.
Being a Muslim in America is hard enough without a target painted on our backs. We're constantly compared to ISIS and Al-Qaeda. After 9/11, it was made painfully clear that Muslims are stereotyped in the eyes of some Americans.
If you wear a hijab, you're oppressed. If you go to mosque for Friday prayer, you're planning a terrorist attack. If you say a prayer on a plane, you're initiating some attack with your fellow "terrorists." If you dare speak out about what you believe, you're trying to brainwash someone. If you say you are a Muslim, you're a terrorist.
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, "terrorism is the use of violent acts to frighten the people in an area as a way of trying to achieve a political goal."
I'm frightened. I'm frightened that one day I'll have my citizenship revoked. I'm frightened that one day my family will be forced out of the country and left on the doorstep of Yemen. I'm frightened that a terrorist is going to be the next president of the United States.
Because, you see, Donald Trump terrifies me. Donald Trump terrifies 100 percent of Muslims in the world. According to him, I don't deserve to be here. My family doesn't deserve to be here. I was born an American, and I've lived here 15 years of my life, but that doesn't matter to him.
What's even more frightening is the fact that he gets so much support; the fact that my own classmates support him; and the fact that people out there truly believe that he is going to "make America great again." The last time we heard about someone making a country great again, there were 6 million Jews killed in Germany. Will we really make the same mistake twice?
I've seen the Facebook arguments and I've seen what people have to say about this matter. I feel like it's time for a Muslim to explain what's really going on.
Don't write off Islam just because a small percentage of Muslims interpret it in a negative way. Islam was founded on peace and love. Don't assume that all Muslims are out to get you, because I promise we aren't. Don't assume that Donald Trump is going to do anything but mass deportation and maybe genocide if he becomes president. Don't forget that according to Donald Trump, all Muslims are terrorists.
According to the dictionary definition of terrorism, Donald Trump is a terrorist.
