I am from a Muslim family. My mom wears the hijab and my dad has a full beard. They never supported Trump. But, when the results rolled in, they showed more courage and patience than I could have ever thought possible.
My family was living in Michigan during 9/11. I was just an oblivious three-year old, but my parents were painfully aware of the stares, the quick glances directed their way. A few years later, we moved to Missouri, where my dad recalls walking into a furniture store to hear a man say “Hey, it’s Bin Laden.” My parents rarely share these stories with me or my brothers, perhaps to shield us from their own pain. But on Election Night, they told us to be careful, to not walk alone at dark, to keep your head down and your words to yourself. But, the most depressing part is that instead of shrugging off their advice like we often do, we listened to them.
My parents also shared something else: a limitless patience for what came their way. My mom said that, yes, Trump will be our president for the next 4 years. But, that doesn’t change who we are or what we believe. My dad, who admires Gandhi, said that if we were ever so unfortunate to be confronted by Trump supporters, we should not fight back or become angry, but rather treat them with kindness. I won’t pretend to be so good a person to follow his directions, but I have no doubt that he will.
There’s something to learn here. The faith that Trump finds so inherently wrong is the same faith that gives my parents the patience and strength to be kind to those who don’t understand them. While my parents may not have said it in so many words, they also alluded to our own lack of efforts to understand Trump supporters. We have to walk a mile in their shoes to understand their economic situation, their worries about terrorism and their frustrations with a political leadership that seems to have forgotten them that ultimately led them to vote for Trump over Clinton.
Some say they simply can’t understand Trump supporters because they’re racist, homophobic, misogynistic white nationalists. How can you rationalize hate? But to label the millions of Americans who voted for Trump this way isn’t just foolish -- it is dangerous. How are those who voted for Clinton any different from Trump if they label entire groups of people the same way Trump labeled Mexicans as rapists and Syrians as terrorists? If we don’t try to understand the other half, we lengthen our country’s political polarization and prevent this nation from ever healing from this election.
