Muslims and Mexicans

I'm writing this here because my thoughts on the subject won't fit in a Facebook status.  Perhaps you've heard the news, or perhaps you haven't, that Señor Trump has recently announced his plan to bar Muslims from entering the United States.  I've been hearing and watching the stream of vitriol from this particular candidate for the past months with growing alarm.  I have a good deal of friends who could and might already be affected by the venom this viper spews, and it is for them I write this.

First of all, Mexicans, or Latin Americans in general.  I have a Mexican-born friend who had to leave school suddenly, with no explanation, and I only found out later it was for immigration reasons.  She is not an illegal immigrant.  She was getting a graduate degree, working towards making herself a citizen of great value.  And yet she had to put that all on hold so she could remain legal. About half of the students in my department are from Central or South America.  I have several friends in Mexico, students at the university I visited as a guest lecturer for a week, who are wonderful people, who helped me function with my limited Spanish and awed me with their prowess and skills.  What would they face if they came to my country?  What about the girl I met in the bus station in Mexico,  when I was alone near midnight in a bus station in Guadalajara, I was the only white girl in the station, and I couldn't understand the announcements in the bus terminal, and she immediately took me under her wing, making sure I got on the right bus and got to my destination safely?  Were our places reversed, would she receive the same welcome in my country?  Or would she be treated like a criminal?  Sadly, I think the latter is more accurate.

See, what scares me most is not so much Trump - he is one man spewing crazy.  It is these people who keep supporting him in the polls.  Or even the people who don't support him all the way, but perhaps are quietly grateful for his crazy because it legitimizes their racism and prejudice by contrast.

These people put my friends in danger.  I am legitimately scared for some of my friends, especially my Muslim friends, now.  Or heck, even those who look vaguely Muslim.  Because white people are stupid and can't tell the difference, as the tragic events in Wisconsin show.

Muslims are my friends, they are my teachers, they are my colleagues, they are my neighbors.  And I am scared for them.  I am scared that my friends I met in Canada will never be able to visit me in the United States without fear.  I am scared that some crazy white person could storm one of my classes at Mines, which can easily be half Middle Eastern students.  I am afraid for my friends who are Arab Christians, because white crazy is just going to assume that they are Muslim too.  I am afraid for the Iraqi Christian family at my church, because for the same reason they too are at risk, they who are already refugees, and came to my country as safe haven.  I pray that will not turn into a sick irony.

It was a conversation with one of my dear Muslim friends that got me going back to church after a long hiatus.  Talking with her about her religion made me realize how important mine was to me.   This same friend remembered me on the worst birthday of my life, bringing me a cupcake and a song when I had chained myself to my desk to work after yet another emotional breakdown over my thesis.  And it was an Iranian Muslim friend who quietly told me at a department party that there are still some in world who view America as a good place, an example to the world.  It makes me sick that there are so many in my country who would exclude him unconditionally.  An Arab Christian is helping me survive one of my hardest courses to date now.  Will he be in danger if he doesn't openly wear a cross? I was overjoyed to run into a Turkish friend, who I don't even know if he's Muslim or not, at a scientific conference.  He's also now at risk whenever he comes into my country.

I have heard from some of these friends of extra searches at airports, the difficulties of getting an American visa to merely visit family.  And now we've got this idiot candidate rousing up all the white crazies like the one who recently shot up a Planned Parenthood in Colorado Springs.

I am terrified for my friends.  I am terrified that it's only a matter of time before their rights start getting restricted, before I start hearing of them getting killed for wearing hijab or being in a mosque or looking Arab.  Oh wait, that's already happened, there were the three students in North Carolina.

And no, I am not going to debate the "there are Muslim terrorists!" and "Muslim governments do terrible awful things!" part right now.  I am not talking about terrorists.  I am not talking about governments.  I am talking about people, my people, people I love and respect and admire and care about very, very deeply.

So please, if you as a white/Christian/American person hear someone ranting about "those damn Muslims", shut them down.  Maybe even say something to law enforcement, if you think it's warranted.

Keep my people safe.