So I’m sick. Post election. Post Thanksgiving dinner. I’m just sick. Sick of food. Sick of politics. Yet somehow I love both. Why? I’ll tell you why, just like our hormone-injected turkeys, our politics is filled to the brim with unnecessary stuff at the cost of our sleep.
I’ll explain. I’ll be the first to admit that I did everything I could to keep Trump from being elected. I even wrote my first op-ed ever, just based on the Trump campaign and how that affected me and my family.
Trump is bad for our country and our politics. Plain and simple. Nobody had more to lose in this election then I did. Being Syrian-American, Muslim-American and Arab-American, all having different meaning and perception, one could understand without explanation why that is.
So it’s natural that I really don’t like Trump supporters. Right? Wrong. You couldn’t be further from the truth. Trump supporters are people, good-hearted people, something that most Americans aren’t understanding. I would argue Trump supporters know what it feels like to be Muslim more then ANYONE.
I know. Just let me explain. Some in our election have pinned each other as “how could you” and “how dare you” as if they were animals. Not all Trump supporters are racists, bigots, sexists, every “y” and “it’s” and not all Hillary supporters are faithless, tree-hugging socialists.It’s true. Most Americans are actually quit moderate. Most Americans actually hate spending a dime of there own money and most Americans hated both candidates. Not to mention texting “lol” when you’re not actually “laughing out loud”.
We all hate that. So how is it that’s there’s this fear that somehow “Muslims are dangerous” “Islam is not a religion but a political movement” “Islam is a cancer”? Muslims look at that and say, “you couldn’t be more wrong.”
When we are accusing the the masses of something that most aren’t, is that not the essence of racism and hatred in of itself? If most Muslims are good and moderate then why don’t we hear about them? Why don’t we see them? Hmmm doesn’t that sounds familiar?
That “Hidden Trump vote” everyone spoke about the day of the election? Did we ask ourselves. Why? Why didn’t we see these voters? How come the media never saw them coming? We were shocked so much so, we started to be concerned, we started to ask ourselves did my family member, neighbor or co-worker vote for Trump? We never thought to ask ourselves, did we alienate the Trump supporters so much so that they were scared? Intimidated, to come out and say they support Trump? Did we do to them, what we did to Muslims all those years ago, and even to this day? The public and media put down and labeled all the Trump supporters as extremists, racists and bigots. When just like the Muslims only a small percent of Trumpers are actually as bad as we stereotyped them to be.
Now, I could argue that Trump received a huge if not the largest support from these extremists. It’s said that close to 1.5 million of these people have extreme and repugnant beliefs. It’s a drop in the bucket compared to the U.S population. But in terms of elections it was huge, and they mobilized. And now people who are afraid or disgusted by what the extremists have said and done are mobilizing. They’re standing up for their neighbors and friends.
It’s Trump’s words that makes us uneasy. Because we take a man by his word — at least we used to in this country. It’s a shame that in this country our party politics have blinded us. So much so that it’s like the blind lead the blind. Law supersedes our hearts. But even with all of that, these extremists don’t makeup the majority of Trump supporters. And Muslims don’t make up the Muslim stereotype created by the media. ISIS, doesn’t speak or represent even to the smallest number of who Muslims are.
I know it’s a hard pill to swallow, particularly for my Trump supporter Americans, but you have more in common with Muslims in our society than you think. You know how Muslims feel in this country. Those brave enough to speak out are the jewels of our society —on both sides of issues.
They want this country to move forward regardless of their differences. This country has attracted the worst and best of mankind. This election has brought out the best and worst of us. For some, the price has been losing friends. For others, it was being “unfriended.” So let’s just stop. Trump will be our next president. Now move on with your life. Don’t treat people any differently than before the election. Let’s be the country that people are still envious of. Reach out to those Trump supporters and Hillary supporters, and tear down that was — a nod to Ronald Reagan. Everyone needs to relax now. Remember that though we may always be divided into our 50 states, we not the the States of America, We are the United States of America.
Obeid Kaifo is an Aurora resident, graduate of Overland High School and pre-med student at Metro State University of Denver. Born and raised in Aurora, he and his family, Syrian-Americans, are restaurateurs.