Hamza – JewellENG1101D325/C325

Muslim Ban and other discriminative Policies by Trump… how can we make a change in next Presidential Election.

Donald Trump, the 45^th president of the U.S. of America has many controversial policies that forced many Americans especially, the Muslim Americans to feel insecure and threatened. Not only Muslim Americans, Hispanic community is also being targeted continuously by Trump’s discriminative policies. His proposed campaign policies of a Muslim Ban, building wall against immigrants, vetting etc., has received tremendous amount of negative reactions from many people, especially from the Democrats and even from some people from the Republicans side. After he won the presidency on November 8^th, 2016, he began implementing his policies after few days. The Ban on seven predominantly Muslim Countries was a significant one. Even though these policies are not really debated about in the politic world nowadays, but they have left the elements which resulted in increase in the hate crime against minorities and also islamophobia. Donald Trump’s ban on Muslims is a violation of human rights and discriminatory against a certain group of people which is not justified at any circumstances.

President Donald trump assumed office on January 10^th, 2017. Shortly after few days later he enacted the ban on seven predominant Muslim nations in the middle east. “The most pernicious aspect of profiling and targeting the Muslim citizens of the seven nations in the EO travel ban is the way that it normalized prejudice and gave license to hateful rhetoric and violent extremists.” (Line 47, Hanadi Al Samman). The above quote can be perfectly verified by the white nationalist which proves that Trumps nationalistic rhetorics is emboldening and giving rise to hateful and extremist groups in the United States.

The rise of Islamophobia has affected Muslim women even more than Muslim men. “Chief among the targets of this Islamophobic tide are Muslim women identifiable to the public as Muslims because they wear hijabs.” (Line 11, Amaney A. Jamal). Muslim women are more likely to be target of hate and bigotry because of their outwardly appearance more so than Muslim men. They are the biggest victims of Trump’s hateful rhetorics.

The reason Muslim women are the primary target of hate speech is because they are different from the mainstream American women. “She remains a victim of “Americanness gone wrong” and is dependent on an “American ideal” for her survival.” (Line 51, Amaney A. Jamal). Islamophobes don’t consider Muslim women as part of mainstream American society because of their foreign looks, clothing and lifestyle. And on top of that throughout history and many societies have blamed minorities for their own failure. For example, Germany and the Jews in the 20^th Century.

Trump’s presidential campaign was mostly based on stereotypes and heavy generalizations against various groups. Like, he called Mexican immigrants as rapists and drug dealers which is a massive generalization. He made similar generalizations against Muslim immigrants too. “The increasing prevalence of anti-Muslim rhetoric and action, the unabashed reassertion of white male power, and recent attempts to erode the rights of women, queers, immigrants, and people of color have serious consequences for our research, teaching, and engagement with public debates and communities.” (Line 1-5, Gokariksel). It is true that there are negative practices in all cultures. But those practices are done by very few people and are definitely not representative of entire community. This shows Trump’s biasness against non-European cultures.

Besides the racism and Islamophobia spread by Trump and his political party, there have various measures for counter movements of resistance. “Resistance movements against the kind of white male dominance that Trump’s presidency represents and has been trying to restore have embraced Muslims alongside other maligned groups (immigrants, brown, black, native, Latino, queer, women).” (Line 41, Gokariksel). On the bright side, many Americans have rejected right wing ideologies of intolerance and bigotry and embraced the beauty of diversity and multiculturalism. The most prime example is the women’s march led by Linda Sarsour, A Palestinian American human rights activist, in 2017. In that march, Americans opposed Islamophobia and racism and spread the virtues of tolerance, Acceptance and equality between genders and races.

Now, let’s talk about his campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again”. It is basically another way of saying make America “white” again. “In 2016, demographers pointed to declines in white Americans ‘life expectancies, with anxiety and depression-driven drug over-doses as a contributing factor (Tavernise, 2016), one of many symp-toms of the erosion of the white middle class (Thompson, 2016).” (Line 38, Gokariksel and Smith). There is a fear among the white community that because of immigration from non-European countries, there culture might erode. Trump used these irrational fears to fill his vote banks by appealing to these people with promises that he will bring back America’s “glorious” days back.

Even though, Trump’s ban was prevented from being enacted he later tried to push fir anther ban on Muslims. “President Trump’s second attempt at a “Muslim ban,” more than twice as long as the first and more narrowly tailored, prohibits people from six countries—Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen—from immigrating or traveling to the United States for 90 days.” (Line 1, Hing). Similar efforts for building border walls are also being pushed for.

Muslims are not the only one who are affected by the election of 2016. Other minorities like Hispanics, Asians and blacks are also heavily affected. Innocent black men have been shot by Police. “The vast majority of incidents reported – 206 – were anti-immigrant, followed by anti-African American violence. Fifty-one incidents of anti-Muslim hate crimes were reported.” (Line 7, Sohrabji). Cops have been called on black men for no apparent reason. Racial profiling of people of color have been dramatically increased and hate crimes have been on the rise at an exponential rate.

In conclusion, next Presidential Election is taking place on Tuesday, November 3, 2020 and I want citizens of United States of America to think about how peace, love, harmony and tolerance can be promoted if the general American public unite together regardless of skin color, race, ethnicity, religion and vote for a better leader this time. We don’t want to choose a leader who spread hate, violence and bigotry among the people who are different in looks, cast, creed and race. We don’t want any president who causes subsequent rise to islamophobia and rampant racism in the United States like Trump has. His hate speeches against Muslims and other people of color in the country has given rise to a new divide in the country which has never been seen since the 1960s. But these things should not be tolerated and should neither be promoted as they can play a major role in spreading hatred among different groups in this diverse American society. Vote wisely on Tuesday, November 3, 2020 because your decision reflects the future of our country.

Work Cited

Jamal, A. A. “Trump(ing) on Muslim Women: The Gendered Side of Islamophobia.” Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies, vol. 13 no. 3, 2017, pp. 472-475. Project MUSE, muse.jhu.edu/article/677747.

Al-Samman, H. “Invading Muslim Bodies in the Era of Trump.” Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies, vol. 13 no. 3, 2017, pp. 483-485. Project MUSE, muse.jhu.edu/article/677750.

Gökariksel, B. “The Body Politics of Trump’s “Muslim Ban”.” Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies, vol. 13 no. 3, 2017, pp. 469-471. Project MUSE, muse.jhu.edu/article/677746.

Hing, Julianne. “New Ban, No Relief.” The Nation, vol. 304, no. 10, 2017, pp. 4–4.

Gökarıksel, and Smith. “&Quot;Making America Great Again&Quot;?: The Fascist Body Politics of Donald Trump.” Political Geography, vol. 54, 2016, pp. 79–81.

Sohrabji, Sunita. “701 Hate Crimes Reported Since Election.” India – West, 2016, pp. A1,A22.

reflection

In my Annotated Bibliography, I chose different speeches delivered by different speakers and put them in the same genre named as motivational and inspirational speeches since they all share motivation and inspiration as a similarity. Each and every speech I chose is similar to each other because all of them share an idea of change for the better. The speakers are expecting change because of their speeches and they trying to convey their message to the audience by adding inspiring words and dialogues. For example, Martin Luther King Jr. said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character”. Similarly, Malala Yousafzai said, “one book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the whole world”. These types of inspiring lines are said by the speakers that helped them spread awareness and catch attention of their audience. The most important thing these speeches share is the idea of freedom of speech. Every speaker delivered their speeches without holding any thoughts in them. They let it all out just so the speech can have the content that is related to the real-world problems. Another similarity is the tone of the speeches, they all give us the feeling of hopefulness which is the main point of their work. They want to make the audience believe that there’s still time for the change to occur. Speakers transporting their beliefs and ideas to the audience in hopeful and optimistic tone is the way to communicate to the audience because it provides audience with a motive for doing something better for the society.

However, I learned about the power of words from this topic. I realized that tongue can be a very powerful element depending on how a person use it and it can impact a lot of people. In my opinion, as a writer I learned the art of creativity. Combining all the speeches in one piece of writing and make a specific genre out of them was the main task I performed. It made my thinking and writing skills even better. To grow as a writer, I need to work more on my craft of writing and my genre to become expert at it. Reading books related to my genre could be the best way for me to accomplish my goal and it can also help me get more creative with my writing because I can choose more sources from different books and write annotated bibliography on them. I might try different genres too just to get a little hint about them and it can be beneficial for me because sometimes it’s better to look into new categories. Speech is the genre where figurative language is used quite often, so I have to work on breaking down the metaphors, simile, personification etc. in my explanations of the speaker’s quote to give more details to the reader.

Inspirational and Motivational Speech

Luther, Martin, “I Have A Dream”, Washington, D.C: Lincoln Memorial August 28, 1963

Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous public speech “I Have A Dream” at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. raised awareness and shared beliefs and ideas to unify the society mainly African-Americans. He also shed the light on Black People’s rights which were promised but never given to them. He stated, “Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given Negro people a bad check, a check which has come backed marked insufficient funds”. According to this statement in his speech, he indicates that justice is not served in this country to African-Americans as it was promised by other leaders. With a sense of determination and hopefulness, he delivered this speech which concludes that Martin Luther King Jr. was a very optimistic person who always gave the lesson to always believe in yourself.

Kennedy, John Fitzgerald, “Inaugural Address”, Washington, D.C. January 20, 1961.

John F. Kennedy was the 35^th president of the United States. He served the height of Cold War and gave out his famous Inaugural Address which was held on Friday, January 20, 1961 at the eastern portico of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. Kennedy addressed what is to be an American and how can we become loyal to our country. He said this memorable phrase, “Ask not what your country can do for you-ask what you can do for your country”. According to this statement, Kennedy expressed his thoughts to motivate the citizens to love and do the best they can to improve their country. Kennedy gave out his ideas in a very compassionate way which indicates that he wanted Americans to be patriotic and take pride in doing acts that can benefit United States.

Roosevelt, Theodore, “The Duties of American Citizenship”, New York: Buffalo, Jan. 26, 1883.

Theodore Roosevelt Jr. was the 26^th President of the United States who was also a writer, statesman and conservationist. President Roosevelt gave his speech “The Duties of an American Citizenship” where he mainly focused on how we can all make America a better country. To deliver his message, he gave out the examples of how a family system works to support his ideas. Roosevelt stated, “No man can be a good citizen who is not a good husband or a good father, who is not honest in his dealings with other men and women”. This statement from President Roosevelt indicates he strongly believed that someone who don’t treat others right can’t be a good citizen. He also believed that citizens should respect and obey federal, state and local laws. President Roosevelt expressed devotion and vigorous support for United States in this speech which shows that he wanted citizens to know how to love their country.

Joseph, chief, “Surrender Speech”, Montana: Bears Paw Mountains, Oct. 5, 1877.

Chief Joseph was a leader of the Wal-lam-wat-kain band of Nez Perce, a Native American tribe of the interior Pacific Northwest region of the United States. On October 5, 1877 Chief Joseph and his tribe, the Nez Perce surrendered to the US army in the Nez Perce War which they were fighting for survival. Chief Joseph gave out his speech where he stated, “From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever”. According to Chief Joseph, he didn’t want to continue the battle because he knew he was the last of a dying breed, so he ends up surrendering which resulted in peace between two groups. This speech was given to stop the violence which makes the speech sound very serious and heartbreaking.

Jobs, Steve, “Stanford Speech”, California: Stanford, June. 12, 2005.

Steve Jobs was the chairman, chief executive officer, and co-founder of Apple Corporation. He delivered his public inspirational speech at Stanford University in Stanford, California where he discussed about how he dropped out of college after six months because of financial issues and how he figured his life out. Jobs briefly talked about his setbacks which motivated the youth. He stated, “Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition”. According to this statement by Steve Jobs, he clearly trying to inspire people to chase their dreams and don’t someone else bring you down. He wants the people to know that what others think about you is not relevant. Jobs shows a great example of uplifting yourself which makes the speech cheerful.

Yousafzai, Malala, “Our books and our pens are the most powerful weapons”, New York, July. 12, 2013.

Malala Yousafzai is a Pakistani activist who won the Nobel Price for her speech. She is known for human rights advocacy especially for women rights. Her speech mostly focusses on women who can’t get education in some parts of the world due to different reasons. The way Malala delivered her speech showed the courage and power to motivate the women around the world. She stated, “One child, one teacher, one book, one pen can change the world”. This statement from Malala concludes that she strongly believes education is the key to success. She conveys her thought that of education should be provided to everyone and nobody should be judged on their genders in order to get education. Malala also holds an opinion that if someone want to bring changes in this world, they can accomplish their goals with the help of knowledge.

Malcolm X- Speech

Speech is arguably the most powerful tool to convince the audience towards some particular discussion. It gives person the ability to change things within their power. It gives people a sense that they can change society for the better which leads to economic and mental growth. Speech also enables us all to develop emotional, intellectual and mental capacities within our own-selves.

Malcolm X who had a rough time becoming a literate is a great example of why speech is very important. He wanted to inspire the young black people but he faced too many difficulties due to the slackness of words in his speech which were making his speech incomplete. In his writing piece,”Learning to Read”, he stated that he would spend days reading dictionaries to improve his speaking and reading ability. Malcolm X was finally successful to give his motivational and inspirational speeches after years of struggle in the prison practicing his vocabulary to improve his speech. His speech played a big role in his life and helped him convey his ideas and thoughts perfectly.

Literacy Narrative

“Language and accents govern so much of how people think about others” was a phrase I heard quite often growing up. As a young kid I didn’t agree at all with this phrase but when I got a little older and migrated to United States. All of a sudden, my opinion changed because of the situations me and my family had to face due to the reason that we didn’t speak English. I seen how people can be treated differently than others in view of the fact that how they speak and try to communicate.

During my childhood, I never noticed people judging others on their language since the country I am originally from, people spoke the same language with similar accent. I moved to United States when I was 14 and mature enough to know about how the other person feels about me when I am talking. I never realized how diversity can have both positive and negative effects. As soon as we landed in US, I already felt the wave of diversity which was visually pleasing. But on the other side, when we went to the security and paperwork checking, the security guard sitting there started asking us questions which was very intimidating, and we couldn’t really answer even though we were trying our best. He got sick and tired from us and called some other lady to deal with us. The lady was much more polite and humble, and she understood that we just came from another country. We were somehow able to answer the questions she asked. This incident opened my eyes on how individuals who do not speak English and have a limited ability to read, write or understand can be victims of some ignorant people’s judgement.

How would one feel if he/she is in a room with other students who speak fluent English, but he/she don’t? I was in a similar position when I started school here. Majority of my peers in my classes spoke English very well and I was the only one who didn’t. it made me feel left out because whenever we would discuss something, everyone participated, and I just stared at everyone as they answered the questions. Even if I would try to answer questions, I wouldn’t be able to express my full thought and my answer end up not making any sense. It made me an untalkative person which I am actually not.

What matters the most is the type of humans you have around you who can teach you certain things that you are having difficulty with. I was going to school but in my opinion, school’s English class wasn’t really teaching me the English that is useful. In other words, school never taught me the English that I can use to communicate in public. They mostly paid attention to the writing such as essays and letters. The only thing that helped me learn English the fastest way was socializing with others. I made a good number of friends who I would spend time with. And I knew English is the only language they understand so I had to just speak English with them. Playing basketball and keeping company with people who spoke fluent English taught me English. Sometimes, you can learn more from the streets than being in school.

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

I experienced Limited English Proficiency when I came to United States. I never went a middle school so my first year was freshman in high school. Since I am from a country where English is not spoken much. I was having a very difficult time understanding lectures in class and giving my response. Most of the time, even when I knew the answer to a certain question, I still wouldn’t be able to express my thoughts and ideas. It was my biggest weakness because it made me an anti social person. I always felt that people are going to judge me because of the way I speak. I learned a good amount of English in couple months but I still had a accent that would make me feel insecure about how I sound when I try to communicate with others.

LEARNING TO READ BY MALCOLM X READING RESPONSE

Malcolm X shares his experience how he was having a hard time explaining and expressing his thoughts because his vocabulary wasn’t that good. He knew slang words due to his background of being a street hustler but those slang words didn’t help him in his motivational speeches. He would read a book and would not have any clue what he actually read and what the purpose and lesson of the book is. Malcolm X also stated that he was jealous of other prisoner due to the fact that the other prisoner had more vocabulary skills than him. That’s what pushed him to improve his reading skills and work hard to gain more knowledge. He would spend days reading dictionaries and it helped him learn more and more words everyday. And that’s how he became a literate to inspire people.

ONLY DAUGHTER BY SANDRA CISNEROS READING RESPONSE

The author Sandra Cisneros describes her struggle for being the only daughter growing up in a Mexican-American family with six brothers. Not getting along with her brothers, Cisneros spend most of her time lonely which helped her become who she is now. Her father didn’t really believe in her and expected her to go to college to find a husband for her but things didnt go according to her father’s plan and he thought that her daughter wasted her time in college. Cisneros found her profession which was adding details to her work and mostly all of her writing work was for her father. She always wanted to get the father’s attention but because she was the only daughter, instead of attention she would receive lack of appreciation from him. She was always looked at as a female who belongs to her husband. Sometimes her father would tell people that he got seven sons which made her feel left out. Cisneros showed that women can be successful too if they work hard to achieve their goals. In addiction, Cisneros finally gets her father’s attention by making him proud from showing a book written by her and her father actually read and enjoyed it.

Author: Hamza