#stoptheban
I never felt like I had many friends until my sweet 16. It was then that I realized that I did have more than two people who would want to spend a few hours in my company. My friends comprised of a ragtag group of minorities, all of whom stand to be impacted by Donald Trump. There with me that night, I had a lesbian couple, a gay boy, two trans men, one bisexual girl, a gender queer and their girlfriend, the daughter of two US veterans, whose mother is latina, a muslim girl born here in the states, and two other muslims, who were foreign exchange students from Bangladesh and Tunisia.
When Donald Trump was elected, I feared for all of my friends, and I’m sure at different points in these next four years I will specifically address my concerns regarding every group I mentioned, but today I need to talk about the executive order that targeted people with the same faith as Roham, Nina, and Faras.
I’d like to mention that Nina, Rohan, and Faras are not my only muslim friends. There’s also Nabiah, Aiya, and Samaha. I am so incredibly proud to call all six of these people my friends, and the reasons why help to show the amazing things that Muslims have brought to our country.
Nina is incredibly active in our student council, in which she is an officer, National Honor Society, and Interact, another community service club at our school, she loves to serve others and our community.
Rohan is an incredible debater who came halfway around the world to learn how we do competitive debate in America and bring it back to his friends in Bangladesh.
Faras is a happy go lucky ladies man who will never fail to make you laugh, he participated in community service in his time here along with Rohan.
I’ve known Nabiah the longest of all of them, we met in our 6th grade GT class, she’s insanely smart and driven to succeed, she was also one of the first ones I came out to and she welcomed me with open arms, just like all of my other friends, she participates in many community service organizations.
Aiya is one of the nicest people I’ve met, she works at the farmers market with her family on the weekend and has never had a bad word about anyone, she also is an officer for our school’s student council.
Samaha was a senior my freshman year of highschool, she was a drum major, and helped me learn to march. She was also in my AP bio class; I was among the first freshmen to take AP bio, but rather than turning her nose and acting like we weren’t equals in trying to learn. She happily took me own as a lab partner, and actively sought me out for help with a concept she couldn’t quite grasp and showed no shame in doing so. When she easily could have reinforced the feeling I had in my chest that I was in over my head and didn’t belong in a class with seniors, she saw my talent and helped me feel like I belonged.
All six of these people have had an incredible impact on my life and I have no clue where I’d be without them. To hear that Trump has banned people like them from entering the country is outrageous to me. Islam doesn’t breed hate, hate breeds hate. To blame anything else is false. This ban doesn’t end hate, it fuels it. I will not be silent while my friends and fellow humans are being persecuted.
