Muhammad Ali's daughter: Trump's agenda is nothing new
NEWSWEEK
10 FEB 2017 AT 13:00 ET
By Maryum Ali
One of the things I miss about my father are our conversations about humanity. When I was a little girl, I remember him telling me that all humans were created equal by God, but man will use multiple tricks to divide, discriminate and conquer. He also imparted that I am not a minority in the eyes of God, and to stand up and defend my human rights just as he did when he demanded his civil rights as a free black man and as a Muslim. My father and millions of others were well aware of the falsehoods—or as U.S. President Donald Trump’s counselor, Kellyanne Conway, now calls it, “alternative facts”—told about race issues.
When the immigration ban was implemented, I felt I had enough in my spiritual and mental arsenal to not allow it to discourage or depress me. I am proud that there has been a global stand to protest this unconstitutional travel ban. I understand why people are describing the behavior of our new president as being “unprecedented,” but Trump’s agenda is nothing new. We have been here many times before as a nation. So, I am finding myself pulling from an assortment of lessons I’ve learned during my formative years, in order to remain resilient, empowered and ready for what is to come.
Many people around the world know that normalizing inequality, racism and discrimination should not be tolerated. We also know the deceptive ploys that are used, such as spreading extreme fear and fallacies to accomplish sinister goals. One of the first lessons I’ve learned about normalization schemes was when I did a school report about slavery. The justification of slavery included the ideas that black people were scientifically inferior based on biology; slavery was divine from the Bible; ending slavery would destroy the economy; and freeing slaves would cause an uprising that would destroy the white race. Once slaves were legally free after the American Civil War, new laws were enacted to normalize and maintain discrimination and oppression such as the Black Codes and Jim Crow Laws.
Now, Muslims are the punchline of a horrifically bad joke, which goes like this: How many Muslims need to leave America to make it great again? Answer: All of them. I don’t say this to make light of the matter at hand, but these are the sentiments of some who support the irrational, discriminatory, and unconstitutional Muslim ban.
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http://www.rawstory.com/2017/02/muhammad-alis-daughter-trumps-agenda-is-nothing-new/
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