As usual, President Trump’s tweets have been getting a lot of attention from the media, and not the good kind of attention. Even before he became president, Donald Trump has had reputation for being Islamophobic for a long time, and his recent tweets have reflected his tainted views of Islam even more. Many people have responded to the president's tweets by criticizing his Islamophobic thoughts and making noise on social media about the good of Islam that Trump fails to see. Although many have responded to his tweets, how do Muslims in America feel about these offensive words being put out into the world by their president? I’ve interviewed a couple Muslim students from two different high schools in NY and asked them to respond to some tweets.

 

After reading this tweet, the students I interviewed replied,

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“Trump contradicts himself when he asks for our rights back, and then promotes the travel ban right after. The travel ban takes away freedom for Muslims and makes it harder for Muslims to travel and bring family to the U.S. You can’t ask for America’s rights back when you’re the one taking them away.”

-Anonymous, Freshman

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“The religion that dominates one country shouldn’t determine whether or not they pose as a threat. Being smart isn’t blocking out an entire region, it’s only blocking out people who prove to be actual threats.”

- Anonymous

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I then asked them to respond to this quite recent tweet that President Trump tweeted soon after a mosque in Egypt was bombed.

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“It doesn't even make sense to talk about building a wall in America in this situation, it does not benefit Egypt or show sympathy towards their tragedy”

- Anika Sujana, Freshman from Stuyvesant

 

“The Egyptians that lost their lives in the mosque were Muslims! He called them 'innocent and defenseless worshippers,' but then brought up the wall and the travel ban! How does the ban and the wall even relate to the tragedy in Egypt? What he tweeted is outright disrespectful towards the innocent Muslims who lost their lives in such a holy place.”

-Mariam Akhter, Freshman from Queens Gateway

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I also asked how they felt about these tweets from the President as Muslims, and someone responded,

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“Scared, mostly. He seems so determined to ban Muslims, or at least make us a target and it’s just really upsetting that people live their lives in fear because of him. He’s stripping people of their freedom just by sending out dumb tweets. He doesn’t see how much a few words could affect someone’s life.”

- Anika Sujana, Freshman from Stuyvesant

 

Muslims in America are extremely upset about Donald Trump’s reluctance to treat Muslims equally, and they are afraid because someone with this incredibly tarnished view of Islam has such a high position in the government. What message does it send to the american citizens who are Muslim when the president of the country frequently spreads false information about Islam on the internet? Muslims are human. The Muslims that are american citizens and the Muslims that aren’t american citizens deserve respect, but right now they aren’t being given respect, and are even afraid for their own safety because of this spread of misinformation and the foundation of hatred in the country. Do we really want a president that marginalizes the 3.3 million Muslims living in America, and the rest of the innocent Muslims around the world?