I wrote this post on March 6, 2017 for Linkedin.com. The new version of Linkedin.com doesn’t appear to support longer posts so I’m redoing the article here. As well, given the continued enshititication of the Net, I would not be surprised of this post was shadow-banned. So here it is in revised form.
Muhammad Ibn Ali and his mother, Khalilah Camacho-Ali,–both US citizens–were detained at Fort Lauderdale airport because they are Muslims. The story is still viral now, and I would recommend watching and listening to them speak about their experience in their own words before reading the accounts in the media.
The Ali’s (formerly Clay’s) are my second cousins. They buried their father, the activist, humanitarian, legendary boxer, The Greatest of All Time (The GOAT), and “friend” of the president-elect, Muhammad Ali, last June 2016.
I’ll admit that it’s been a challenge for me to stay focused during these last few months days since our ex was reelected. This story shook me to my core–because it’s is so close to home.
My sister sent me a link to this story just hours before I would make my way through security at Fort Lauderdale airport to return home to the “swamp” here in the Washington, DC metro area. I was not asked if I was Muslim. I was not detained. But the Ali’s were on my mind. (Side note: I’m a bald Black man so I occasionally wear a kufi. Last time I was in Florida, I was asked not to wear my favorite blue kufi because of the fear of Florida MAGAs.☹️)
It seems The president-elect and his team are hell bent on dividing US, and his recent words of unity before Congress did nothing to change this ground truth.
Regardless of the legalese about which countries are included or excluded, or which visas will be honored or not, and the narrowing of the language in the new executive order–everyone “knows” that the new order is just another Muslim ban.
The core message from this White House is the same: Muslims are terrorists until proven otherwise.
The fact that government officials felt that they could detain the Ali’s–two law-abiding, tax paying, Americans–and administer a religious test for re-entry without fear of consequences proves the point that these orders are more about sowing fear than protecting American lives.
Are the Ali’s “less American” because of their religion? How effective can this ban be against terrorists with “normal” names (and falsified documents) who lie about their religion to the border agents? How seriously should anyone take a ban that is followed unlawfully? Is the United States one of the countries listed in the order as harboring bad “hombres” that endanger our national security? (I repeat; the Ali’s are citizens of the United States.)
Of course, the Ali’s will sue–and most likely–win a substantial sum and perhaps even “a change in the careers” of a few government officials. I can only hope.
But the damage has been done.
Mr. President-elect, I know you did not create #Islamophobia, but if you don’t change course and withdraw these orders, any reasonable person could conclude that you and your team are exploiting fear and hatred for political, or financial gain. That would be a terrible choice.
It’s curious that in this video Ms. Camaho-Ali said that she has five reasons for voting for our ex-president. I don’t understand why after being detained because of a Muslim ban that her “friend” put in place, she is willing vote for him. 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔
Since she didn’t provide her five reasons for supporting him this time around in the video, I’ll provide my guesses from speaking with people who expressed similar views:
Trump Lies Matter He’s a conman y’all. Don’t you remember the last administration? His racist, misogynist, xenophobic jokes, slights, gaffs, and jabs too often became policy. Remember the family separation policy? (If you’re Black and this policy doesn’t remind you of the auction block during slavery, then you’re truly lost.) Remember the stories of kids yelling “build the wall” at Latine’ kids in schools all over the country during the last administration? Remember August 11 to 12, 2017 in Charlottsville? Remember 6 January? This is indeed spiritual warfare. His stochastic terrorism has cost lives. We can only expect more of the same or worse this time around. It’s too late for your “buyers’ remorse.”
I did pretty good the last time. Yeah, If you were not poor (and were not a Muslim–or at least–not a Palestinian, and had the president-elect as your bestie,) I imagine that you did pretty well financially under him the last time. But it’s not all about you, me, or your money. There’s a whole world outside of you and it’s life-support system is trash. What about our future?
The democrats suck Really? That’s all you got? Since when did being in the democratic party make you especially suck? The rich folk have paid off both parties to take key issues off the table and out of discussion like climate emergency, single payer healthcare, worker rights, campaign finance reform, DEI, to name a few. That sucks. America’s system is built on slavery, war, and continued exploitation of people and countries (planets?), that’s what sucks.
He’s after those bad people–not me (or mine) I remember having a weird conversation with a Mexican president-elect supporter who lectured me about how he came into this country “the right way”–unlike those other Mexicans.🤔 It’s funny how people are able to craft magical exceptions for themselves in their own minds–even as mass deportation, like COVID, will affect everyone. Check your privilege. Check your hatred. Once the deportations start, will they be able to tell (or care) who came here “the right way?” The optics will be ICE agents, deputies, and community vigilantes frog-marching as many black and brown families onto pins, planes, busses, detention centers, and concentration camps as possible. Are you ready for the choruses of crying children separated from their families again?
I believe that he’s a strong leader Our ex-president-elect is the “devil we know” very well. Our culture is awash in authoritarianism. Authoritarians are our parents, spouses, lovers, school teachers and administrators, bosses and CEOs, ministers and faith leaders, politicians, leaders of our open-source software projects.😏 We reward the authoritarians who are the most authoritarian with power, prestige, and wealth–despite or because of their flaws. Their most obvious flaw is their willingness to lie and cast blame about the mistakes they make. Our ex-and-soon-to-be-president is a familiar figure for too many of us–perhaps too familiar.