Dear Congressman Jim Banks,

Congratulations on your well deserved election to congress. I want you to know that I voted for you. That I looked at who you are and who you are trying to become and voted for you. That I believed the conversations we had, while you were campaigning, when you said that we are all Hoosier and that you will represent us all the same regardless of what faith we ascribe to or where we hail from.
In your victory announcement you said that your campaign "have focused on a positive, solution-oriented agenda to address the challenges our country faces" and Now that you are elected I ask you, will you address my challenges?

Will you help my wife feel safe again? Heather, whom you've met, was born and raised here. Yet for the very first time in her life she feels unsafe in her own country. Will you consider her challenge and the challenge of many women and men who bravely and proudly show a faith that is different than the professed faith of our president? 
Will you address her challenge in Trump's America?
What about my daughter and two sons, who are of the same age as your two daughters, will you address the challenges to their childhood? What about the children of my Black, Sudanese, Chadian, Mexican, Bosnian, Burmese and Arab friends? Will you uphold the trust their parents put in you by voting for you? Will you address their challenge in Trump's America?

What about me? A person you shook hands with, looked straight in the eye and promised a change. Will you address my challenge when I come back from visiting my family in the Middle East in January? What if I tell you that on the same trip I plan on going to Mecca to perform a mini pilgrimage, will you address my challenge at the borders in Trump's America?

Will you address my challenge and the challenge of many immigrants who chose to make America home, who toil day in and day out to keep it great, who appreciate, respect and uphold the values that make it the sanctuary they chose, will you address our challenges in Trump's America?
I ask because I put my trust in you by giving you my vote. I ask because I need to know that the person I chose to represent me will address my challenges with the same commitment and fervor he/she would give to any other challenge.

I will pray for your success as you face the many challenges ahead.

Sincerely,
​
An immigrant, Muslim, American husband and father in Trump's America

Trump won, fair and square so accept it and let's move on.
There are an estimated 250,000,000 eligible voters in the US. Trump got 59,701,573 of those votes or 24% of eligible voters and Hillary had almost the same exact numbers.
So Trump managed to win with a quarter of eligible voters. I will give many of those voters the benefit of the doubt and NOT assume that everyone of them is a xenophobe, a misogynist,or a racist like the person they voted for and go with the thought that it was economic reasons that compelled them to vote for him. This means a few things for me
- The hate that exists in the hearts and minds of a big chunk of our society has now been exposed. It was always there but now it is out in the open and to a large extent sanctioned by the election of Trump. The question we need to ask ourselves with regards to that is why? Why do these people still feel that way? Racism and hate are not genetic. They are taught. Why have we not disrupted that cycle?
- Those who were economically compelled to vote for Trump and overlooked his flaws were driven by a fear that was not addressed by the DNC candidate. That further exacerbated the feeling that elitism rules Washington and that the divide between "us" and "them" cannot be reconciled by one of "them". Trump, with all his flaws, was a straight shooter that didn't dinck around and was able to have the "bar" talks with them. They are not "dumb" or "idiots" or "uneducated", they are people with real concerns that were not addressed and I think were exploited by a cunning candidate.
- Having said all that I believe that the biggest failure of this election is that of the DNC. This election was the DNC to lose and they lost it big time. Think about that for a moment. Half the eligible voters did not vote. I do believe many believed in Hillary and supported her and her platform but a big chunk of those who voted for Hillary voted for her out of fear of the alternative. They voted for the "lesser of two evils". Now think about those voters who are now completely disenfranchised by the electoral process, what will they do next election cycle? They will sit it out and instead of looking at half of eligible voters not voting we may be looking at three quarters of them and the number of people who determine the election outcomes become smaller and smaller. The DNC has failed miserably and I hope they learn their lesson.
The DNC needs to clean house. 
The RNC needs some soul searching. 
We the people need to see the humanity in each other, understand what concerns us and work towards it. We need to wake up from the dream of a one person, a president, being able to solve our problems.
Shake off the complacency and get to work.

​To everyone who is tired, I'm right here with you.
To everyone who is angry, I'm right here with you.
To everyone who is scared, anxious, disappointed, heartbroken, I am right here with you.

I'm not going to pretend like I know how you feel.
I'm not going to deny or try and pacify how you feel. 

All I ask is that while you're working through all of it, 
or when you have worked through all of it, 
to remember that I.am.here.right.here.with.you. 
I always have been and I always will be. 

We stand together. 
We hold our heads up high, 
keep our sleeves rolled up and our hands in the muck. 

It is people like us who saw an end to sanctioned slavery.
It is people like us who took the first steps towards civil liberty.
It is people like us who secured the right for women to vote.
It is people like us who saw the first black president win office twice in a row.

And it is people like us who will see this country through the upcoming, dark tunnel.

Peace, love and everything good

#Hope

This post was originally published in The Journal Gazette under the title "Stamping Out Labels"
http://www.journalgazette.net/opinion/sunday-centerpiece/STAMPING-OUT-LABELS-15596960


"In the infamous bowl of Skittles, I would be a brown one.

You know, Palestinian, Arab, Muslim, born and raised in the Mideast, all the qualifiers that would land me smack dab in the middle of the brown category.

Of course, to the discerning mind, my shade of brown is not to be confused with South American brown, North African brown or Indian brown (of course, India Indians, not Red Indians). And for the geographically astute who know that Palestine is in Asia, the yellow of my Asian origin does not supersede the brownness of all my other attributes.

Of course, I’d be remiss if I do not mention the recent advancements our society has made in racial terminology. As an Arab-American or Muslim-American, I am, of course, a minority – further subcategorized as an immigrant. The label is firmly established when you hear that ever-slight accent that still pops up every now and again even after 20 years of living in the Western world.

My parents sought refuge in Qatar in the early ’60s due to the continued military expansionism of Israel on their homeland of Palestine.

My father, a businessman, and my mother, a teacher, helped build Qatar. But Qatar, like the majority of Arab countries, does not naturalize you even if you were born and raised there.

Due to my parents’ dedication to providing a better life for their children, they sought refuge again in Canada after I, the youngest of five kids, finished high school in 1996. After earning my bachelor of science in biology and receiving my Canadian citizenship in 2000, I moved to the United States in pursuit of further education and have been calling the U.S. home since. During this time, I have earned a doctoral degree in pharmacy, worked in the health care field, built a business with my wife and helped establish two new pharmacy programs in two different states.

I am the husband of a beautiful nurse in the making, the proud father of three young children with unlimited potential and the friend, colleague and neighbor of countless beautiful souls. Yet the national discourse around me, and many more like me, strips me down to a label:

• A label that erases the human behind it and serves as a shortcut to conclusions that can be crafted and manipulated by media and politicians to serve as a convenient, easy answer to complex questions.

• A label that can be or is, as the situation is currently, blamed for everything from lack of jobs to terrorist activities. A label that completely blinds you to the flesh and bones that carry it and carry with it real concerns, emotions and aspirations.

Some might argue that labeling and categorizing is simply a human trait. After all, science tells us that we subconsciously gather clues from our environment, process data and deduce action without much conscious thought of all the steps involved as an efficient way of utilizing energy. In many instances, this process can prove to be an effective survival mechanism as well.

For example, when you see a snake, you recognize a snake and assume danger within a few short seconds. You then proceed either to walk or run away to protect yourself or remove/kill the snake to protect yourself and your surroundings. The same can be said of many things that we do in our lives without much thought (think of walking, driving your car or even breathing).

We as humans, however, cannot simply be reactive to a primal instinct in our dealings with one another. When we extend this behavior to our human interaction, especially with those who do not “look like us” and do not go beyond the superficiality of a label, we lose the main distinguishing factor that makes us human.

We lose our ability to think, choose and make conscious decisions. We lose sight of the beauty that exists in our vastly different shapes, sizes, colors and in our philosophies, beliefs and outlooks on life.

The existential threat that we face as Americans today is our own biases fueled by ignorance.

Our lack of understanding of one another.

Our lack of appreciation of the value of the life of the “other.”

It’s time to take a deeper look at ourselves.

It’s time to address the politics of fearmongering and hate.

It’s time to look beyond the convenience of a label."

​Honored to share the stage with Rev. John P. Gardner of Plymouth Congregational Church and deliver tonight's Allen County Democrats dinner's opening invocation.


John P. --
O God of all ages, Creator of heaven and earth,
of all we see and worlds we have yet to discover;

Fifteen years ago today, I was a pharmacy student in Big Rapids, Michigan. I was in the office of one of my professors, having a general conversation, when his phone rang. He became visibly shook and looked pale as he hung up the phone. "My wife says planes crashed into the world trade center" he managed to mutter and, to be honest, it did not register with me. I thought it was an accident; A small engine plane that lost its course and hit one of the buildings. 
I excused myself from the office of my visibly distraught professor and walked down to my lecture room. It was approximately 30 minutes before the start of class, and as I walked in, the footage of the plane crashing into the world trade center was on full display on the big screens. My heart sank, for many reasons, as I watched the details start to unfold.
A few minutes later, I noticed students were starting to trickle in and I immediately went to the main door of our college and waited for the handful of Muslim/Arab students to make their way to class. I told each of them as they came by to turn around and go home. I recall specifically saying "If someone yells at you, screams at you or even spits in your face....Don't do anything. Just keep walking and get to your home." 
The world has changed.
On that particular day, the entire world turned and stared at me. 
On that particular day, I became THE representative of the Islamic faith. I now speak for the entirety of Islam and am expected to answer for any and all actions of those who claim it as their faith. 
I am now the measuring stick. 
I am now it.
I have always been somewhat active in raising general awareness/education about my Muslim faith, my Arab culture and my people's struggle for justice in Palestine. But on that particular day, I realized that trying to be an agent of positive change, peace and coexistence is a full time duty rather than a service to be done on my free time.
On that particular day I was both disoriented and focused, 
panicked yet calm, 
afraid yet full of courage. 
On that particular day I came to understand how I can be surrounded by many yet feel completely alone,
Have many thoughts yet be unable to speak,
Have many emotions yet not be allowed to grieve. 
On that particular day I realized the full meaning of "other" 
and to this day I don't take a second of my life for granted and use every bit of me to be an agent of change

The word ملأ is often mentioned in the Quran when discussing people who surround an oppressive/unjust person (think pharaoh). It's translated as "the eminent ones" or you can understand it in the sense of those who surround the owner of authority; advisors, confidants, close friends....etc.

When thinking of such a group, the word enablers come to mind. Those who encourage a person's behavior/action and embolden their deviance.

For example:

Holy Quran 7:127
------------------
وَقَالَ ٱلْمَلَأُ مِن قَوْمِ فِرْعَوْنَ أَتَذَرُ مُوسَىٰ وَقَوْمَهُۥ لِيُفْسِدُوا۟ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ وَيَذَرَكَ وَءَالِهَتَكَ ۚ قَالَ سَنُقَتِّلُ أَبْنَآءَهُمْ وَنَسْتَحْىِۦ نِسَآءَهُمْ وَإِنَّا فَوْقَهُمْ قَٰهِرُونَ

And the eminent among the people of Pharaoh said," Will you leave Moses and his people to cause corruption in the land and abandon you and your gods?" [Pharaoh] said, "We will kill their sons and keep their women alive; and indeed, we are subjugators over them."

The "enablers" did not say to pharaoh "go ahead and kill Moses and his people" rather they planted a seed of fear in the mind of someone who is capable of doing great harm and then let things unfold.

My point is, while in many of our discourses and discussions about an oppressor's rise to power (think Trump) or a person's abuse of power (think police officers disproportionately shooting black people) or a person's disregard for the sanctity of life of others (think of anyone who murdered someone) we often neglect the enablers who surround them. We need to look at the environment and who is in it and what role have they played that may have led to the situation at hand.

Another point is for us to stop looking at such situations as isolated from us. We're baffled by these happenings yet we don't take a close and thorough look at ourselves and end up, inadvertently and at the very least, being enablers.

You can enable by encouraging,
but you can also enable by being silent when truth needs to be spoken,
by being complacent,
by shirking your responsibility as a citizen of your community.

Change won't happen unless we change the environment that allows negative enablers to dominate and that change has to come from within.
​

If you compare ‪#‎ISIS‬ and ‪#‎Trump‬'s messaging, you will notice some frightening similarities. It's as if they are both using the same playbook

- both are capitalizing on abstract nostalgia (Make Islam great again vs make America great again)

-both are emboldening a marginalized, due to their hate, group (Jihadists vs white supremacist)

- both label and dehumanize other, therefor justifying their ill treatment (Kafirs or disbelievers/infidels vs Moozlums/Mexicans/Refugees)

- both blame an ill defined, foreign enemy-(The west vs the immigrants)

- both offer simple answers to complex questions- (Build a caliphate vs build a wall)

- facts don't matter to either (every single Islamic teaching vs every single fact)
​
- both are false prophets (guy with a big beard vs a supposed, self made billionaire)
And the list goes on and on....