Why the Trump Immigration Ban Threatens Us All

IMG_20160213_170645So, it’s the year of the cock – and in this new Chinese zodiac year, Trump has decided to stick it to Muslims with his immigration ban.

I learned this appalling news in a haze, still recovering from the lack of sleep. (Anyone who has ever celebrated Chinese New Year in China knows that the fireworks, often set off late into the evening and early into the morning, aren’t that helpful to rest.)

Normally, this is a week when I take time off from the blog. We’re celebrating Chinese New Year, kicking back with family, and recovering from a busy run-up to the holidays here in China. It’s a lot like Christmas and the week after, when everyone spends time with their loved ones (often taking a much-needed break from things like e-mail and the Internet). I always enjoy sharing a few choice pictures from the holidays here.

But after learning about Trump’s immigration ban, I don’t feel right in merely pushing through with the post. I don’t want to ignore what’s going on, because right now I’m sick to my stomach over this immigration ban.

If you’re reading, chances are you probably know a foreigner. Or know someone who was once a foreigner. Or you are/were a foreigner yourself. That means you should understand, more than anyone else, how horrible this policy could be. Just imagine if you or your loved ones were arbitrarily blocked by virtue of arriving from one of seven countries.

But here’s another more important point – once you allow a grave injustice like this to move forward, it isn’t long before more follows. It isn’t long before the people you love become targets. It isn’t long before you become a target. This is the same wisdom that Pastor Niemoller spoke in the 1950s with the “First they came” poem.

I am reminded of the words of the great civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, who once said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” If you care about safeguarding justice for all – including yourself – you need to oppose this ban now.

As I’ve written before, I don’t usually get political. But Trump is different. This is different. Everyone ought to be appalled by what Trump has done. I don’t care how many times they try to spin this, claiming it isn’t a Muslim ban. It is a Muslim ban. This will go down in history along with many other shameful acts by the US, such as the internment of Japanese Americans on US soil. It is an ugly, hateful, racist policy.

This is the time to stand up, to show that hatred and fear will not prevail. #Resist

19 Replies to “Why the Trump Immigration Ban Threatens Us All”

  1. Thank for taking time during your holiday break to write this, Jocelyn. Cleveland had a very powerful rally at Hopkins Airport. I’ve never seen anything like it in Cleveland. People stopped what they were doing, made signs, headed to the airport and marched inside and outside the airport. We are not sitting back and allowing this in silence. Love has no borders.

  2. What I have been saying for a long time. A majority of the white Americans voted for Trump and most of those are racists, particularly the racist white American women who vote against their interests and then show up at the rally in LA and DC. Without the racist white American women, we will not be in the current situation.

      1. Yeah, George Conway is Filipino American! I wonder if she has downplayed this on purpose to appeal to her base.

        Also reminds me of the cognitive dissonance that Trump must have to push through his policies with an immigrant wife.

        1. Trump doesn’t have a problem with immigrants per se. It’s the brown people that bother him and the white nationalist base that he appeals to.

          1. Everyone other than white is non-white or brown although East Asians are technically yellow. AG Sessions son in law is either a Chinese or Chinese American. That has not prevented him from wanting to severely restrict immigration, legal or illegal. They are trying to get around the marriage visas by trying to profile spouses as to whether they will be dependent on welfare or unemployment benefits. They are considering deporting spouses with Green Cards who are unemployed or on welfare although that will not stand up in the courts.

            There was a story of Emmett Till’s murder in the newspaper these days….

            http://www.phillytrib.com/lifestyle/the-blood-of-emmett-till-reveals-lie/article_df94a9ed-5b08-5d92-bf88-9a71930c80e1.html

            I am pretty certain that if it was the 1950s, Mr. Sessions would have organized a lynch party to lynch his Chinese or Chinese American son-in-law! Just like Conway he hid the family from the public and now that he is being confirmed for AG he is shamelessly holding up his half Chinese granddaughter as a trophy!

            http://heavy.com/news/2017/01/jeff-sessions-children-mary-ruth-sam-alabama-senator-family-photos-grandkids/

            I think that a substantial minority of Trump supporters have Asian or other non-white relatives but have disowned them!

  3. I am frightened for my son’s future 🙁 heck I don’t like how things have gotten worse ever since that thing took office; riots, further divisions, rise of alternative right groups, and so forth. I am an ethnic minority, not quite white, not quite colored. I am uncomfortable with how my son might be seen ( Eastern European Jewish Hong Kong Chinese mix…) or that he will be called names by people who don’t understand… what is the purpose of hate? Why does it exist?

  4. Trump’s policies and rhetoric threaten to destabilize the entire world. Many of us fear what he is doing to promote racial and religious hatred. The feeling here is one of numbness and anger. I don’t even want to think about the economic consequences of starting a trade war with China… He and his idiotic stooges think they are making America great again… How wrong they are. Rural white Americans do not seem to grasp what they have done. If we manage to survive until the next election I am certain that the spineless Republicans who stand with him and are up for re-election will lose their jobs.

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