Student Spotlight: Rashid on Being Muslim in Trump’s America
Ibrahim Rashid (Pardee ’19) discussed his thoughts on the results of the 2016 United States presidential election, and what the results mean to him as a Muslim American, in a piece he authored for the Huffington Post as well as in an interview with the New York Times.
In an November 9, 2016 article he published in the Huffington Post, entitled “I’m a Muslim and I’m Not Scared of Trump’s America,” Rashid wrote about his experience attending a rally President Barack Obama held in New Hampshire the day before Election Day:
So on Monday, I took a day off from class to attend the Obama rally in New Hampshire and, armed with just a whiteboard, a marker, and an iPhone, I asked people, “What is great about America?”
Their response? Diversity, acceptance, and progress.
And I continue to see this message every day. This morning, the New York Times featured me in an article highlighting Black, Hispanic, and Muslim reactions to the election result. At the time of writing, more than 8,000 people have liked and shared the article in total and if you take a look at the comments, all you will see is compassion, love, and support.
This is the America that I know.
So while it is easy to feel isolated and unwanted, I refuse to give up on this country. There is still so much good here and we can’t just ignore it and shut ourselves off.
So today I can proudly say with confidence that I, as a first generation American, have been shown a special kind of love from this country and its people that doesn’t just go away because we have a new president.
Rashid was also interviewed for a November 9, 2016 New York Times article entitled “Donald Trump Win Has Blacks, Hispanics and Muslims Bracing for a Long Four Years,” on watching the election results roll in on Tuesday night, and what the outcome of the election means for his family, Pakistani nationals who live in Dubai:
When election results on Tuesday night started pointing to a Trump victory, Ibrahim Rashid, a sophomore at Boston University, began getting nervous.
Given Mr. Trump’s vow to bar Muslims from entering the United States in an attempt to curb terrorism, Mr. Rashid, an American citizen who is Muslim, worried that his family — Pakistani nationals who live in Dubai — could never visit him here again. And he ached for a young cousin in Michigan whose classmates were mean to her after Mr. Trump won a mock election at school, prompting her to cry all day.
“All of us are just scared,” Mr. Rashid said on Wednesday. “There’s a lot of talk on Facebook about getting ready for the next four years because people are going to question you, and your point of view won’t matter. The feeling is, we’re not accepted any more.”
Still, he did not want his fear to show. And so he boldly dressed in Pakistani clothes and clipped a sign to his shirt that declared, “I’m not Scared.”
You can read the entire Huffington Post article here, and the New York times article here.