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Contrasting Rose Hamid[1]'s defiant presence at a Donald Trump rally last week, Kaddie Abdul's appearance at a Trump rally left an apparent indelible impression in her mind.
In a first-person account of the experience, Abdul detailed her experiences in The Guardian[2].
Wearing her Muslim hijab, and carrying an over-sized Koran with her, Abdul mingled with many Trump supporters. Abdul said she felt inspired to follow Hamid's example and be a voice for her faith among those who might not share her views, like many of Trump's supporters.
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"And nothing bad happened to me at the rally," Abdul wrote, seemingly surprised. "I spoke to several lovely people and had the type of informative and substantive discourse that one should expect at a political event."
The most provocative act that I encountered occurred towards the beginning of my two-hour wait: a vendor noticed me and immediately came down to my section of the line where he loudly announced that he was selling "Bomb The Hell Out Of Isis" T-shirts (apparently, the desire to kill people is considered trendy fashion at a Trump rally). He looked directly at me to see how I would react; I looked back at him, shook my head, smiled and read my Qur'an as I patiently waited for someone to engage me in civil conversation.
Echoing Trump's own criticism[3] of the mainstream media Abdul wrote, "And it was interesting to hear Trump and his supporters' viewpoints for more than just the few seconds offered by most soundbites."
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Abdul concluded, "His supporters are people, not caricatures. They feel marginalized economically, politically, and socially; they see a world different from the one they think should exist. Many non-Trump supporters are also concerned about the current economic and political state of our planet and its implications for a stabile future for our children…We cannot continue to believe that they represent a fringe group of people and that their candidates can never be elected to a major role in government. We need to see them, and listen to them…"
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Abdul seemed to describe an epiphany, "it was worth the risk to me to show them that their insecurities about Muslims were unfounded. It was worth it to humanize Muslims for them. And it was worth it, to me, to recognize their humanity, too."
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References
- ^ Rose Hamid (www.theblaze.com)
- ^ The Guardian (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ own criticism (www.westernjournalism.com)
- ^ TheBlaze (www.theblaze.com)
