Donald Trump and Ben Carson both recently fielded questions regarding Muslims in America, and both gave grossly unsatisfying answers.
A man at a Trump rally started with, “We have a problem in this country. It’s called Muslims,” and eventually asked Trump, “When can we get rid of them?”
Instead of acknowledging that many Muslims are American and just as deserving of citizenship as any other American, Trump responded: “We’re going to be looking at a lot of different things. You know, a lot of people are saying that and a lot of people are saying that bad things are happening. We’re going to be looking at that and many other things.”
What.
Islam is the fourth largest faith in the United States with 2.77 million adherents. Islam first came to America in 1528 when a Spanish slave owner brought his Moroccan slaves to modern-day Texas. And we’re going to be looking at a lot of different things in relation to getting rid of them?
First off, that’s just offensive as an idea. In a nation where we are free to worship (or not worship) any god we choose, no person in the government has the right to discriminate against a particular faith, and they’re certainly not able to look into getting rid of them.
Second, Muslims make up 0.9% of the US population. If they’re “the problem” in this country, they are amazingly efficient. So efficient, in fact, that they should probably be running this country. If Congress could run as efficiently as these so-called Muslim-nation-ruiners, imagine how much good could come!
Ben Carson was asked if a president’s faith should matter, to which he responded: “I guess it depends on what that faith is. If it’s inconsistent with the values and principles of America, then of course it should matter.”
He went on to clarify, “I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation. I absolutely would not agree with that.”
The GOP has prided itself on being conservative and honoring the constitution, but they can’t make it past the first amendment without changing or perverting the meaning of the constitution.
Regardless of how the Republican party feels, many Muslims are in fact Americans. Not only that, they’re mostly plain, boring Americans. Like most Christian families, they work boring jobs, watch boring shows, eat boring food. They pay boring bills. They’re normal.
Most Muslims aren’t extremists. They’re regular people living regular lives, and they aren’t parasites to get rid of. A Muslim child deserves the right to grow up and aspire to be president. A Muslim high school student shouldn’t be arrested for being creative.
Holly Baer is a senior English major from Flowood.
