Everyone remembers the adage don’t judge a book by its cover, larger meaning don’t judge people simply on how they look; we know it was an idealistic, unattainable dream but we were always supposed to try, that trying making us better people.

Current Trends by Natasha Sapp

And in the era of Donald Trump, where his election seems to signal to his voters, his supporters, those non-confrontational individuals just going along to get along permission to hate, disparage, harass or attack people, fellow citizens, fellow human beings they don’t like it surfaces all the more important we refresh our memories about that old adage and its intrinsic value in our lives. His assentation to the presidency seeming to green light the normalcy of intensified sexism, racism, anti-Semitism, white supremacy, xenophobia, homophobia, islamophobia, giving a nod to persons wishing to act out their violent, cruel fantasies on labeled ‘undesirables’ the last guy, the opposing political party let in by the droves, have been letting in indiscriminately for decades. His title screaming time to send them a message: go back where you came from; heralding a new chapter of tension, violence, bigotry, nationalism and destructive selfishness drowning out inclusion, tolerance, unity toward common causes and wellbeing—the legacy of Barack Obama. The ‘war on black people’ systematic degradation, dehumanization and disenfranchisement visited upon people of color we know began with slavery and has never been completely reversed; always rearing its ugly head in times marked by uncertainty, economic instability, when resources become more scarce, however slightly. Largely exaggerated, exploited, in some cases made up, anxieties about stagnating wages, good paying jobs and safe neighborhoods has led to a resurgence in the consistent, historical narrative surrounding immigrants, of every kind and stripe; immigrants, not progress, automation, changing industry, business dynamics are who’s taking those jobs, boiling to a head in the unforeseen election of Mr. Trump. Schools even engage in their own asinine version of this practice allegedly to avoid the big D- distraction touted as the most significant hurdle to learning today homogenizing, making everyone look the same alleging it enhances focus, increases metrics like test scores; usually crafted to avoid the other big D-decisions teachers, administrators and school officials don’t want to come to in the first place, let alone have to explain or defend to the slightest opposition. Such as, why a girl shaving her head in support of her friend with cancer will not be punished; ignoring it’s her head, she and her parents can decided to style it any way they choose. Why the black girl’s dreads, that look closer to braids, are absolutely fine and a tom-boy look on a girl who prefers jeans and sneakers does not make her transgender, lesbian, promote engaging in, of all things bestiality, at 8 years old. Also, when in reality it just shows how ignorant teachers and administrators are about student’s lives and culture, exposes their own bloated fears regarding ethic, religious, racial group, gender identity or sexual orientation X. Forgotten in all the recent rhetoric about the dangers of refugees, particular persons coming into the country, who is or isn’t taking our jobs is the irony we are a nation of immigrants; throughout our history different peoples immigrating here for better lives are responsible for key parts of the fabric known as America. From major landmarks, Chinese who built the transcontinental railroad, the Irish who fueled our industrial revolution, helped build fixtures like the Erie Canal and the Brooklyn Bridge or that the Golden Gate Bridge was a great depression project putting out of work Americans to work for good money creating a famous attraction. Immigrants also contributed to the richness of celebrated holidays, events; St. Patrick’s Day, Cinco de Mayo, Mardi Gras, Santa Clause is derived from a Dutch legend. American pastimes, football originated from England’s Rugby; hotdogs we think of being as American as baseball and apple pie, actually carried over from England too, are molded after the German frankfurter. Enjoy the convenience of internet searching, you can thank the Russian who co-founded Google, fashionista, like jeans, credit the Latvian who partnered with Levi Strauss giving us signature Levi jeans; speaking of which, the first modern shopping mall concept came from an Australian. Now lost in the debate about those immigrants who are ‘acceptable,’ come out of ‘acceptable’ parts of the world and those who don’t, American citizens, Americans who are from productive cultures, ethnicities and those who are forever considered ne’er-do-wells, is that no child should be pushed out of an education, school made a horrible, humiliating place to be because of their heritage, culture, ethnic identity reflected in their clothes, hairstyle, shoes, jewelry. No one should be denied the opportunity of a job singularly based on their name identifying them as a probable African American and the stereotype that comes with that assertion. On welfare, mess of kids by irresponsible, out of the picture baby daddies, not even afforded the respect of calling them fathers, living in public housing, bad neighborhoods, addicted to drugs or once was. No one should have to change, Americanize their name to be considered for a job when all they are basing that decision on is application materials and that your name appears Mexican, Latino, Hispanic in origin red flagging you as a suspected illegal immigrant. No one should be forced to choose between the outward symbols of their religion, in a country espousing religious freedom as a paramount, fundamental right, and serving the United States military in any and all branches; especially noting it was conservative darling president Ronald Reagan who enacted the uniformity codes forcing military personnel to all look, dress and sport identical haircuts. But there is precisely where we are, non-Caucasian Americans denied housing because they sounded black over a phone, José had to drop a letter and become Joe to get call backs and e-mail responses to his application materials for construction jobs known to use illegals anyway. Precisely the dilemma facing Sikh or Muslim Americans who wish to enlist, join military branches across America, shave your beard, remove your turban, women violate your modesty by eliminating your head scarf or be turned away. Who remembers the Muslim girl who had to find an alternative military school because the one she desired to attend wouldn’t accept her wearing a headscarf; that she did indeed find one, one reached out to her and said, if Citadel doesn’t want you we do, speaks volumes. Few knowing the origins of these held scared ‘rules’ never once devoting a moment’s thought to changing them, if nothing else for the extremely practical reasons, tallying the wars we’re fighting, we need more people who look like them, practice these religions, intuitively understand these cultures to be members of our military. To serve as translators, to interpret foreign, unfamiliar social cues, women to go into places, question women there about what they witnessed, what they know where it would be highly inappropriate for a man to do so; not to mention seeing a fellow Sikh, Muslim the types of people you are used to seeing in your corner of the world fosters trust, eases nerves, leads to more complete dialog, information sharing, valuable human intelligence, without which we will never succeed in turning these regions around, combatting terrorism. Neither should you ever be denied housing opportunities, social services such as aide in getting a job, addresses to food panties, childcare options because of your race, ethnicity, culture, the fact you wear a turban or headscarf immediately identifies you as Middle Eastern, assumed Muslim, denied those services and others besides because of your sexual orientation, perceived sexual orientation. Yet that’s exactly where we are, understanding all of these proposed bathroom bills have nothing to do with protecting, primarily children, from pedophiles, women from rape, harassment or assault by men who use being transgender as an excuse to lurk in female bathrooms, recreation, gym locker rooms, department store fitting rooms; completely eliminating medical, scientifically, MRI proven fact, transgender persons brains, according to aforementioned scans, behave congruent with their gender identity not their anatomically assigned sex. Or that assaulting, harassing or raping anyone, anywhere, anytime is still a crime prosecutable by law; crimes rarely, if ever, perpetrated by the LGBT community more often the victims of it, crimes overwhelmingly perpetrated by heterosexual, gender conforming persons. Instead so called ‘bathroom bills’ are about fervent Christian conservative pushes to block, at the state level LGBT rights, anti-discrimination policies in cities, counties, municipalities demanded by voters; one possible law, going in the absolute opposite direction, forcing teachers to spy on students then report their LGBT status to their parents at the colligate level. Happenings in America representing a confusing duality when we’ve had a black president and first lady, both exuding class, grace, fortitude and no shortage of exemplary parenting under the withering scrutiny of the public eye only for there to be constant references to their race, repeated comparisons to gorillas, apes, negative references to exotic native rainforest women in grass skirts, political operatives are in hot water for telling her to go live in Africa with said apes, someone holding a job as important as teacher’s aide has to be fired for calling our just departed the Whitehouse first lady a gorilla. When Sikhs were just granted the ability to wear turbans in the military and NYC police forces have implemented similar policies regarding head scarves and turbans for Sikh and Muslim officers. But still the select few in ever dwindling numbers cling to immigrants, people wearing different types of dress, legal U.S. citizens, born U.S. citizens whose heritage is from elsewhere across the globe being a bad, dangerous other to be avoided, demand total assimilation and unique cultural annulation because we can? In 2017 blacks still don’t get a chance because even fewer portions of the population can’t leave their 1750, 1850’s and 1950’s mentalities behind?

http://xpatnation.com/great-us-infrastructure-projects-built-by-irish-american-immigrants/

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/biography/goldengate-workers/

http://nbclatino.com/2013/07/21/10-uniquely-american-things-created-by-immigrants/

http://www.salon.com/2017/01/06/republicans-in-virginia-and-texas-may-replicate-north-carolinas-bathroom-bill-disaster/

http://www.salon.com/2017/01/10/here-come-the-bathroom-police-alabama-is-coming-after-target-by-tapping-attendants-to-monitor-trans-inclusive-restrooms/

http://www.salon.com/2017/01/26/while-trump-grabs-headlines-texas-republicans-launch-new-wave-of-assaults-on-lgbt-rights/


Routine readers of my work know my repeated articles on education in multiple facets, none more so than on the patently ridiculous bans, restrictions and codes surrounding otherwise benign, everyday activities, clothing, jewelry, footwear hardly anyone would say anything about except it’s in a school, worn by a student. Know my personal mantra schools should adopt immediately to the betterment of educational institutions everywhere; are they wearing clothes, then they can come to class. Logical distain for backwards priorities filtering out into small towns, tightknit communities nationwide who seek to ban flip flops on tourists to important monuments, not as a safety concern but a class issue; how dare you show up here wearing those, kind of thing. Outlaw see-through clothing worn over not see through clothing rendering indecent exposure null and void; outlaw the wearing thong underwear, underwear implying it won‘t be seen. Quite literally foaming at the mouth they might see the top band of said underwear when a woman bends over to get things off low shelves at the store wearing low rise jeans, a little hard not to buy when you need new outerwear and that’s what’s in the store available. Pajamas worn in public, many times indistinguishable from yoga pants, exercise, workout gear, jogger wear, no more and a host of other personal preferences slated for the chopping block wholesome America wide; seeming to be the hallmarks of wasting time, paper and legislation often earning us lower and lower rankings on freedom scales evaluating westernized, emerging westernized nations. Inordinately coming down on regularly disenfranchised groups throughout the ages, finding new ways to discriminate against women/girls, African Americans, minority peoples of color, and it starts in earnest the moment they hit the school doors in pre-school, kindergarten. Whether it’s documented bias teachers, administrators, principals hold against said students thinking it will take longer to solve normal, daily discipline problems in other students versus whites or that students of color, no matter their ethnicity Hispanic, African American, other nationalities find themselves more likely to be suspended; new study affirming those findings coming out in 2016. The teacher caught just last year who wrongly punished Spanish speaking students only beginning to learn English receiving reassignment not justifiable firing. Policies overly, purposefully targeting multiple ethnicities dress, accessory, hair stylings versus standard Caucasian trends. Notable the headline making Kentucky school drawing unwanted attention to itself even misspelling one, known for decades, predominately African American style, calling it corn rolls instead of corn rows. Further barring ‘afros,’ poof-ed hair longer than 2 inches, two toned hair and on, and on, and on; adding to the national debate on natural hair public figures, celebrities embracing it, not hiding, changing it, to fit 50 plus years of previous cultural norms. Another Chicago parent was incensed by a letter sent home with their child asking them not to put so much oil in their female child’s hair alleging it stunk wanting to prevent teasing from other students; anyone who has dealt with African American hair knows it must be regularly moisturized, usually using oil because that heritage has no oil in their scalp as Caucasian and other peoples’ do, the longer it is the more treatment it requires, coconut oil, their preferred method having no discernable smell, forget an obnoxious one. Her daughter being the only black child in class, with a probable white teacher, raises secondary issues regarding display of complete and utter cultural ignorance; come to find out there was no bullying of the child, conversations with administrators revealed the teacher is known as a complainer, foreign themselves, from Russia, resulting in unspecified discipline for her, again not firing, not review of her fit, alignment with the values of the learning center. Similar to the African American high schooler abruptly facing expulsion over her natural hair when she reported bullying because of it; the school’s principal, as opposed to addressing the bullying going on told the student to change her, suddenly concluded against policy, hair. Remaining marveled at by the general public, to say nothing of school personnel, is why classrooms in inner cities, housing majority minority, black students are so rowdy, disruptive, kids are allowed to behave atrociously, unless the stereotypes about hood rats, bad, no parents, no discipline, goals, self-control are true. Not that teachers abjectly fail to, if not make their classrooms’ subjects fun, even attempt to make lessons, information interesting, engaging on the forever rehashed admonishment it’s not supposed to be fun, learning is sometimes hard; better to be well educated, capable than obsessed, addicted to fun, unwilling to exert effort unless it’s fun. Barring interesting, engaging then relevant, practical underscoring usefulness in the real world; what some students need to keep them in seats, not at home caring for a sick parent, working a job or selling drugs on the corner to get by. Not that idiotic bans on clothing, hairstyles and anything else you can think of singles out them—the girl, the minority, no one else making school the last place they want to be. Leading to scenes like link 7 where the white teacher uses the N word to lecture them about being somebody, the chance she is giving them to next be fired; panel discussing the incident, the school’s ultimate decision asking who will teach there now? Instead of highlighting the ignorance caught on video demonstrated by the ‘adult’, ‘educator’ in the room, the peril of bussing people in from wherever to teach in areas they know nothing about and care far less. How about a 9 year old suddenly told by her soccer coach to remove her hair beads citing safety, previously playing for years, same beads no mentioned problem; several parent commenters and child sports league players agreeing on the potential hazard posed. More than total unawareness it takes an hour to put in and take out said beads and braids accompanying them eliminating perception she could take 5, remove them, then play, the arbitrary nature of said enforcement undercutting any argument presented on player wellbeing. Reasoning they could smack fellow players in the face, put out an eye, injure the player themselves doing a head strike on the ball, if hit with a fast moving ball beads are essentially trapped between persons head and the ball creating an abrasion, possibly embedding beads(s) into skin; except tell me, readers, not when the last time that happened was because you instituted a rule about no hair jewelry, adornments, earrings, in professional soccer apparently these rules are standard, but when was the first time this happened necessitating ‘the rule’? And of course because it’s designated a rule it must be followed without question, though both American Youth Soccer Organization and FIFA had nothing on their websites until this incident; compound the questionable call, giving the undeniable perception about racially motivated enforcement, being youth soccer played by a bunch of 9-10 year old kids, variation on parks and rec, why would they be competitively violent enough for the imagined scenarios to become reality? But we are supposed to blithely sweep aside tangible fact featured player is black, this safety minding ban effects majority black players; believe AYSO shouldn’t have seen this coming and handled it exponentially better than they did? Stories like these coming on the heels of endless clothing debates more than reinforcing only the superficial, how things look is what matters, intensifying pressure felt by young people during critical adolescent, teen years surrounding body image, self-confidence and self-consciousness, but leaving ingrained impressions that a boy’s right to an education is of greater importance than a girls, that his ability to learn ‘distraction free’ is more important than not being overheating in a school without air conditioning, having equal ability as male students to express their style, wear comfortable clothing to class increasing their focus. Perpetuating the idea a girl, young women’s value, worth as a person including her character, her sense of modesty is tied exclusively to how she dresses absent behavior to back up negative presumptions. If her clothing alone doesn’t pass older, white, male, muster of expectation, many times hiding perverted tendencies, thoughts projected from an adult to a teen/middle school student, well she is fair game to be called slut, easy and a thousand other derogatory names relying solely on cultural misconceptions and innuendo. Hints the restrictions because young people, especially vulnerable young women, can’t make effective, positive, healthy decisions for themselves yet; humiliation, borderline assault and creepy interactions all a fair price to pay to gain those distraction-less environments, ‘teaching’ young women how to dress and behave appropriately code for keeping adult’s comfort level rooted 60 odd years in the past. Adult administrators adopting long held societal criticisms blaming girls ‘skimpy,’ ‘barely there’ clothing for one Texas school’s male population bad grades; basically buying bad middle/ high school level excuses, shame on the adults not the students. Utah banning cheerleading outfits on cheerleaders when a boy complained about impure thoughts, complaint reinforced by his mother, rather than stepping up as an educational institution and teaching boys to manage the changes in their body, effects caused during puberty, cope with their distraction; problems they’ve dealt with since the dawn of the species, since the days when women dressed like Maryknoll nuns and they still had those thoughts, still struggled to focus. Teaching them each individual person is responsible for their thoughts and actions no one else; applying advice given to people when they were children: people should be judged on what they do, how they treat people, not how they look. Employment, fitness for a job should be based on credentials, experience, aptitude, positive attitude, interview performance, overall appearance in terms of appropriate attire for position sought, not stereotypes about ethnic hair, not nagging a tech jockey to remove his lip/nose, ear ring(s) and goth metal t-shirts, black Tripp NYC shorts/jeans, negative about his tattoos when he isn’t regularly interacting with the public, does solid work behind the scenes in an industry regularly welcoming of less mainstream individuals. Why millennials especially insist on being judged for their work product not wardrobe, because no one should be told the rolled down waistband of nurse, dental student scrub pants is scandalous, next to be told by their employer while wearing the standard uniform, available scrub outfits to please dress in more adult, professional attire, then after complying told the colors you chose are too bright, forced into blacks and greys for a dental hygienist, assistant job. Millennials notorious for abandoning traditional jobs; above tech jockey treated like crap for his lip/nose, ear ring(s) and Goth metal t-shirts, black Tripp NYC shorts/jeans, tattoos began his own business to rousing, self-supporting success. Clothing debates that always end with the students winning either when they transfer out of the school bringing the issue, them, their parent enacts clever revenge wearing the objectionable outfit out among the public to positive compliments, no comment, when national attention alerts people nationwide to what localities, school officials are doing with their tax dollars, public pushback forces schools to drop/change policies, procedures, topics they never should have brought up in the first place. Kentucky suspended its hair portion of the dress code for ongoing debate, Florida’s school decided against expelling that student bullied for her standout hairstyle. Small town ordinances, ludicrous clothing bans, opinions, national attention grabbing segments having real endgame consequences when it ostracizes a good grade school teacher for her ‘too form fitting’ dress someone thought ‘she looks like she went clubbing in’ indicating they’ve been watching too many provocative comedies featuring the bad teacher trope. What transpired in Georgia despite her being voted teacher of the month; reactions coming solely from the internet, online community based on an Instagram post, not her school, her students or their parents. When it causes women to march through streets for their right to wear leggings after a 63 year old Rhode Island man took to social media saying there was something “bizarre and disturbing” about women over 20 who wore the form fitting pants spawning protests and death threats for him; 300-400 people showing up to what the organizer thought wouldn’t go beyond her neighborhood, local friends tells us more than enough about our own judgmental tendencies needing to stop right now. African American woman in the final link below summing it up perfectly, she is an African American who wears a plethora of elaborate hairstyles and travels a lot as a performance artist who additionally does workshops, retreats and conferences; none of which means she has a bomb in her hair, needs to always be pulled out of line, subject to strangers putting their hands in her hair to prove she’s not a terrorist not a threat. Exactly right, “more importantly, this isn’t just about TSA agents. Their technology is questionable and ineffective. As Melissa Harris Perry eloquently stated: ‘If your $170,000 machine can see under my clothes, but can’t figure out I’m not hiding a bomb in my braids, maybe it’s time to recalibrate the machine.’ Lastly here the seriously dangerous implementations, ramifications of listed ordinances, rules; take Ervin Leon Edwards’ story, police called to a gas station to break up suspected domestic dispute, when they arrived whatever fight was already over, but because Louisiana passed a baggy pants ordinance banning the style he was taken into custody, later died in jail post being beaten. Adjacently Kevin Moore out of upstate New York who was savagely beaten by prison guards due to telling them he didn’t want to be housed in the jails mental health ward fearing being seen as a monster; one corrections officer was stealing his ripped out dreads to decorate his motorcycle. Moore subsequently hospitalized 17 days suffering 5 fractured ribs, a punctured lung, numinous facial fractures, multiple contusions to various body parts; cost of the officer’s ‘trophy.’ Why black hair is important, why head scarves, turbans and coverings are making the news, because no one should be arrested over their style of pants, injured anywhere because their hairstyle is an easy target, certainly not die for them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nmdPuOVoR0

https://www.yahoo.com/beauty/teachers-note-complaining-about-oil-in-a-students-hair-sparks-outrage-185330489.html

https://gma.yahoo.com/9-old-sidelined-soccer-game-hair-beads-003804297–abc-news-parenting.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO1JYrULsG4

http://www.refinery29.com/business-casual-for-women

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/thank-the-lord-christian-school-wont-expel-black-girl-for-having-black-hair/

http://www.salon.com/2016/04/03/im_a_black_woman_that_doesnt_mean_i_have_a_bomb_in_my_hair/

Interestingly enough we say we want African Americans to be and do better than gangs, becoming street thugs, public housing dwellers, ‘breading’ welfare recipients who keep popping out children for increased public assistance benefits, but consistently refuse to believe it when they achieve, live up to our best, not worst expectations. Most recent examples, a black OBGYN resident, Tamika Cross, who says a flight attendant requesting help from any doctors onboard to aide an ailing passenger told her when she stood up offering to respond, “Oh no, sweetie, put [your] hand down. We are looking for actual physicians or nurses or some type of medical personnel, we don’t have time to talk to you.” When she proceeded to insist she was one, she was then interrogated by said flight attendant demanding to see her credentials, know her specialty, field of medicine, even inquired as to what she was doing in Detroit, to be told the doctor in question was attending a wedding. As if they don’t have doctors in Detroit, her travel plans, reasons for visiting the city have any impact on her medical capabilities, her knowledge of general medicine that could aid the sick, possibly suffering a life threatening episode passenger, who probably doesn’t care where his doctor was visiting or why provided she can give him the slightest help, advise the pilot if they need to made an emergency landing at the nearest airport so they can receive full medical attention. Cross passed over for an older man asked zero questions pertaining to his qualifications only for the blatantly racist, offensive flight attendant to come back asking for help; undergoing a complete personality change, seeming apologetic, offering sky miles to smooth over ruffled feathers post the male doctor requesting her assistance and that flight attendant realizing other present delta personnel saw what transpired. Paralleling a black, again female, architect who had similar encounters at her bank double and triple checking her account information, grilling her about her work, googling her architecture firm to see if it was real, even calling her companies HR department to confirm her employment; ratcheting up the racial component is they first deposited her check, then after it cleared, they called her back in to answer questions, go through the verification process described. Funny, like rotten in the state of Denmark kind of funny we, society consistently say we want, particularly black people, to get off welfare, stop using food stamps, stop creating situations mandating the need for either, namely keep their legs closed, cease having children they can’t afford, prone to calling democrats the party of give me, give me, condoning irresponsible behavior only to discover the David Packman Moster.com job experiment story. Where an African American woman, Yolanda Spivey, had an uncomfortable hunch about why she wasn’t getting any job offers despite 10 years experience in insurance, applying for 300 open jobs, going back to college and finishing her degree causing her to compile results the alluded to during her employment site trial. For which she first changed her profile’s race to decline to identify (the sites only opt out option) nothing; next she created a mirror profile changing her name to the less distinctive Bianca White, changed her profile ethnicity to white, transferred the phone number to her cell versus home, input identical application materials as herself and offers poured in. Incongruent realities on social issues staring us in the face be it the skinny person versus the fat person and who offers help, the black person versus the white in a whole host of scenarios, male versus female, Mr. Packman’s co-host wondering what would happen if she changed her gender to male, if her job offers would multiply yet again; still we, society in general, continue mistaken beliefs blacks are fundamentally less qualified, wholly dependent on affirmative action to achieve and overly rewarded for markedly less success. Problem this isn’t new, racial profiling or non-existent among whites job hurdles, less documented linguistic profiling; 20/20’s story in the opening goes back to 2002, Packman’s segment is 3 years old encapsulating a bad time in our ‘beyond race’ history. 2013 also being the year shopping while black experiences of 2 African American high end store shoppers, who legitimately bought their belt and handbag only to be hassled by store personnel as well as police, reached national headlines; happening on the heels of Forest Whitaker’s encounter at a New York deli before stop and frisk was disbanded. Never mind the belt purchasers’ transaction wouldn’t have gone through unless the funds were there seeing as he used a debit card, the bag buyer used her tax refund, and to reiterate, made a legitimate purchase; Mr. Whitaker frequented a deli often visited by celebrities, he was abiding by the unspoken rules of being exceptionally well kempt stacking up reasons why it shouldn’t have happened. Mindful he didn’t actually steal anything; unclear is if he even chose to purchase anything rather than walk in, not liking the selection, prices, what have you chose simply walk out, buying his lunch elsewhere. Many have daughters across America and what little girl, budding teen doesn’t love to dance; picture this, your child eats, sleeps breaths dance, she has 2 very competent dance instructors in the type of dance she loves and excels, who happen to be African American. Best place got her to learn more is out of town, out of state requiring a plane ride; well she’s kept up her grades, earned your trust, you feel confident they can take her to the dance tutorial no problem. World being what it is, you take the pains to draft a legal document stating unambiguously for the purpose of said trip they are her legal guardians; only to be stopped, adults handcuffed at the airport, because someone though it strange 2 black men were traveling with a teen white girl. Put aside alternative, same sex families where it might be 2 mommies or 2 daddies, adoptive families, people traveling with extended relatives, biracial families, relatives, even ignoring momentarily they had the legal document explaining what was going on, if the adults had been white and the teen black, Hispanic, middle eastern no one would have said anything, forget handcuffed them. We demand men, singularly black men, work and work damn hard; dismissing the stinging reality a black man can be arrested 60 plus times for reporting to work at his job. His boss, an immigrant himself contributing to America’s economy, his local community by owing a business, takes the extraordinary step of placing cameras throughout his business, not to prevent employee, customer theft instead to document continued police harassment of his staff; endless banner moments of shame for 2013. But we relentlessly blame black people when they can’t get jobs independent countless stories like those above, a lawsuit filed late 2016 alleging MVP, one of the largest job placement organizations nationwide, passed over black applicants in favor of Hispanics because most were undocumented, less likely to complain about working hours, wages or conditions. Agency countering they were just focused on meeting employer demands or anticipated demands; sadly there is too much truth to that statement. We double down scrutiny on black people’s lives, choices, accomplishments measured in money earned, street address, net worth, notable lack of it when attempting to get off welfare, better oneself, totally support oneself is treated the same way as a person getting out of jail/prison, on parole requiring a patient, forgiving, second chance minded employer; while we would applaud and offer a hand up to the white person in the form of an increased chance of getting a job. We talk an awful lot in this country about blacks and work, usually how hard we think they don’t work; not talked about is the harassment, fear, berating, assault they can face once getting a job, holding a job with any authority oversight. Case in point, woman hired to supervise hurricane Isaac rebuilding in Louisiana yelled at and threated by what appears to be a construction worker, perhaps a business owner, who when he saw she was filming the altercation on her phone became physically aggressive charging the petite, African American woman, spitting in her face. Confronted with unquestionable police brutality, countless deaths of unarmed black people shot by police in benign situations, traffic stops, the narrative holds: stop doing things to get arrested, stop resisting arrest, mouthing off to cops, having warrants out on your behind. The problem with Walter Scott was he ran because he was too much of a deadbeat to pay child support, keep his vehicle in good repair, not that he couldn’t, didn’t know his break light was bad, not the cop who fired multiple shots into his back first one 8 feet away proving he was no imminent threat to said officer, not the jury who couldn’t convict the officer who lied about CPR and spent critical time he should have been trying to save a life rifling the man’s pockets. The problem with Alton Sterling was his selling bootleg CD’s out of his car trunk, carrying a weapon felons aren’t allowed to possess, and then pointing that gun at persons making them feel threatened. Not that peddling bootleg CD’s at midnight is what he was reduced to doing to provide for his kids, not that officers tackled Sterling for asking conversationally, non-threateningly why he was being questioned, not that officers kneeling atop Sterling pointed the gun down at his chest in a virtual execution, firing point blank after feeling a gun in his pocket, seeing it poking out of his pocket, it still there as he lay bleeding to death. The problem with Trayvon Martin, Jordan Davis and Tamir Rice is that the older 2 refused to respect adults keeping their hands to themselves, turning down their music; not the white civilians with guns who got trigger happy doing ‘a public service’ by removing problem black people from existence. While the younger’s problem is he insisted on waving what looked like a real gun, pointing it at people forget he’s 12 and it is a toy; not the dispatcher who failed to replay several caller statements the ‘gun’ was probably fake and they just wanted trained professionals to make sure, not police rolling up and seconds later, seconds later opening fire, not police with a dubious history poor gun handling, stress management. Almost absolutely guaranteed is had the black man fixing something on the roof of his own vehicle, thought to be breaking into said vehicle, once more his own, had been white police might have at least considered he was merely someone locked out of his vehicle, car too old, him too poor for OnStar, AAA. 9-1-1- might not have even been called because the caller, who seemed genuinely apologetic she just racially profiled someone, would have probably reached identical conclusions. Creating the all too familiar, disturbing pattern had this man (video 13) been white they likely wouldn’t have set a police dog on him, it would have been a less common case of mistaken identity because all white people don’t look alike where all black people do in the minds of officers patrolling largely one ethnicity areas housing mainly whites or mainly blacks. African Americans show us the best of humanity daily, show us their humanity daily, demonstrate how they are just like us, holding the same values, shattering stereotypes comparing them to animals to find themselves continuously treated as such; shameful example, black man prevents, stops the sexual assault of a 15 year old girl yet when police arrive on scene he is slapped in cuffs regardless statements from witnesses. Sans it being a situation where they intended to take the abuser in but also had to take in the Good Samaritan because the other man’s nose is bloody that technically constitutes assault, or both were being apprehended to sort out incident details at police headquarters; rather because police immediately assumed the black man was the problem, the criminal, the guilty party. Why black hair is worth normalizing, head scarves, turbans, coverings should be treated as no big deal, because even in Donald Trump’s America where it is now run of the mill to repeatedly shout n*gger at black persons in broad daylight with no shame, people think their support for Trump means they can resort to racial slurs against blacks simultaneously complaining about their coffee taking too long during a rush, can claim white discrimination after losing it in a craft store while bystanders dared film the crazy. When popular millennial created, millennial used services like Uber, Lyft and Airbnb succumb to the same continuing cycles of harassing women and denying patronage to minorities, African Americans, attracted to our exotic beauty or lusting after captive audience young, supple students and all specific drivers can do is hope to get, actively try to get in their pants, into their bed. Contrary to popular belief every black person you meet, walking the streets is not a thug, a drug addict, a gangbanger, a welfare recipient, a hood rat, an irresponsible woman popping out kids for benefits, a baby daddy unwilling to support his offspring; every minority isn’t looking to take, be handed something rather than give back.

http://www.salon.com/2016/10/27/insecure-in-the-workplace-issa-rae-nails-the-frustration-of-being-black-at-the-office/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0hh-MLdFiY

http://www.salon.com/2016/10/31/black-people-cant-get-uber-drivers-to-pick-them-up-and-women-have-drivers-who-want-to-pick-them-up-too-much/

It seems all we’ve heard during the campaign, the election cycle, even after is about solid, good, American staple manufacturing jobs going to either Mexico or China; rarely noticed by flocks of Trump voters cheering on election night, clapping, crying inauguration day is the invaluable service both legal and illegal immigrants provide to America. They, decade after decade, do the jobs Americans, decade after decade, by the same token, are unwilling or unable to do; they pick the vegetables and fruits lining our supermarkets, gracing our dinner tables due to expertise, willingness to work for wages cash strapped farmers can afford to get their crops picked, packaged and sold as opposed to rotting on the vine. Harsh truths learned post 2008 and state by state immigration crackdowns; Trump proposed immigration management only going to intensify difficulties exponentially, already struggling famers losing crop they can’t sell due to spoilage, out of pocket costs to bus legal workers to fields too afraid to drive themselves, consequences seen in very recent years past. Worse these vegetable/fruit picking migrants are willing to come here, do backbreaking work, get paid a pittance and go home, singularly returning when the picking season is back on; they don’t want to live here, consume resources here, buy bare necessities while here. Regularly use milk, yogurt, cheese thank an immigrant for keeping Wisconsin and other dairy farms nationwide running; immigrants the only ones willing to muck stalls, put milking machines on cows, short and sweet be surrounded by cow dung all day. Now sure some fault may lie with farming employers who don’t advertise this as a job(s) in their rural community, to the kids who are plainly neither cut out nor interested in college, want to stay local, will inevitably shout they don’t have time to train Americans from the no nothing about it skill levels they would be starting out with. Unnoticed, most of the guys mowing our laws, 1 in 3 American home owners using lawn mowing, sculpting services, providing professional landscaping are surprise, surprise what, foreign, Mexican; hired by landscaping companies under guest worker programs also used by famers when polices in Washington, local municipalities don’t scare workers away, blatantly deny guest worker visas responding to public pressure. Why, echoing produce pickers and dairy workers, Americans want to work, but not mowing lawns for wages offered; several immigrants also work in ski resorts, hotel hospitality, janitorial, employers citing the same reasons. Still, for doing these thankless jobs, maintaining the lawns of rich people, being unafraid to get their hand dirty, reek of dung after a day’s work, going through the process of getting a guest worker visa when they can, they get chants of build that wall, presidential promises of 20% tariffs on Mexican goods sold here; compounding insult to injury, said when America has no sane, sensible, concrete immigration policy, clear way to enter legally, address your legal status if you discover you were brought here illegally as a child. So those who had small children, infants, were pregnant and couldn’t wait for opportunities, the slow wheels of chaotic, sporadic ‘legal’ immigration to turn took their chances, the ones we know about getting lucky, surviving the trip, able to live under deportation radar, send their child, children to school, under prosperity garnered here grow their family. Obama represented some hope for young illegals; however, waffling changes in possible policy instead have them living in fear immigration services, deportation forces will barge into their classrooms haul them off to a room then a crowded bus to Mexico, a place they don’t remember. While utterly hypocritically president Trump is seeking guest workers to pick fruits for Trump vineyards, his immigration plan places in serious jeopardy our nation’s food supply. But immigrants, legal, illegal who do stay, generate lives here remain responsible for billions of dollars flow through the U.S. economy, immigration policies not immigrants themselves costing Americans money; so called papers please immigration laws also serve to frighten legal workers from their jobs, purchase of goods, can cause a mass exodus seen in rulings like the Missouri Valley decision, parts of Arizona vacated leaving behind largely empty classrooms, abandoned apartment complexes, vacant jobs across all sectors of local economies. Consensus thinking good, more for us hardworking, small town whites, except that’s not how this works; school funding a prime instance of just the opposite, based on students in the classroom when immigration changes force mass move outs schools lose that funding. Suddenly vacant apartments, homes mean renters are equally suddenly out money, may file bankruptcy rendering those properties vacant, vulnerable to squatters and vandals, drug addicts driving down property values and inviting crime; bitter lesson of the great recession persons in Trump country never fully learned unwaveringly supportive of ridding America of its immigrant populations all, ignorant the inherent consequences. State policies barring illegal immigrants from getting a driving license not only prevents them from getting employed, putting back into local and national economies when they buy goods, services, rent apartments, their children attend school, it drives up the cost of car insurance almost $20, figure circa 2009 assuredly gone up in 8 years. Adjacently it drives away foreign investment spelling more jobs for individual states, pocket local communities; reason E- verify, the widely used system meant to determine if the persons applying for jobs are U.S. citizens, possess the proper work visas, permits, legal resident status, green cards naturalization papers. Problem, not only is E-verify every expensive driving down employment, it has curious results on the labor market specifically white working class persons concerned about immigrants snatching their jobs; “E-Verify lowers wages for unauthorized male Mexican immigrants, raises wages for US-born Hispanic men, increases the labor force participation rate of undocumented Mexican female immigrants, raises employment for Mexican-born naturalized citizens, and has essentially no effect on whites’ earnings.” Further research shows they, immigrant workers independent status, complement current employment environment, legal or illegal, not detract, negatively take from it. Forgotten or willfully ignored, dismissed by people wedded to their anti-immigrant narrative like a husband, wife or recurring bad habit, politicians rooted to their convictions and decidedly low on actual information about immigrants; beyond our history as a nation of immigrants famous immigrants that made incalculable contributions to America’s standing as a global leader over the past 2 centuries of its existence, not all immigrants are Mexican, Latino, Hispanic, Latin American, not all immigrants are illegal, not all immigrants are low skilled. Think the co-founder of google Sergey Brin, who is described as a soviet born American, Elon Musk business magnate, engineer, inventor is a South African Canadian America, WhatsApp creator Jan Koum is Ukrainian-American, John Catsimatidis is a Greek-American billionaire owner of the largest grocery chain in Manhattan. People who haven’t just successfully assimilated into our culture, gotten a job, paid their taxes, obeyed the law, been the stereotypical expectation of a ‘model immigrant’ but who have created countless thousands of jobs, made other businesses possible, more productive, profitable and functional. The employer in that black man arrested 60 times for showing up to work video was an immigrant running a successful convenience store, hiring personnel, giving people jobs. Not all immigrants remain low skilled, lowly educated upon arrival; Chinese immigrants in link 16 are what, assimilating; though Chicago’s China town is independent these immigrants see ESL lessons, American history lessons on the way to naturalization as the key to better jobs, easier lives in America. That China town growing, defying the mantra all good American jobs are going to their country when droves of them are coming here. And blowing added stereotypes out of the water it’s not phenomenon limited to perceived acceptable immigrants from countries teaching a work ethic similar to ours; link 17 is a Mexican born woman the first undocumented student to earn a PHD— solid return on investment for waving non-resident tuition fees and granting access to financial aid many didn’t think she should have allotted under the DREAM act. José Antonio Vargas is an award winning journalist who has covered presidential campaigns, interviewed influential figures and written pieces for well-known magazines and newspapers including the Washington Post, the New Yorker and Rolling Stone, traveled on Hillary Clinton’s plane and gone hunting with Mike Huckabee; he is also undocumented, one of the few to shed light on the catch 22 immigrants like him are caught in, that it isn’t as simple as going down to some office, filling out forms, paying fines and righting your immigration status. One of the first to put forth a different definition of American not narrowed by were you born here, do you have the right paperwork to come here, be her but by what you do while here, getting an education, surpassing a job to a career, owing a business, raising a family, children who go on to do much in the area of giving back, what an immigrant contributes to their community collective American society; Vargas and millions like him having filled those requirements many times over. Latino, Mexican, Hispanic, Pilipino immigrants whatever flavor, providing whatever good to Americans and the American economy to this day instead of being greeted with appreciation for our vegetables, lawn care, housecleaning, positive hotel, amusement park, resort experiences, thanks to them, business opportunities, jobs for our young people just starting out, are combatting too much of recorded shocking scenes captured on cellphones in establishments nationwide. The Kentucky mall shopper convinced the Spanish speaking persons in line ahead of her at JC Penny are not only illegal but on welfare, using welfare to buy their assumed luxury items; hoity-toity in telling them to speak English, demanding store personnel to tell them to go back where they belonged, when confronted about the expletive she loudly used, absurdly accuses them thinking themselves above their station because they came here from another country, utilized a checkout where the cashier spoke Spanish or that they spoke their native language while waiting to complete their transaction. Ironically Kentucky one of those states housing entire towns propped up by persons, about this woman’s relatively guessed age, majoritively white, on social security and employer based disability, regaling disability fraud seeking journalists, probably working for Fox News, with mocking descriptions of businesses doing their best sales on the day of the month checks hit mailboxes. Bilingual, multi-lingual persons hired to fulfill a growing need as immigrants come to the United States unable to yet speak the language continue to need to buy goods, purchase necessities, meet basic needs like knowing where the store’s public restrooms are; pockets of America have high concentrations of Hispanic, Spanish speaking populations, California, Florida, before the papers please era, Arizona. More importantly the store’s and fellow Americans’ reactions; JC Penny hopping to identify her and bar her from shopping there, an attorney who thinks the woman’s behavior is criminal harassment in the state, online support overwhelmingly in favor of the accosted persons. The elderly white woman out of nowhere in an IHOP (remember the international house of pancakes) demanding 2 other people behind her in line speak English while she waited in line; hypocritically seeming to speak English with an accent herself, son of the attacked woman telling the offensive speaker A-she couldn’t talk to his mother that way and B- she does speak English, not perfect but she does speak it. Note too they are family, conversing amongst themselves, never once expecting the person taking their order to take it in another language just biding their time waiting their turn forced to endure this lady’s loud rant. Highlighting as well when was the last time an American attempted to learn another language for anything besides school credits, recreation, entertainment? My friend who runs my housing complex’s food pantry can tell you the importance of having pantry visitors low on English skills come in with a friend who speaks their native tongue and English to tell them information they need to bring to be eligible to shop, how taxing it is to recognize a language barrier but be able to do little about it with limited ESL resources. Why the sound of your name, notions it conjures in readers, employers/landlords heads should be outweighed by credentials, because no one should be obstructed from employment on their speculated origins, skin color; José in the opening shouldn’t have had to drop a letter to get the job, there was no indication he was an immigrant, illegal. Hispanic populations growing exponentially from legal immigrants having families, born U.S. citizens producing offspring; never mind if there wasn’t a white American to fill the job he applied for, José had to lose his heritage to participate in the American dream, sad reality of Trump’s emerging new America.

 

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/07/why-the-guys-mowing-your-lawn-are-probably-foreign/490595/

http://www.salon.com/2016/08/28/a-life-in-limbo-the-doubly-invisible-mexican-immigrants_partner/

http://www.salon.com/2016/08/28/the-great-mexican-wall-deception-trumps-america-already-exists-on-the-border_partner/

http://www.salon.com/2016/10/13/new-hope-for-undocumented-immigrants-dapa-might-not-be-dead-a-bold-legal-strategy-could-protect-millions-from-deportation/

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/undocumented-students-daca-immigrants-fears-under-trump/

http://www.newsweek.com/do-immigrants-drive-down-wages-310100

http://www.forbes.com/sites/artcarden/2015/08/28/how-do-illegal-immigrants-affect-american-workers-the-answer-might-surprise-you/

http://www.salon.com/2016/12/23/donald-trumps-virginia-winery-seeks-foreign-workers-for-seasonal-jobs/

http://www.salon.com/2016/12/05/beyond-the-vineyard-how-trumps-deportation-plan-threatens-americas-food-and-wine-supply_partner/

http://www.nbcnews.com/feature/college-game-plan/student-first-undocumented-immigrant-get-ph-d-uc-merced-n587406

Too often Muslim and terrorist are interchangeable terms across the country; sadly in our post 9-11 world not completely without merit sleeper cells, foiled destruction plots front and center on the news, not fake news this time. Analysts might blame the documented uptick in violence against Muslims on the attacks in Paris, Brussels, man with a giant truck that ploughed through a Berlin Christmas market, Istanbul’s New Year’s Eve nightclub shooting. More will blame candidate, now president, Trump who made his distain and distaste for practitioners of Islam well known, no adequate distinction between them and terrorists, sending a clear message they aren’t welcome here; Americans feeling free to spread that message any way they can in their daily lives. People up in arms, hysterically shouting one school would dare welcome a 6 year old refugee from Syria and her older sister, who’s country, ‘home’ are more rubble heap than either described word, with the standard Muslim greeting heard throughout the Arab world, their version of hello how are you, or hi, my name is. That they would dare write a sign in English plus Arabic to make her feel welcome, assist her in learning the language; god forbid they use a real life situation to turn her classmates, that school into dual language learners, children be exposed to other cultures than their own in the quest to help destitute people, so much so they might decide to join military or humanitarian, peacekeeping efforts ending conflict there, establishing a functional government in the coming years so people don’t have to flood here, tax resources here. American fears for refugee welcoming cities fueled by fake Syrian passports used in terror plots across Europe engendering speculation the same could happen here indicates Europe has a problem not necessarily us. No one stopping to compare notes on vetting processes used there versus here; political skewing, conservative news to say nothing of president Trump’s hastily thrown together Muslim ban, promises to overhaul vetting procedures, ban indefinitely refugees from Syria like little Halla (videos 2&3) giving off the mistaken impression the vetting process for people from these countries, where terrorists might try to slip though is lax, haphazard, totally untrue. Fear, once described by a prominent Christian pastor as false evidence appearing real, ignoring many of the displaced are children, children who’ve already been injured in war, seen friends, relatives die, not old enough to pronounce the word terrorist never mind embody it. Refugees represented by Halla, her sister and this group of older boys and their parents more than the Bowling Green insurgents who slipped through, the nonexistent ‘Bowling Green massacre’ Kelllyanne Conway misspoke about; those persons stopped via sting operation and vetting process adjusted to prevent future entries like theirs. Refugees seeking residence, visas to enter, live in the United States are first screened by the U.N., surprisingly have identification documents for adults 97% of the time, next subjected to relentless, repetitive interviews, then checked against UN complied terror watch lists, nationally compiled watch lists, homeland security making final decisions at times pulling families off their plane; a vetting process that can last up to 2 years. Refuges once settled here who, if you examine closely the links below, didn’t, according to a Salon article, rape a 5 year old in Idaho, didn’t hold her at knifepoint, didn’t urinate on her, fathers of the mythical Syrian rapists didn’t congratulate them when learning of what they’d done. In fact this properly identified right wing urban legend is based on people who literally don’t exist because the few Syrians living in the area did not come here through president Obama’s demonized refugee program, and instead is on par with related right wing stories, causes: transgender bathroom bills, vulnerable little girls in public bathrooms, fitting rooms, recreation center locker rooms surrounded by men pretending to be women to hurt our kids, rape/harass actual women ring a bell? Totally undiscussed by political supporters of “extreme vetting,” to say nothing of citizen polling agreeing with the ill-defined practice, literally cheering president Trump’s current travel ban is the continued limbo we already put suffering, indigent, endanger people, most with families, in; prolonging it because we think they might be terrorists, might be radicalized, ban implemented so poorly it held students back from continuing their educations, had one sports star tweeting to his son he couldn’t come home and why, held a mother, legal resident, green card holder at the airport post visiting her other teenage child in Egypt, a doctor holding a job here, working in an American hospital holding a license to practice some form of medicine also detained. Another family caught in Trump’s travel ban confusion Syrians holding green cards, valid visas waiting for 6 relatives to come who had been in the immigration process 13 years, 13 years; Christians Trump prioritizes over Muslims in instituting the ban also turned away. Yet out of hundreds of thousands of immigrants, refugees, people seeking life away from war-torn homelands marked by regime change, ousting of dictators, who have come to American searching for stability a measly 1% have been tied to commit terror acts on U.S. soil; rather innocents continue to be the victims of crime far more than perpetrators of it. Held up against that marginal percent 3 men in Kansas who stockpiled weapons, made plans to target Somali and Muslim immigrants by blowing up a housing complex, but Muslims alone, people from the Arab world are the only ones who can become radicalized, become terrorists. Who remembers the Muslim woman a deranged man tried to set on fire, fortunately he only used a lighter, no accelerant and succeeded in damaging her clothing not her skin; sounds an awful lot like the Trump supporter kicking a traditionally dressed Muslim woman in JFK airport shouting “president Trump will get rid of all of you.” Immigrants, an Uber driver, targeted by individuals who they have no idea how long they’ve been here, could have been in the country years, subjected to a profanity laced tirade as he drove his ride service vehicle, just for being Arab. Another white woman knocking over a baby stroller, containing among them a 15 month old toddler, of Muslim women; shooting of the New York Imam in the same category. Never mind that Imam (Islamic religious leader akin to Christian pastors or priests) shot and killed in New York City is dead for no other reason than he was an Imam, was Muslim, practiced Islam. Though he was not a radical, that mosque visited by practicing Muslims from Pakistan, Bangladesh, the former producing 1 terrorist the latter none; never once people, countries largely associated with terror. Crime against select minorities that spills over from ‘Muslim terrorists’ to other immigrant nationalities, ethnicities, religions having settled here doing nothing but living peaceful lives, holding jobs, raising families; easy targets because of their distinctive headwear, out of place here, traditional clothing. Sikh Temple shooting anyone (2011); combined with abject cultural ignorance, how a UAE business man in America for medical treatment of a heart condition found himself tackled by police, violently arrested and handcuffed. After a hotel worker called 9-1-1 talking about a potential terrorist in standard Arab dress worn in regions like Saudi Arabia and the UAE: white or checkered cloth over the head secured with a band reminiscent of a small crown, robes echoing what Christianity’s pope Francis might wear, garb from a futuristic TV show; accusation based solely on his clothing circa summer 2016. Clothing reasonably guessed worn to keep blazing dessert sun from burning your scalp, keep head and thus rest of the body cool; highlighting as well how many Arab looking persons come here as tourists, conducting business, as students receiving education or for medical treatments not available in their home country, people here on visas willing to go home after their affairs are concluded, who don’t want to stay. Hatred, violence, harassment, sadly far from reaching some born and bred American persons too; like the lupus patient who wears a scarf to keep the sun from her head, sunlight damaging to lupus suffers, mistaken for Muslim finding her car broken into while on a nature hike complete with nasty not stating in part the following: “Hijab wearing bitch this is our nation now get the f— out.” The Somali-American elected official who ran for office, won her election only to be called ISIS by her cabbie returning from a trip to the Whitehouse where he also threated to rip off her head covering; both instances highlighting profound prevailing ignorance since the scarves in question look like what numerous African Americans wear in every corner of the country easy, simple hair management, likewise seen throughout Africa to keep hair clean, keep sweat out of eyes, off your face, even removed from your head to carry items, what an older white lady might wear on a cold day, wear to church, not strictly associated with Muslims. American born Muslim persons who’ve rightfully earned positions of authority, chosen to be police officers, to protect and serve, attempting to show the positive side of Islam, that Muslims can be and are good people, harassed by a man for their headscarf. Glaringly showcased hypocrisy, we allow Christians to wear their crosses, people to display a host of bumper stickers and car decals advertising their faith, their opposition to abortion, their wish for prayer in school, bible verses; we permit nuns to wear their habits, monks from a variety of faiths to wear their robes. We tolerate religions who don’t believe in dancing, wearing makeup or women donning pants, ban caffeine, celebrating birthdays, respect the medical rights of individuals and doctors whose religion bars blood transfusions, psychiatric medications, all modern medicines in the case of Christian scientists, birth control, abortion; religious exemptions still exist in certain states regarding standard vaccines despite proven risks needlessly unvaccinated persons pose to the larger population. But dawn a hijab, the name for those hated headscarves, which for them is an expression of modesty not religious affiliation and you are an immediate target for bodily harm; whereas when the little Christian kid gets beat up on the playground we’re clamoring for protections while Muslim children get called terrorist daily. Contrast this to actions taken to include Muslims, Sikhs and others, each allowed to wear their respective head coverings on New York City’s police force, Sikhs in the U.S. military, military colleges considering the hijab in applicants who want to come to their institutions; when a mother was suddenly shown hate in her neighborhood for being ‘obviously Muslim’, despite residing in the city 17 years, her community responded with love, children in one area put up posters, signs welcoming refugees. People across the country and the world donated to a go fund me page dedicated to rebuilding a Texas mosque vandalized by arson, including a Midwestern couple on vacation who hand delivered their donation personally, local entities pulling together to restore what was lost. An American boy reaching out to a little Syrian boy capturing the world and president Obama’s attention when he pleaded with him to let the little boy come live with him. Count the thousands who showed up at every major airport in the country changing let them go, holding signs saying refugees are welcome here, sentiments expressed long before president Trump’s actions; months before the ban, shortly after Trump’s election a Texas man stood outside of a mosque holding a sign not in protest, not it hate, fear or bigotry but expressing solidarity, telling Muslims you belong. Shattering every stereotype he is an older white man, gray beard, requisite cowboy hat, bringing us finally to something else, the Christians Trump says he’s prioritizing, doing this for, the values he claims he’s upholding in addition to our safety; they tellingly don’t like it, find it goes against their faith, the love they are meant to show to their fellow man, their fellow citizen, more than one harkening back to history, the Nazis what happened to Jews in the 1930’s—hmm.

http://www.salon.com/2016/06/22/no_syrian_refugees_didnt_rape_a_child_in_idaho_right_wing_urban_legend_shows_how_ugly_anti_refugee_movement_has_become/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyD9KFVOtq0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjNltp_GgtE

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/09/get-the-fck-out-of-america-btches-crazed-trump-fan-attacks-muslim-women-pushing-baby-strollers/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pq_yvvOpiZ

http://www.salon.com/2016/12/08/the-first-somali-american-elected-official-visited-the-white-house-then-was-called-isis-by-her-cabbie/

 

http://nation.com.pk/international/02-Feb-2017/severely-burned-iraqi-boy-alone-in-u-s-after-travel-ban

We can’t keep judging books by their covers, people by their appearances, assumed ethnicities, religious ties, implied sexual orientation; why, apart from its moral wrongness, embarrassing shamefulness for a global leader it dovetails into actions like president Trump’s Muslim ban ultimately making us less safe as extremist use it both in propaganda and justifiable provocation for attack, families stranded, separated from each other house children who grow up remembering that and turn to violence as revenge. A Muslim ban that does not encompass nations producing actual terrorists; Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates origins of the 9-11 hijackers, wife of the San Bernardino couple Pakistani, Syed Farook American born, British and Nigerian we the nationalities of the shoe and underwear bomber respectively who tried to take down U.S. airlines, Fort Hood’s shooter was Afghan American, Tsarnaev brothers responsible for the carnage at the Boston Marathon were from Dagestan, a federal subject of Russia with its neighbor Chechnya. Ban covering only Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Yemen, Somalia and Sudan; surprise, surprise, nowhere Mr. Trump, now Mr. President has business ties. Note too these are places most likely to produce the highest concentration of refugees thanks to U.S backed regime change; you would think he would be expediting refugee visas form there considering the reaming he gave Hillary Clinton during the election on foreign policy involving many of these very countries. And look, really, objectively look at what these refugees, immigrants are doing once they get here, it isn’t terrorism; that driver who was accosted by a screaming motorist was a Uber driver simultaneously providing a service and holding a job, the primary metric we use to determine a person’s worth and success as a human being (shallow and wrong as it is) worth, right to live in the United States if you were born somewhere else, unless you are not yet of age. The woman kicked and told Trump would ‘get rid of all of you’ was a flight attendant; one family in the refugee vetting process video’s father had a job lined up at an auto factory, another from similar refugee profiles demonstrating those coming here were families perusing the things we all strive for used networking with an established citizen who immigrated decades ago to land jobs at a grocery store. Illustrating an important point how many Syrian refugees, Iraqi refugees are sponsored by churches, charities, non-profits specifically set up, collecting willing donations to give these people clothing, furniture, help them begin to pay rent on an apartment or house, network in the community they are located to, to get them a job, how much is already set up for them minimizing drains on local resources, social services while these people give back, open businesses, work hard. More apt to be like the former Iraqi cameraman working as a school janitor pushing a vacuum, scrubbing toilets if it means his children can eat, than welfare lay-abouts; even once his story of leading people out of a destroyed building by the light of his camera, using both his camera and his language skills to help us there, aide journalist in covering the war was broadcast landing him a job at a local news station, it’s an incredible risk being just part time, no benefits, no health insurance when he has 2 toddler little girls plus an older son and daughter. Both parents who went through the process of becoming legal residents then naturalized citizens, no indication the older son and daughter won’t when they reach legal age, his youngest twins born here. It took media attention and special dispensation to get 4 month old baby Fatemeh, an Iranian, here for heart surgery when her parents had already been in contact with visa officials in neighboring Dubai, Oregon Children’s Hospital doctors had agree to treat her and where awaiting her arrival; just one example of humanitarian efforts globally stalled by the ban. Added manufactured chaos, an Iraqi boy is now alone here in the states receiving critical burn treatment after his father returned home to witness the birth of his second son, ironically whom he named Trump, not that his name sake will ever see him or for that matter, care. Once and for all to be clear the influx of Arab world persons in between legal decisions on president Trumps controversial travel ban consists of approximately 27 families already vetted, previously slated to come to the country, not just random people jumping on plans and ramming the borders trying to get in before a court rules differently, finally on the issue. Instead of being afraid of ‘these people’ try saying hello, asking polite curious questions and waiting for the answers, really listening to them. Domestically in dealing with our own people we have to do the same, suspend our judgments of the trivial no matter who we’re dealing with, because there was nothing wrong with Yolanda Spivey’s résumé, experience, credentials only the impression she was a minority based on a name that is not particularly unique or ethnic, neither was there a problem with José’s except that impression; Tamika Cross really was a doctor, the woman speaking out about her discriminatory banking experience really was an architect employed by the business who signed her deposited paycheck. Those dance instructors must have been quite good at their job and exuded professionalism to have a successful dance instruction business as well as win the trust of parents savvy enough to draw up a legal document stating weekend, specific trip guardianship; the men going to MVP job placement were seeking employment, desiring to work, willing to take the kinds of work offered if only they had been given that chance for the love of business perceptions they can pay undocumented persons less and treat them worse, but the problem is with the work, ethic, skill level of the minority, black or young applicant. There was nothing wrong, negligent or incompetent about Brandi Worley’s oversight of hurricane Isaac cleanup; and even if there was an issue to be dealt with, you don’t do it by shouting racial epithets at someone on a cleanup site, physically attacking them, then spitting in their face. And school, recreational sports is the last place for battles over clothes, hair, what is ethnically acceptable; small towns, women can wear yoga pants, men can wear baggy pants and pajamas still mean they are wearing clothes, get over it and yourself if you think otherwise.

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