Thanks to Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Sarah Palin, Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, and the FOX Noise pundits, Islamophobia is at an all-time high; even greater than after the tragedies of 9/11. American Muslims are harassed, and admit that they feel threatened as they go about their daily lives.

Republican candidates have convinced millions of Americans that any Muslim who wears clothing applicable to their faith is a potential terrorist. They are suggesting that Mosques are the areas where plans to attack America’s people occur. If someone speaks in a language which sounds Arabic, that person is a danger to you and your family.

Take the case of Khairuldeen Makhzoomi, a student at the University of California, Berkeley. Makhzoomi came to America as an Iraqi refugee. He had attended a speech by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. While waiting for his Southwest flight to depart, he made a phone call to his uncle to tell him about the speech.

“I was very excited about the event, so I called my uncle to tell him about it,” the 26-year-old told The New York Times.

The speech was about Palestinian Statehood, and as he told his uncle about the content, he used a single word at the end of his conversation; “inshallah,” “God willing.”

A woman sitting in front of Makhzoomi stared at him, and soon an Arabic-speaking employee of Southwest approached the young man. He was escorted off of the aircraft and asked why he had been speaking in Arabic. His reply was “this is what Islamophobia got this country into.” The Southwest employee became angry and told Makhzoomi that he was not allowed to re-board his flight to Oakland.

The young man was questioned, released, and allowed to book a flight on another airline, arriving home eight hours late.

“My family and I have been through a lot, and this is just another one of the experiences I have had,” Makhzoomi said. “Human dignity is the most valuable thing in the world, not money. If they apologized, maybe it would teach them to treat people equally.”

Recently a Muslim woman was refused an unopened can of soda by a United Airlines flight attendant who claimed she considered her a threat.

This is the result of Republican fear mongering. Trump is not the only villain; the entire party preaches Islamophobia.

The history of the world proves that religions are the greatest cause of violent actions; Christianity included. These extremists are not devout followers of the faith they claim to support. Muslim terrorists fail to follow the teachings of Muhammad, just as many who claim to be Christian deny the teachings of Jesus Christ.

The first amendment has been constantly interpreted to fit the beliefs of the few and disregard the rights of every American. The fact is that it guarantees the freedom of all of our nation’s people to freely practice the religion of their choice, but denies the possibility of instituting any single faith as a national religion.

Politicians constantly talk about the Constitution, but only selected wordage which supports their prejudices, and those which would create an emotional response from their supporters.

I want my country back; the one which was based on equality, and “freedom and justice for all.”

Op-Ed

By James Turnage

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Novels by James Turnage available on Amazon’s Kindle