Images of K-9’s attacking blacks on the sidewalks and fire hoses being aimed and ripping human flesh off the bodies of African Americans are the images ingrained in the minds of many when remembering the Civil Rights movement. Despite the racial persecution of blacks in America, the fight for civil rights was fought diligently and those that fought did so with the same bravery as the men and women in the armed forces. The men and women that opposed Jim Crow knew that they were not only risking their freedom but their very lives.
On Friday January 27th, president Trump signed an executive order that banned seven majority Muslim countries from entering the United States. We are witnessing the regression of a nation with the discrimination of a group of people based upon their religion; the equivalent of discrimination based upon race.
It is imperative to understand that there were many non blacks that opposed Jim Crow and the tyranny blacks were subjected to. Those that marched with Dr. King Jr. were beaten, arrested and others that stood up against racial injustice were murdered. Those of Islamic faith also stood up against the racial injustice and the oppression blacks faced in America.
There have been many protests against the president’s executive order, many view this new order as a Muslim ban and unconstitutional to say the least. There are many blacks that are speaking out against other blacks that are supporting immigrants. Some are stating that Muslims aren’t vocal when it comes to speaking out on excessive and sometimes deadly force used by law enforcement. Others are furious that some lawyers are willing to work at no cost for those detained at airports in an attempt to enter the U.S. but weren’t making their services available for the families of victims of police brutality.
Remaining silent while the government discriminates against a group due to their faith is being complicit in their mistreatment. If minorities are to be successful in gaining fair and just treatment, it will take all of us coming together to fight the oppressive regime. Civil Rights were granted to blacks but those that fought with resiliency and those that gave their lives weren’t all of African descent. In this moment, under the Trump administration no words are more relevant than those of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. ‘In the end, we will remember not the words or our enemies but the silence of our friends.’
