By Sachi Bhati ’18, News Section Editor
Dear Mr. Trump,
What is your definition of an American? I am a sixteen-year-old Indian girl who was born and raised in the United States. And I am an American. I grew up with the belief that I live in a country where diversity is celebrated, my gender is not an obstacle I have to overcome, and that I will be treated equally. As I am understanding more about the world, these beliefs are not as simple as I thought. The past few days I have experienced an array of emotions. At school, I have learned that to truly convey my message, I need evidence; so, I thought, what better evidence to use than your own words?
You have said “when Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best…they’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good.[i]” Well Mr. Trump, I’d like to start out by saying, you’re wrong. You cannot say that only a small portion of the Mexican immigrants are “good.” You cannot say that most of them are rapists or that they transfer drugs. You cannot judge an entire group of people based on the actions of a small portion. Most of these immigrants are hard-working families that DO pay their taxes, something you don’t seem to be very familiar with.
Same goes for Muslims. You have called for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what’s going on.[ii]” Now of course, you have changed your stance on this, as you have on many issues. My family, along with 10 million legal immigrants, came here for a better life. Statistically only .006625%[iii] of the entire Muslim population are extremists. Such a small portion, yet if you had your way, you would snatch the opportunity for a better life from so many that don’t have the same beliefs as these extremists. Now don’t get me wrong, we need to do something about terrorism, and I believe a better immigration tactic should be in order, but for all people, not just the group of people you classify as extremists.
Out of all the things you have said that have bothered me, I think that the way that you talk about women disgusts me the most. We, women, have worked so hard to get the rights we have; it hasn’t been as easy for us as it has for men. You have threatened to overturn Roe v Wade. What gives the government the right to decide what a woman does with her body? You have said that “there has to be some form of punishment[iv]” for women who decide to have an abortion. What happens if a woman is raped? What happens if she doesn’t have the resources to raise a baby? What happens if termination is the only thing that could save her life? Women are already making less money than men, so how are we supposed to compensate? If you, as Commander-In-Chief “treat women like objects, why should any other American feel like they should behave differently?”[v] You have bragged about and taken pride in sexually assaulting women. How does this represent equality at all? How does this make America great? Should it be okay for anyone to just grab me however they please? Am I nothing more than a sexual object for men? Do I not bring any other value? Why should anyone feel like it’s okay to touch someone else without consent just because they are famous? I must remind you, kids, young kids, look up to the president. How are we supposed to tell the next generation that doing something like that is not okay, when our President has said it is?
I had high hopes for the first woman President. What disappointed me more than the amount of people that voted for Trump was the fact that the “future,” millenials, had Clinton winning. If it was just based on voters 18-25, Clinton would have won the electoral college 504-23. I am just a sixteen-year-old, so technically I can’t vote, but those who are the future of this country voted for Clinton, and that should not be forgotten.
I hope you can understand where my fear lies. I am a minority girl. I am scared for my future– the future I have worked so hard for. Will I be judged based upon my talent, or the color of my skin? Will I be allowed to break glass ceilings, or will that right be taken away too? So, I ask you again, what is your definition of an American?
[i] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2015/07/08/donald-trumps-false-comments-connecting-mexican-immigrants-and-crime/
[ii] http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/trump-calls-discrimination-against-muslims
[iii] https://www.quora.com/How-many-extremist-Muslims-are-there-when-compared-with-the-wider-and-world-wide-Muslim-population
[iv] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/16-real-things-trump-has-said-about-women-while-for-running-for-president_us_57e14a5ae4b04a1497b6a29c
[v] https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/nov/13/trump-misogyny-didnt-win-election-will-change-womens-lives-clinton
