'It's very scary': Election rhetoric has Muslim-American worried about the future
Bartley Kives | CBC News | Posted: November 8, 2016 11:00 AM | Last Updated: November 9, 2016
Welcomed to 1980s America with open arms, Fargo-Moorhead academic now fears for her children's future
Up until the 2016 election cycle, Mona Ibrahim had never felt uneasy in the United States.
Born in Egypt, she moved to the U.S. to attend graduate school with every intention of going home after she completed her PhD. But she wound up falling in love with a society she describes as so open and respectful, it even remained welcoming in the dark days after the Sept. 11 attacks, when many Muslims and Americans of Middle Eastern descent feared they would be targeted by racists.
"I get goosebumps still today thinking about the reaction from my circle of co-workers and neighbours," said Ibrahim, a 17-year Fargo, N.D., resident who works as a psychology professor at Concordia College in neighbouring Moorhead, Minn.
"My neighbours brought baked dishes and things like that, worried for our safety. My colleagues offered to make a human circle around our mosque so we were not afraid to go pray on Friday. So it was actually very affirming," she said.
That was 2001. Fifteen years later, the United States is within a whisker of electing a president who has pledged to prevent other Muslims from coming to the country.
Ibrahim said Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has "validated and empowered" racists who previously would not make their opinions known. She said while she remains hopeful Democrat Hillary Clinton will win tonight, the damage has been done.
- Along the Red River Valley, the absence of U.S. election signs signifies plenty
- U.S. election day: Follow CBC's complete coverage as America votes
"I hope the American people will come through on election day and show what we really stand for, but of course that doesn't mitigate the sizable minority that follows Trump," Ibrahim said on Monday in an interview at her Concordia College office.
"It feels very hurtful and very worrisome, because it feels like he's taking away and destroying the best thing about the U.S.," she said, recalling the reception she and her husband received when they first arrived to study.
"We thought, 'This is where we want to raise our kids.' This is the kind of Muslim values that we want to see in a society: no discrimination, openness to others and just a welcoming, warm attitude. That's what attracted us to the U.S.
"So I feel really disappointed and worried for my kids and their future in this country."
The notion that Donald Trump has emboldened U.S. racists, either by effect or by design, is hardly a new form of criticism. Nonetheless, actual statements made by the Republican candidate about Muslims, Mexicans and other minorities have failed to provoke the same degree of outrage as allegations of sexual harassment and assault.
In North Dakota, some Republican officials acknowledge the presidential campaign has been divisive and freely admit they are promoting the party over the presidential candidate at the doorstep. But they characterize the divisions in the U.S. as partisan, rather than ethnic or religious.
"Whether you're a Democrat or a Republican, first and foremost, you're American," said Carma Hanson, the vice-chair of the North Dakota Republican Party, speaking at the GOP field office in Grand Forks, N.D.
"We need to come together and maybe be a little less red and a little less blue and realize that we're red, white and blue. If we can't work together as a country, we're going to continue to see the fallout that we've seen a lot in political arenas lately, where people are so divisive."
Hanson said she believes Trump is the U.S. leader most capable of uniting the country. Some North Dakota Democrats don't think it will be that easy, whoever wins tonight.
"There's a lot of reconciliation to be had on Nov. 9 this year. That's in North Dakota and everywhere across the country," said Kylie Oversen, North Dakota's Democratic-NPL chair and a Democratic state legislator.
"We've seen the unfortunate consequences of this presidential race. We've seen that division within families, within friendships, within communities. It's not up to the candidates we elect," Oversen said at her field office in Grand Forks.
"It's up to all of us to be able to put aside our differences and come back together and realize there's more at stake than who we're electing as president. It's keeping our communities and states and our country together."
Ibrahim said it will take years of education and economic advancements for the most disenfranchised Americans to prevent Muslims from being targeted. She said Muslims in the U.S. today are frightened by echoes of Europe's past.
"I often think about that. My 12-year-old, you know, the other day we were talking about that, 'Do you think that's how the Jews felt?' They had great hope in their societies. They thought these are just rare cases or extreme factions," Ibrahim said.
"Did the silent majority enable what happened to the Jews? Are we going that route? So it's very scary. But again, I'm really hopeful."