I recently met an Armenian woman. She wore the traditional hijab and jellaba – the head covering and long flowing coat typical for Middle Eastern women and often associated with Islam. Her skin was dark tan and her deep brown eyes were lined with kohl. She looked strikingly similar to every other Muslim woman I had met while living in Morocco. But instead of following the teachings of Muhammad, she worshipped Jesus.
Selma is a Christian – yet dressed in the traditional Armenian attire encouraged by her Armenian Apostolic church . She educated me on the plight of Armenian Christians from Turkey. Selma’s great-grandparents fled the country in the early 1900’s escaping a violent genocide under Ottoman rule, making Selma a fourth generation American.
She shared how she is still persecuted here in America. She has been scorned, mocked, spit upon, and even been rejected service in restaurants and stores – and it is NOT because she’s Armenian, it’s because she LOOKS like a Muslim. And today, she wakes up in a country with a president who considers Muslims one of our biggest “problems”, who’s refusing to accept Muslim refugees, and whose inflammatory speech does more to fuel fear toward Muslims than anything else.
She’s a legal American citizen, with a prestigious career. She pays her taxes, lives peaceably in her neighborhood, and practices the same religion that the majority of people in America say they do: Christianity. And yet, because she looks like the people group that American’s are growing to fear the most: Muslims, she is treated harshly – even discriminated against.
She said, “I know it’s just because no one can tell from the outside who I really am.”
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At the inner-city junior high where I volunteer, we watched a film on the life of Corrie tenBoom. Corrie, and her entire Dutch family, were sent to Nazi concentration camps for hiding Jews in their attic during World War II. After viewing the film, I debriefed with three 8th grade girls and asked them, “Do you think something similar – the systematic persecution and extermination of a people group – could happen today?”
A Mexican girl in my group immediately replied, “Absolutely. My parents [who speak very little English] are so afraid of being deported to Mexico. We are not illegals. But how will they know? Since we are Mexicans and immigrants from Mexico are being blamed for many of the problems in this country, it only makes sense that we’ll get blamed, too. My parents say they already get a lot of dirty looks from white people. They think that someday we’ll have to wear an ‘M’ on our clothes. You know, to like mark us as legal – so people won’t be angry with us and try to deport us.”
I told her I didn’t think she had to worry. After all, her family IS legal.
She said, “Yeah, but how will ‘they’ know that? No one can tell from the outside who I really am.”
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I shared those concerns from my Mexican-American student at the dinner table that evening. And my Guatemalan-born daughter asked, “What about me? Do you think I’ll have to wear an ID-badge of some sort?”
I told her no way. She was adopted at birth. She’s an American citizen. She is American in every way.
But she replied, “Yeah, but how will ‘they’ know? No one can tell from the outside who I really am.”
I couldn’t answer her. She’s Guatemalan – but could easily be Mexican. She’s adopted – but unless she’s walking beside her all-white family, you’d never know it simply from appearances. I can protect her from being deported, certainly, because she IS legal. But the fear in her eyes betrayed her. She’s awakening to the fact that the “they” she actually needs to fear isn’t the government – it’s those who are looking for a people-group to blame, someone to take umbrage with. And I can’t protect her from that. She looks just like the people that “they” say are the problem.
The Third Reich of 1930’s Germany forced Jews to wear the star of David badge to not just humiliate them, but to keep close watch over them and to facilitate in their deportation. It was an effective way to distinguish between people groups when judging by appearances didn’t work.
As the political, ethical, religious and racial divide in this country continually grows; and as more and more people feel their freedoms, their money, and their security are actually threatened by a few distinct people groups; and being that my daughter looks JUST LIKE one of those people groups – I’ve really had to wonder: Is she safe here? Do I need to have my daughter wear an external ID to show the public she is “good”? Maybe a letter on her clothing – something like an “L” for legal, or “A” for adopted, or “S” for safe? How else will people know? How else do I help her feel safe?
Then it hit me: The only other reasonable solution is to mark ALL THE OTHERS – those from the people groups that we, as a country, have deemed “the problem”.
The absurdity of that thought – and its frightening similarities to 1930’s Germany – is not lost on me.
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She’s an Armenian Christian – but she looks like other Muslims and she has received death threats.
She’s a legal third-generation Mexican-American – but she and her family could easily be taken for illegal Mexicans. The condemning glares already judge them.
She’s my adopted daughter from Guatemala – but she could be any illegal’s child. And she’s afraid she’ll be treated differently now.
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It’s not the government that these women need to fear. Whether we agree or not with the sweeping statements that have been made regarding entire people groups identified as “a problem” – the truth is, if so desired, the government CAN and WILL deport certain people and also create ways to keep other people out.
I’m mortified that my country is doing these things. But that’s not the REAL problem here. The problem is our ATTITUDE to those who are different from us. The problem is that we, the American public, are traveling a dangerous path towards ethnic cleansing. It begins with finger-pointing – “THOSE people over there – THEY are the problem!”
The finger-pointing inevitably turns into actions, “We must build a WALL!” or “We must ban all Muslims from entering!” or “We must make a public list of all crimes done by foreigners!” But those actions will lead us to a false sense of security and so whenever something goes bad in the land, we will only be left to find more people to blame. We’re adopting an “Us” vs. “Them” paradigm and creating a growing chasm between the two.
And all that propaganda leads to fear. As our president continues to stir the pot of blaming and shaming, he incites more fear. And hate inevitably follows fear. It’s eerie how quickly and easily we resort to hating that which we fear.
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My daughter and my Mexican student and my Armenian friend do not need to fear their government, or their comb-over president, or being deported. What they legitimately need to fear – and it’s already proving to be true – is simply the hate from other Americans.
We have become our own worst enemy.
“If a kingdom is divided against itself, it cannot stand.” Mark 3:25.
“Do you think something similar – the systematic persecution and extermination of a people group – could happen today?”
It’s happening at the rate of over one million a year… the people group is the unborn.
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah 1:5
As much as I agree with much of what you have said, if I have to choose a people group to defend, it will be the unborn first.
How heartbreaking this is. I don’t even know what to do. Will you please share any action ideas?
I am a Christian.
1•1•Six all the way.
I am not ashamed of that.
I am an american (unfortunately somewhat ashamed of that).
I am not mixed (well, no more than the usual). I am completely white. Immigrants are so far back in my family line that I couldn’t name the first ones if I tried. (And unless you’re full-blooded native american, you have immigrants in your family line too.)
Yet I cover my head (for a number of reasons, though it started with 1Cor 11), even completely covering my hair, and wear pants under dresses/skirts all the time. Now, I don’t really look like a muslim to those who know better, but most people don’t know better. I still wear short sleeves and flip-flops and there are tufts of hair peeking out of my covering. I do not usually wear a hijab. And my skirts are not usually floor-length. In fact, 9 times out of 10, they come just passed my knees, even occassionally above my knees. There are, of course, variations in the “dress code” for muslims, but these things go against the generalities. But, as I said, most people don’t know better….And so I am often mistaken for a muslim, which can cause (and has caused) complications for me.
Personally, one of the most problematic things I’ve had to experience is getting my liscence. Even though you can clearly see my face, the people who run that stuff seem to think that it is necessary to see your hair. I don’t understand this since hair can be (and is) changed so easily (cut, died, styled differently, shaved, covered, etc.) But most seem to think you should reveal your hair for your liscence picture then go back to covering it (so that you’re unrecognizable when someone looks at your liscence). I think the point of the liscence has been missed….Thankfully, I did not have to go through much the two times I’ve gotten such identification (I’m only 18), but I fear what may happen with Mr. Trump in office….
The truth is, these things affect more than the minority that we try to persecute. It affects some of our own. But I guess there are always casualties on both sides when a war is fought, and I guess sacrificing a few for the sake of supposed thousands will be worth it in the end. (No matter how I try to say it, it always sounds sarcastic when typed without expression. That’s not entirely how I meant it, though some sarcasm was intentional.) *Sigh* And in fighting to slay the dragon we so fiercely fight against, are we in turn becoming the thing that we hate? Or will we perhaps find that we were standing in front of a mirror the whole time and we’ve only been slaying ourselves all along, causing our own demise? I just wonder….
Great article, btw. I am passionate about the rights of immigrants, especially hispanics and muslims, and I detest the persecution and/or discrimination against such minorities that is so often found in this country. But I must be careful not to become overzealous and cruel to the persecuters, becoming the thing that I hate. I only mean this as an informative and thought-provoking comment—an avenue for civil discussion—and as an encouragement to you. I hope that goal has been met. In the words of Paul, “may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you always”. 🙂
The aspiring little bird,
~Kegan Cook~
♥
Reblogged this on kathleenbduncan and commented:
This is thought-provoking. On MLK Day, think a bit. How do you treat others who don’t look on the outside just like you?