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Politics and Activism

This Is Not My America

My America supports people of all race, religion, and gender.

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This Is Not My America
MotherJones

I would like to start this article by saying, yes, this does address politics but only on the basis of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

The first people to arrive in America (that *cough* didn’t already live here) were religious refugees. Wait…refugees I said? Yes. Refugees. They came to America to escape persecution and practice their religion as they liked. This makes me so shocked now to see Muslims that are citizens being turned away and having their rights revoked merely because of a very small group of radicals in places they aren’t even from. The Constitution of the United States of America says, in Section 9, “The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each person.” In the constitution, it does not even ban immigration let alone naturalized American citizens.

Shall we also discuss the Bill of Rights in this context, too? The FIRST amendment to the constitution says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” I will say one portion again. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise of.”

Donald Trump found a way around this, literally found a loophole in the Bill of Rights, to ban a group of people that has made America the great country it is. He proposed a Muslim ban and a ban on refugees that WERE NOT CHRISTIAN. The Bill of Rights legitimately says you are not allowed to do so. He went around the people that Presidents usually ask before making executive orders and just created the ban without caring about the repercussions. CNN has an article that states just this, “Before the President issued the order, the White House did not seek the legal guidance of the Office of Legal Counsel, the Justice Department office that interprets the law for the executive branch.” Ignoring the natural steps when proposing a very serious executive order is one step closer to living in a dictatorship.

I will conclude this article by saying this is not my America. My America is where I can still tweet with my Muslim friends because they haven’t been kicked out of my country. My America is where freedom of speech is allowed. My America is an America that accepts and respects all. This is not my America and I will stand with anyone discriminated against or put down by this administration.

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