A message to the Trump chalkers from a Syrian refugee
Please, just come talk to me and tell me to leave this country to my face
I woke up to an email from Emory’s president, James Wagner, echoing the concerns of the students that rallied in protest of the Trump chalkings on Emory’s campus on March 21st, 2016. Neither the protests nor the e-mail reflected what I personally feel about the Trump supporters as a Syrian refugee in the United States.
Refugees aren’t terrorists. In fact, I left my father and home because of terrorists.
Although my very existence here is threatened by Trump’s candidacy, I genuinely am not opposing it but am only asking for one thing: a conversation. So if you made the chalking or are a Trump supporter, I eagerly await your response.
The Trump chalkings didn’t surprise me. They saddened me.
I am not against anyone expressing their opinions because freedom of speech is one of the many things that I consider a blessing in the United States. I just wish that you dared to express so artistically at 4 pm instead of 4 am so that I could simply ask why.
The fact that you chose to express your opinions anonymously only shows that you are afraid of expressing these opinions. People are only afraid of expressing their opinions when they know they are wrong, right?
I’m not saying you are wrong. You are completely right looking from your own perspective. But that’s the thing. You’re only looking from your perspective and disregarding everyone else.
I just want to have a conversation. I don’t want to protest or have anyone come comfort my “discomfort” nor do I need “to talk about it”. I lived a war for two years and an incident like this won’t trouble me emotionally.
Trust me, people still living in Syria have it worse.
With all respect to the students’ rallies and the letter from our president, I personally don’t think that those are the correct tactics.
Let’s have a conversation to try to understand each other.