This is a letter to the editor in response to Mimi Kourieh’s piece “The Travel Ban: The Un-American, America”.

I would like to start off by saying that I respect and admire your ability to articulately voice your disdain with our current president’s demonization of the global Muslim community by pulling back the iron curtain on his most recent ban. You backed your analysis with statistics and the general notion that a small percentage of a group’s actions does not represent the entirety of the group simply by mentioning the ability to ignore white and Christian terrorism that our country has repeatedly showcased.
With this said, I would now like to voice my minor issue with what you chose to exclusively highlight in this piece. Although president Trump churned out this un-American policy that singles out the Muslim community and catalyzes negative stereotypes, I think it is necessary to mention how crucial an “American” resistance to this policy is. This should not be mistaken for the neo-liberal idea of finding light in times of darkness, I wished you would have highlighted that the most American thing to do in a climate like this is to create our own light and continuously oppose policies like the ban. I oftentimes wonder what is worse, a dictator or his blind followers. I feel as though the most important thing to highlight in our current political state, is the power of the people to stand up for what is right. After all, you said it best yourself, this country is “for the people and by the people”. Albeit, I applaud you on taking a stand and a step towards bettering our country.

Jad Bitar is a Communication major and a Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies minor.