Clark Herring – Special to the Southern News
“Let’s make America great again,” the campaign slogan for presidential nominee, Donald Trump, is easily one of the most distinguishable quotes of 2016, but what makes it so eerie is the meaning behind the words in Trump’s mind.
Such issues as immigration, foreign policy, and security have become heated topics for the upcoming presidential race, and the policies that Mr. Trump wishes to enact on the country should he become president are truly, Earth-shattering.
Because of the frequency of terrorist attacks over the past few years, a horrendous bias has impacted Muslims across the globe, subjecting them to victims of hate crimes and stereotype accusations. But all of these curses one of them might be the most traumatic of all; All Muslim citizens in the U.S, whether born on soil or not, will be subject to being dispatched from the country in an attempt to “secure the safety of America until we can figure out what’s going on” says Trump about his plan.
As detrimental to the constitution as this might be, he is taking it a step even further by trying to revoke the 14th amendment, which allocates for foreigners to have their children to be legally registered U.S citizens if born on U.S soil. Plans such as these appear to most people as an atrocity to the constitution and the very basis of the American Dream.
As many people would say, it has plans are pretty “racist,” but it’s not turning away any of his supporters, which he has quite a lot of.
To get further insight on this dilemma, I spoke with students around campus.
Moni Smith, who works in the Multicultural Office feels personally threatened by his plans, considering that her mother was born and raised in Ghana and she was born here.
“If he’s going to try and do that, it’s going to cause havoc” she said. “If you’re going to try do that, than we aren’t the America we’re supposed to be, we’re only going to be the America for Americans, born and raised here, and that’s not who we are.”
Smith said Trump’s ideas have garnered him support, but not sufficient enough for people to vote for him when it comes down to it. I
Jeremy Ferrell, who works at WSIN radio, explained how he feels toward Trump’s ideas.
“His plans are stupid and racist, and they will never work” he said. “A lot of his support is coming from ignorant middle class white guys who are thinking stuff like ‘oh my god they’re taking all the jobs.’ I just don’t think any rational person would support that kind of stuff.”
There is no doubt, as Ferrell put it, that many of his supporters are upper-class or middle-class Caucasians who don’t have an understanding of diversity. This should send an alarming message to us as a country, that many of us do not understand the prospects of mixed race to our country’s well being.
We’ve found ourselves on the idea of diversity and acceptance, something that denunciates all of Donald Trump’s visions of a perfect America. Allowing such an extreme and radical ideology to lead our country would be a tragedy our forefather’s would spank us for.
Photo Credit: Matt Johnson