Opinion
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
4A — Wednesday, January 17, 2018

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F

eeling 
hatred 
is 
a 

given, rejecting it is a 
choice. It is not enough 

to disagree privately; we must 
vocally 
remind 
ourselves 

that every person has value, 
regardless of origin.

My friends from shithole 

countries 
were 
pretty 

incensed by the president’s 
comments last week. When 
I first heard his words, I 
stopped for a second and 
wondered 
if 
Egypt, 
my 

country of origin, would be 
considered a shithole country 
by his standards.

It’s safe to say that without 

the pyramids, Egypt certainly 
would be among the brown 
and 
black 
countries 
that 

Trump, and many people, 
find inferior. But, with this 
designation comes a certain 
sense 
of 
pride 
because 

I 
know 
that 
immigrants 

will persevere despite this 
perception of us.

Yet I can’t always shake 

the way the president’s words 
resonante with me when I look 
in the mirror. Sometimes, I do 
feel like I’m from a shithole 
country. I see violence, the 
restriction of freedoms and a 
lack of prosperity.

What 
I 
must 
remind 

myself is that every country 
struggles 
on 
some 
levels 

with these issues. There are 
historical 
and 
sociological 

reasons for the circumstances 
of each country. Although 
we can’t always mute self-
hatred, it’s our responsibility 
to respond to it with positive 
reinforcement—both for our 
own sake and for others.

I thank God every day that 

my parents immigrated to 
America. Because of that, I 
was born in what is, for me, 
the greatest country in the 
world. However, with that 
blessing comes a lot of strings.

America 
has 
a 
way 
of 

reminding you of all the ways 
you’re different. This isn’t 
always a bad thing, and the 
individuality and creativity 
it promotes is part of what 
makes it great. Still, I know 
from 
personal 
experience 

how easy it is to conflate 
being different with being 
less.

A sense of belonging is not 

the most natural impulse 
when nobody in your lecture 
hall looks like you. It’s hard to 
feel heard by representatives 
who don’t tune in to your 
narrative. 
Caring 
about 

headlines 12 time zones away, 
asking your parents questions 
about America they don’t know 
the answer to; it’s part of the 
territory of being an immigrant.

It builds character, and I’m 

at peace with the difficulty 
of it. I believe it makes me 
a 
stronger 
person, 
more 

ready to raise kids here and 
continue the experiment of 
being an American.

We learn every day just 

how 
heterogeneous 
our 

society can be, and how many 
different walks of life can be 
accommodated 
peacefully 

instead of rejected violently. 
What it means to be American 
is always in contention, and 
our responsibility is to affect 
that meaning positively.

I’m not personally upset 

at what the president said 
because 
that’s 
how 
many 

people 
feel. 
I’m 
upset 

because, for a moment, I felt 
the inferiority that somebody 
else 
determined 
for 
me. 

The young immigrants who 
hear these remarks may feel 
worse about themselves, and 
all of us – whether we were 
born here or not – might fail 
to reassure them that these 
voices of self-hatred are false.

How much worse would my 

mom feel, as a child-arrival 
bullied for the food she ate 
and the clothes she couldn’t 
afford, 
if 
her 
president 

reaffirmed 
the 
negative 

feedback she was getting at 
school? Would my dad find 
the same success if he saw 
other immigrants as rivals 
instead of allies?

I can imagine both of 

them being invigorated by 
the 
president’s 
comments, 

as my friends are today. It’s 
not impossible to succeed in 
this country as a minority, 
but self-hatred fuels those 
moments of ambiguity when 
I question whether or not 
I belong here. Even though 
it’s unhealthy, it’s natural to 
question whether I can fit 
in and stand out at the same 
time.

I wouldn’t run into these 

feelings if I never left Egypt. 
But America is the greatest 
country in the world for 
me because it has potential 
beyond any other. America’s 
core values are ambitious and 
future-oriented; the spirit of 
self-improvement is woven 
into our flag. No country is 
quite like us in our melting-
pot culture and our character 
of accommodation.

Yes, such grand visions are 

easy to fail, and quite often 
they’ve backfired horribly. 
It’s 
easy 
to 
contemplate 

giving up, settling for the 
kind of homogenous, closed-
off country we’re used to 
reading about in history — 
the same country some of 
my neighbors crave, where 
everyone is from the same 
shithole country instead of 
many.

Until 
the 
moment 
I’m 

dragged off this soil, I’ll 
continue demonstrating my 
value to this country. It’s a 
shame that the success of 
immigrants is political, but 
it’s on us to see in ourselves 
and in each other that we 
belong here.

A familiar voice

ANDREW MEKHAIL | COLUMN

Andrew Mekhail can be reached at 

mekhail@umich.edu.

B

y 
targeting 
women, 

minorities 
and 
other 

vulnerable populations 

through his tweets and public 
comments, President 
Trump has begun to 
cement his legacy as 
a bully more than a 
role model, despite 
being in office for less 
than one year.

Last week, Trump 

added to his history 
of crude and overtly 
prejudiced comments 
at a White House 
meeting with select 
senators 
regarding 
various 

immigration policies, including 
the status of the Deferred 
Action for Childhood Arrivals 
program, put in place by 
former 
President 
Barack 

Obama in 2012.

When asked by Senator Dick 

Durbin, D-Ill., whether certain 
countries 
like 
Haiti 
could 

receive Temporary Protected 
Status for their undocumented 
immigrants living in the United 
States, CNN confirmed Trump 
said, “Why do we need more 
Haitians? 
Take 
them 
out.” 

In an even more egregious 
act of racism, Trump went 
on to describe immigrants 
from Africa as coming from 
“shithole 
countries,” 
a 

statement that was not denied 
by White House spokesperson 
Raj Shah when asked about it 
the following evening.

At 
first 
glance 
these 

statements are shocking, but at 
this point, should be expected 
from a president whose power is 
predicated on the subjugation of 
outsiders who present a threat to 
his vision of a white, patriarchal 
society. And until this racism 
is wiped from the country’s 
core institutions, these types 
of comments from the nation’s 
leader will only perpetuate this 
system of inequality.

Above all, DACA is a measure 

of 
inclusivity 
and 
empathy 

overshadowed and mitigated by 
the generally tough immigration 
policy supported by the Trump 

administration.

By 
granting 

undocumented 
immigrants 
protection 
from 

immediate 
deportation 
and 

the right to work 
and 
study, 
DACA 

highlights 
the 

empathy with which 
Obama 
understood 

the 
desperate 

situation of many children from 
economically 
and 
politically 

decimated countries who have 
known nothing but America 
since immigrating here at a 
young age.

Many factors might explain 

the divergence between Obama 
and 
Trump’s 
philosophy 

on 
DACA, 
which 
Trump 

announced he would begin to 
phase out after the proposed 
bipartisan 
deal 
presented 

a “big step backwards” for 
immigration policy and the 
country’s spending deficit.

One 
powerful 
factor 

that cannot be ignored in 
explaining this dichotomy is 
race, though it is one that is 
frequently neglected because 
of its controversial nature. 
Trump’s “shithole” comments, 
undoubtedly 
fueled 
by 
an 

underlying prejudice against 
minorities, 
represent 
a 

pervasive problem in a country 
that prides itself on inclusion 
and democracy.

Recently in one of my classes, 

Islam in Africa, we watched a 
Ted Talk by Nigerian writer 
Chimamanda 
Adichie 
called 

“The Danger of a Single Story.” 
Adichie’s lecture has become a 
popular teaching tool for many 
historians 
and 
sociologists 

as a way to highlight the 
consequences 
of 
racial 

stereotypes and generalizations.

Adichie recalled that when 

she moved from Nigeria to the 
United States to attend college, 
she was shocked by the reaction 
of her American roommate. 
Not only did the roommate ask 
to listen to Adichie’s African 
“tribal music,” but also assumed 
that she did not know how to 
use a stove.

While 
these 
demeaning 

generalizations may be in part 
due to individual prejudice, it 
is equally if not more a result of 
institutional racism embedded 
in our schools, media and politics.

The very course in which 

I heard this story is not only 
an objective introduction to 
the history of Islam in Africa, 
but an attempt to tear down 
the 
misunderstandings 
and 

stereotypes attached to each 
of these topics, the type of 
sentiment held by President 
Trump 
and 
many 
others 

who see Africa and Haiti as 
“shithole” countries without 
the 
means 
necessary 
to 

function in the modern world.

Until America as a whole 

is educated in more than one 
“story” of Africa, Haiti and 
all 
other 
countries 
whose 

refugees are seeking a better 
life in the United States, the 
racism demonstrated by Trump 
will continue to appear in both 
everyday life and political policy.

It then becomes the task of 

us as students to not only learn, 
but to educate others in a way 
that emphasizes diversity and 
inclusion. Trump’s comments 
will surely perpetuate racist 
ideology in the United States, 
but a strong opposition to this 
rhetoric through education and 
wholesome 
media 
coverage 

may reverse the flow of this 
anti-immigrant philosophy.

Racism in practice

BEN CHARLSON | COLUMN

Ben Charlson can be reached at 

bencharl@umich.edu.

P

rior 
to 
last 
week’s 

college 
football 

national championship 

game, 
President 
Donald 

Trump 
took 

the 
field 
for 

the 
national 

anthem. 
White 

House 
officials 

likely 
hoped 

the 
appearance 

would help boost 
an 
embattled 

president, but the 
plan 
backfired 

when TV cameras 
caught 
Trump 

mumbling 
as 

he 
sang 
along, 

leading many observers to 
conclude that Trump did not 
know the words. The outcry 
was swift and harsh.

For the record, I am not 

convinced 
that 
Trump 

forgot the national anthem’s 
lyrics. The footage seems 
to show a man somewhat 
awkwardly trying to appear 
presidential 
on 
national 

television rather than a man 
struggling to remember the 
words. But either way, a more 
interesting, and far more 
consequential 
question 
is 

this: how important is it for 
presidents and other political 
leaders to know aspects of 
our civic culture, like the 
national anthem?

Suppose 
Trump 
did 

indeed 
forget 
the 
lyrics: 

Was the deluge of criticism 
that 
followed 
merely 
an 

instance of liberals trying 
to score political points, or 
was it a warranted critique? 
I contend it’s the latter. 
Admittedly, 
knowing 
the 

national anthem’s lyrics will 
not boost the economy. It 
won’t fix health care, nor will 
it thwart terrorism. But not 
knowing the words would 
be an affront to our nation’s 
civic culture, which can be 
loosely defined as respect, 
admiration and knowledge 
of our country’s democratic 
values, history and system 
of governance. The national 
anthem is a celebration of our 
civic culture, but this civic 
culture is arguably in decline

Last fall, researchers at the 

University of Pennsylvania’s 
Annenberg 
Public 
Policy 

Center conducted a survey 
on Americans’ knowledge of 
the government and the U.S. 
Constitution, and the results 
were less than impressive. 

A third of the country could 
not name any of the three 
branches of government and 
only a quarter could identify 

all three. They also 
found 
37 
percent 

could not name a 
single civil liberty 
protected under the 
First 
Amendment, 

and none of the First 
Amendment 
rights 

were identified by 
more than half of 
respondents.

For 
what 
it 
is 

worth, 
a 
separate 

ABC poll found 60 
percent of Americans 

don’t 
know 
the 
national 

anthem’s lyrics. Moreover, 
the country’s ignorance of 
basic civics seems to be on the 
upswing. The Annenberg poll 
has been conducted annually 
since 2011, and the results 
have shown a steady decline 
in the civic knowledge of 
Americans. The concept of 
civic knowledge is two-fold, 
involving 
both 
practical 

topics like the provisions of 
the Constitution and more 
symbolic matters like the 
national 
anthem, 
but 
the 

polling suggests Americans 
largely 
don’t 
know 
much 

about either.

Frankly, these figures are 

depressing 
and 
alarming. 

An educated electorate is 
essential to the health of 
a modern democracy. The 
Founding Fathers were well 
aware of this and feared 
the irrational decisions of 
an ignorant populace. Some 
forefathers 
believed 
the 

solution was to limit the 
role 
of 
everyday 
citizens 

in governance, leading the 
drafters of the Constitution 
to create institutions like 
the 
Electoral 
College, 

the 
indirect 
election 
of 

senators and voting rights 
restrictions. 
Others, 
like 

Thomas Jefferson, believed 
the 
political 
participation 

of average citizens to be 
imperative in an egalitarian 
society and saw the education 
of the masses as the cure to 
an 
ill-informed 
electorate. 

Jefferson’s 
commitment 
to 

this goal led him to found the 
University of Virginia with the 
purpose to educate Americans 
to better our democracy after 
his presidency.

Fortunately, in the centuries 

since the Constitution’s ratification, 

we 
have 
endorsed 
Jefferson’s 

view and gradually eliminated 
voting rights restrictions and 
other 
roadblocks 
to 
true 

representative 
democracy. 

But in order for Jefferson’s 
vision to be realized, we 
must commit ourselves to 
being informed, responsible 
citizens, which begins with 
knowing rudimentary civics. 
Though ignorance towards 
civics 
does 
not 
directly 

translate 
to 
ignorance 

towards policy, voters are 
unlikely to make reasoned 
decisions at the ballot box 
if they do not even know 
how the government works. 
Though 
this 
lens, 
civic 

ignorance constitutes a real 
threat to political efficacy, 
since 
research 
suggests 

the 
less 
people 
know 

about government, the less 
confidence they have in it.

Trump’s national anthem 

mumbling 
raises 
another 

concern: the possibility that 
civic ignorance, that is a lack 
of knowledge and even a lack 
of regard for basic civics, 
could spread to our leaders. 
Politicians are rational actors, 
and if voters don’t care about 
their civic knowledge, neither 
will candidates for public 
office, which will presumably 
lead to ignorant leaders. We 
should want our political 
leaders to be knowledgeable 
about the Constitution, our 
country’s history and other 
elementary civics. However, 
even assuming we want this 
in principle, we need to know 
civics ourselves if we are to 
determine if candidates do.

Who 
knows 
if 
Trump 

knows 
the 
words 
of 
the 

national anthem. What is 
clear is that most of us don’t, 
and our blissful ignorance 
extends far beyond that to 
serious matters of law and 
governance. This is not to 
suggest that learning about 
our 
government 
is 
some 

magical fix to our nation’s 
problems, but rather that 
our nation’s ignorance is a 
problem in itself and one 
worth fixing. The loss of 
civic 
knowledge 
reflects 

a 
corrosion 
of 
America’s 

civic culture, and it is our 
collective responsibility as a 
country to rectify it.

On civic ignorance

NOAH HARRISON | COLUMN

Noah Harrison can be reached at 

noahharr@umich.edu.

NOAH 

HARRISON

BEN 

CHARLSON

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“I can’t always 

shake the way the 
president’s words 
resonante with 

me when I look in 

the mirror.”

