A lot of people told me not to go. Many told me it would be dangerous and that I'm an obvious target because I wear the hijab.
For those reasons exactly is why we should all go, every single one of us. Whether we are black, white, Latino, Christian, Jewish, Atheist, Hindu, Buddhist and Muslim- we need to send a message.
As cliche as it may sound, we are America. This is what America is. This country was not made for one type of people, we made that clear when we unfortunately stole this land from the Native Americans. Every single one of us has the right to be here and if there are people who have a problem with it, then maybe THOSE people need to leave, not the other way around.
I am not going to be bullied and made scared for doing exactly what is 100 percent lawful and in line with the very core values of our country. To be anything other than who I am because of a few would be completely un-American, but if we did not know that already, then we haven't been paying attention.
I'm not going to lie, a very small part of me wondered if I was putting myself in danger and if it was worth it.
Ultimately, I decided to go because CAIR needed some volunteers for their press conference and I was afraid their numbers would be low due to the "chilling effect" caused by hateful rhetoric and Ohio's open carry law. I didn't want my brothers and sisters to stand alone in the middle of what could have possibly been a very hostile environment.
CAIR gave their beautiful press conference and promoted their new campaign, Islamophobin- the cure to Islamophobia (take two and call a Muslim in the morning). See the full commercial, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_s57kPS_gjM .
After the press conference was over, I drifted off to a rally that was going on beside us. What I witnessed was absolutely beautiful. There were people from all over the United States and the world. People coming together to send a message of love and hope. People gathering together to stand up for one another and to defend this country's core values.
There was a guy behind a table asking everyone to pick up a sign. I was so surprised and happy to see a sign with Palestinian flags at the top and bottom of it with the words "Do all lives really matter?"
As lovely as the sign was, I decided to pick up a sign that said " Trump, Read The Constitution" and on the other side it read "Leave Our Rights Alone!". Well I guess me, wearing a hijab with peace signs on it and holding that sign up captured a lot of attention.
Everywhere I went people took photos of me and interviewed me. It was pretty nice to be able to get my voice heard. I think more Muslims should go out there and make a presence so that we combat these lies and false images of us. Otherwise, we let people speak in place of our silence and that has not been working for us.
I left downtown where the RNC was taking place feeling happy and more hopeful than I was before I went.
Hang in there America, I think we're going to be okay.
A random guy wearing a shirt that says " I love Muslims."NoSeYintellectuals2016
