As a Muslim and an immigrant, why does she support Trump?

Later, I learned that her experience coincided with where I worked and studied: she worked for the Wall Street Journal and taught at Georgetown University.

During the campaign for more than a year, Trump made a lot of discriminatory remarks against Muslims, immigrants, women and people of color. I am curious. All Norman's identities were attacked by Trump. She should be the strongest protest against Trump. How could she vote for him and write an article in public to support her?

After Norman's article was published, Christine Fair, a professor at Georgetown University, launched a fierce criticism on her. She described Norman as a prostitute, hooked up with the media and called her a clown and an idiot. The investigation prompted the editor of the school magazine to have the idea of inviting them to talk. Editors believe that if they can debate on social media, they should also be able to talk openly and bravely. "Different opinions are the core of a university's academic culture, and Georgetown University should not be an exception."

Norman immediately accepted the invitation. But Phil refused.

In the end, this conversation took place between Jacques Berlinerblau, director of the Center for Jewish Civilization at Georgetown University, and Norman.

/kloc-On the evening of March, 2000, I arrived at the antique Cobo Lounge early. Different from usual, this time several school police officers are on standby to prevent riots. There have also been riots caused by serious political divisions in other universities. Tonight's theme involves complex and sensitive religious issues. Thinking of this, sitting in the first row, I was a little scared and thought, won't anyone throw flowers and plants around tonight?

encounter

Walking into the hall, I recognized the famous woman at a glance. She is wearing a green skirt with Islamic style, and her steps are light and agile. She doesn't look like a woman in her fifties, a little weaker than Washington post's photo. Soon, the audience came in twos and threes, including women wearing Muslim headscarves and men wearing Muslim hats. Are they here to protest?

Crowded with people. After the speech by the editor-in-chief of the school magazine, Pauline Blau, a scholar of Jewish civilization studies, began to introduce Norman. He said, "I accepted the invitation because I have deep respect for this woman ..."

No sooner had he said the first sentence than he was interrupted by the audience's deliberate loud applause. It was the Muslim man next to me, and several people behind me applauded under his leadership. It turned out that they didn't come to play the devil's advocate, but to stand for Norman. May be hoping to take the lead and shock your opponent!

Paulina Blau was a little embarrassed and said please listen to him before applauding. He said that he had deep respect for this woman. He and this woman have different views, but civilization is different based on harmony.

"I have worked with Norman * *, and her works are fascinating. She has long supported liberalism, everyone should have the right to make choices, homosexuality and gun control. These are the core ideas of the Democratic Party. I am also driven by curiosity and want to hear why Normani voted for Trump this time. "

Norman thanked Pauline Blau and the audience without Chen Jian. Her voice is modest, gentle and calm, as if caring for something fragile. When speaking to the audience, she leaned forward slightly, as if to strengthen her persuasiveness. But she doesn't cater to it.

She said: "Before that, I was in favor of liberalism all my life. In every presidential election, I vote for the Democratic Party. I also voted for Obama. At the beginning of this election, I initially considered voting for Sanders. "

She mentioned two reasons that made her change her mind: she is a single mother, raising her son and working as a freelancer. Obama's health care reform has increased the financial burden of her income class.

She also said that in the past 15 years, she has been committed to opposing extreme Islamic terrorism.

On the night when terrorists attacked a nightclub in the United States last year, she saw Trump tweeting to combat extreme Islamic terrorism. The Democratic Party, represented by Obama and Hillary Clinton, is reluctant to use the word "radical Islamic terrorism". They believe that terrorist attacks can only be carried out by extreme people. If we compare religion with terrorism, they worry that people will hate different beliefs and cause more confusion and division.

Norman said that Trump gave her hope to break the deadlock. Because the Muslim community needs reform, if it doesn't, it will let the conservative autocratic forces block criticism and the ideology will become more and more extreme.

Of course, she admits that extreme thoughts can be seen in many religions, not just Islam.

She said: We are against Christian theocracy. Why don't we also oppose the Muslim theocracy, but accept it as brothers? In my opinion, we should try our best to eradicate extremist ideas among Muslim groups, instead of letting terrorists expand people's inner wounds, thus creating terror and hatred.

However, her hope for Trump was strongly questioned by the audience and became the focus of discussion in the evening.

A heated debate over the travel ban

After Trump took office, he issued an executive order requiring the airport to immediately ban all citizens from seven Muslim countries from entering the country. The ban caused confusion and was considered to be suspected of undermining freedom of religious belief. The judge issued an order to suspend the execution of the death penalty. (Author's Note: After the completion of this article, Trump signed a revised executive order on March 6, deleting Iraq from seven countries and changing it to six countries. The main reason for getting rid of Iraq is that the United States needs to join hands with Iraq to fight the "Islamic State" terrorists. The new executive order prohibits issuing new visas to citizens of six Muslim countries in the next 90 days, except those who have already obtained visas. The purpose of amending the travel ban is to win the approval of the court, but many people think that the characteristics of administrative orders discriminating against Muslims have not changed at all. )

Norman once told Fox News that Trump's ban was not aimed at Muslims, but to safeguard homeland security. She said: "What we are facing is a crisis, an ideological war for generations. What we need is an extreme solution. "

Paulina Blau asked: Isn't Trump's ban aimed at immigrants from countries with a predominantly Muslim population?

She insisted on her point of view: "For me, this executive order is only the first step to solve the problem of terrorism, although this step is not smooth."

The audience was not convinced.

A listener asked: Don't you think Trump has obvious rejection and fear of Islam? In his campaign, he said that all Muslims in the world would be excluded from this country. Can't you see his hostility towards Muslims?

I really don't think Trump is anti-Muslim, she said. It's just that Trump's communication style is not what we are used to. As for what his tweets represent, I have no obligation to defend him one by one.

At this time, there was some commotion in the audience, and many people shook their heads and objected that she was denying an obvious fact. Trump's famous saying in the general election is to shut Muslims all over the world out of the country.

Paulina Blau interjected: Then where is your boundary? No boundaries at all?

Norman replied: How to define Islamophobia? It refers to the irrational fear of Muslims. But the Trump administration recognizes that terrorism is not a problem for Muslims as a whole. I don't think Trump misunderstood this question.

A listener asked: Trump's executive order did not prohibit citizens of Muslim countries who caused major terrorist attacks on the United States from entering the country, such as Saudi Arabia, where terrorists participated in the appalling September 1 1 incident. Is Trump's ban really to fight terrorists?

Norman replied: I am counting how many days have passed since Trump took office. At this point, someone in the audience said: this is not the core of the problem. )

She went on to say that the seven countries involved in Trump's executive order are consistent with the list of countries that may pose a threat to US security listed by the Obama administration in 20 1 1. She repeatedly stressed that this list of countries was formulated by Obama, not Trump.

In fact, there are many fact-finding websites in the United States that provide clear explanations about the differences between Obama and Trump bans.

According to the Politifact website, the temporary injunction issued by Obama on 20 1 1 is a targeted administrative order with a small scope of application, which was triggered by an unsuccessful terrorist attack plan and only targeted at refugees. Trump's ban is aimed at hypothetical situations, because citizens of these seven countries have not caused major terrorist attacks on the United States. His ban is broader.

Paulina Blau said: Even a big producer of terrorists like Saudi Arabia is not among them. How can you let Trump go so easily?

Another listener asked: How can you convince yourself that Trump's words will not encourage hatred against Muslims?

Norman replied: This is a very good question. I think the Trump administration will try to tell me that I believe they are trying their best to cool this atmosphere. This is also one of the challenges we face.

"Trump's America"

Norman expressed his distrust of Hillary in Washington post's article. After the news that the Clinton Foundation received millions of dollars in donations from Qatar and Saudi Arabia came out, she concluded that Hillary was not determined to crack down on extremist Islamic terrorists.

According to public information, the Clinton Foundation has indeed received donations from these two countries, but its financial situation has been strictly audited and highly transparent, and it has been rated as one of the highest star foundations in the world by many charitable rating agencies. Of course, these ratings may be mainly based on tax statements, and may not fully reflect whether Hillary keeps a proper distance from donors.

Norman said that she is more optimistic about Trump's America than Hillary's America.

She said in the article: "I was born in India. 1In the summer of 969, I came to America at the age of four. I'm not afraid of Trump's America. The checks and balances of the American system and our rich history of pursuing social justice and civil rights equality will never make Trump's artificially exaggerated fear a reality. "

She said: "I am most worried about the possible impact of Muslim theocracy countries including Qatar and Saudi Arabia on Hillary's United States. What needs us to summon up moral courage to face is not only hatred against Muslims, but also hatred from Muslims. "

However, Norman may have overestimated Trump's America. There are many indications that although the history of pursuing social justice and civil rights equality in the United States is rich, the society is far from being * * *, which is why Trump's remarks are enthusiastically sought after by some people, but strongly opposed by some people.

Refuse to worship in a dark room

As an American Muslim immigrant, Norman and many people pay different attention to it.

Norman is no ordinary journalist or writer. She gave birth out of wedlock, which is considered immoral in traditional Islam. She has always voiced for the improvement of Muslim women's freedom and status, and advocated abandoning outdated concepts.

She told the audience that in Mecca, women can worship anywhere. However, in the Islamic center in Washington, I can only go to a dark hut to worship, and I am not allowed to enter from the front door. This is unacceptable to my liberal thoughts.

In 2004, she published an article in the Washington post, calling for women to be allowed to worship in the main hall of the mosque like men, instead of staying in a dark hut. In her hometown of West Virginia, she broke the rules and chose to worship with men. Although she stood 20 feet away from male Muslims, an all-male court tried to ban her from doing so. Later, an elderly person suggested that there should be a group of men around her when she went to church in an attempt to "scare her away". After the article was published, a Muslim fellow villager said to her, "You have shamed our group. Stop writing! "

Norman said that it is becoming more and more common to try to censor and control dissent among Muslim groups, and the growing authoritarian forces should not criticize extremists in religious ideology in the name of maintaining the image of Islam. In her view, the teachings preached by these forces are based on a shameful patriarchal culture, which emphasizes decency, while those who dare to criticize are often attacked, harassed and intimidated, and she even received death threats herself.

The far-reaching "Pearl Incident"

Another thing that deeply influenced her was that her good friend Daniel Pearl, a former colleague of The Wall Street Journal, was kidnapped by terrorists while doing a terrorist investigation report in Pakistan, and was finally brutally killed. The events that happened in 2002 shocked the whole world. Norman happened to write a book in Pakistan. On the morning of June+10, 65438, Pearl left her local residence and never came back.

Later, khalid sheikh mohammed, a member of Al Qaeda who planned the 911incident, admitted to killing Pearl. However, when the US government announced his charges, it only mentioned that he created the "9. 1 1" incident, but said nothing about his responsibility for Pearl's death.

This conclusion puzzled Norman. She felt that as an investigative journalist and a good friend of Pearl, she had a mission to find the real murderer for him. It took her ten years to do this survey. "I have no distractions, and this matter even became my career."

She started the Pearl Project with Professor Georgetown University. She attended social network data training. She led students to interview current and former American and Pakistani officials, and even her mother participated in the translation of thick Urdu materials. With her efforts, she found enough evidence to prove that the person who confessed was indeed the real murderer, although the US government did not tie 9. 1 1 to the Pearl incident for various reasons.

In memory of her good friend, Norman named her son's middle name Daniel.

A journey to find faith

She wrote down her confusion when she stood alone. She said that the person who planned and killed Pearl was the same person who prayed five times a day. Her child's father, like her, goes to the mosque to pray every Friday, but when she gave birth, he did not stand with her, but regarded her as a traitor to religion. These things once made Norman doubt his faith. To this end, she went to Mecca, the birthplace of Islam, to seek spiritual support.

During this journey, she was able to trace the footsteps of some great women in Islamic civilization and history, and found that some of them were deviant and some were single mothers like her. She realized that she was deeply opposed to tradition, power and fear. She believes that the core values of all religions and cultures are truth, knowledge, love and courage.

Because of the truth, she was freed from duplicity, contradiction and shame; Because of her profound understanding and speculation on religion, as a Muslim woman, she was able to get rid of the bondage and get physical and mental liberation; The love of parents, brothers and friends inspired her to explore those areas that were regarded as forbidden areas and to think and learn freely; Finally, courage made her dare to be an honest and upright person.

A friend who knows her said: Norman is obviously not a Muslim in the conventional sense. After Pearl's death, Norman's strong hatred for Muslim extremists became her overwhelming reason to support Trump.

This reason is so strong that she can ignore some things in Trump's words and deeds that obviously run counter to her inner thoughts.

I agree with my friend's judgment. Norman's struggle for a higher status for Muslim women shows that she is a defender of women's rights, which is in sharp contrast to Trump's insult to women. She also opposes the construction of a wall between the United States and Mexico and supports the fight against climate change. She supports abortion. It can be said that she does not agree with Trump and most of the ideas within the party.

In my opinion, although she voted for Trump, what she did shows that she is still a pure liberal.

When she heard Trump's slogan of banning citizens from Muslim countries from entering the country, others saw Trump's disrespect for Muslims, but she saw a glimmer of hope, a glimmer of hope to challenge the existing discourse system and Muslim theocracy.

Norman's struggle was difficult and lonely. If this ancient religious group really needs reform, due to the particularity of religion, any reform can only be initiated by insiders, and it is difficult for external forces to achieve it.

She has her own special mission.

"Ballot is not a love letter"

The real question is, can Norman's hope of breaking the status quo be realized through Trump? Does Trump advocate the direction of freedom she pursues?

Will Trump give Muslim women a higher status than Obama, who advocates equality and freedom of religious belief? His travel ban is more to draw people's attention to discrimination against Muslims than to help encourage public discussion and reflection on religious issues.

So far, Trump has not introduced any policies that can effectively curb terrorist activities. Unlike what he boasted in the campaign, all this will change on his first day in office.

How determined is Trump to crack down on extremist Muslim terrorists? How important is his agenda? What cards does he have to play?

During the conversation, Norman was repeatedly asked how she was sure that things would get better as she expected, not worse. She admitted: "I have to face this problem every day, which makes me feel like I have to prove something constantly. One day, I sent a tweet to declare that I regret this choice."

In the short time since Trump took office, although the Wall Street index has hit record highs due to the expectation of tax cuts, there are also many other problems. Cabinet members resigned and changed because of various scandals, foreign policy signals were vague, and unfounded attacks on the media earned him the reputation of undermining freedom of speech. These injuries are inevitable.

Norman can't explain this perfectly. She said: "The ballot is not a love letter to me."

She said that in the past three months, she was attacked and hated more than she had heard in the past 15 years. What she strives for is communication and discussion without restricted areas. She said that the dialogue at Georgetown University could be held in such a peaceful atmosphere tonight, which made me see hope!

Different voices of Muslims

Also a Muslim, a former White House staff member saw Trump's prospects in the United States as much more pessimistic.

Rumana Ahmed, an immigrant from Bangladesh, came to the United States with her parents from 65438 to 0978. She has believed in the American dream since she was a child, and likes Disney, American football and community service. She is the only Muslim woman working in the West Wing of the White House who wears a headscarf. When President Obama left the White House, she chose to stay on the National Security Council and hoped to continue to serve the country.

"But I only lasted eight days."

Ahmed wrote in the Atlantic that when Obama was in office, the White House welcomed and tolerated her. After Trump's executive order was issued, people in the White House regarded her as a threat. She saw that the policy power of the White House was controlled by a few people, the travel ban led to a large number of Muslims being discriminated against at the airport, and advocated that the author of far-right articles who was hostile to Islam became a senior official of the White House.

Her boss, Michael Anton, wrote an article praising autocracy under a pseudonym, arguing that pluralism is the weakness of the United States and that Islam is incompatible with modern western ideas. It is dangerous to call the diversity of the United States a "weakness", Ahmed said. The phenomenon that people of different religions, races, genders and ages flock to the airport to protest against administrative orders just proves that diversity is a strength.

Dialogue after the break

Because there was no problem at the scene, I went to see Norman after the break. I introduced myself and did many news reports for the Wall Street Journal. She smiled kindly.

But I still asked my question: You said that one of the reasons why you voted for Trump was because Obama's health care plan increased the cost of living. So, which is more important, economic considerations or concerns about extreme religious ideology? If Obama's health care plan brought you a better life, would you make the same choice?

She said: This is a good question. After a pause, she said: ideology should still be the main reason.

I asked again: As an old reporter, what do you think of the White House's refusal to allow the media to participate in press conferences freely?

I think the media is becoming more and more biased now, she said.

This answer surprised me a little. I asked: Even if the media is really biased, can this be a reason for Trump to block their right to report?

She replied helplessly: it's just a small briefing, not a big press conference. Of course, Trump will give people more excuses to hate him.

She was not so confident when she said this. I asked in my mind: As an old journalist, if I jump out of the position of Trump voters, do you think it is only Trump's criticism to others, rather than causing substantial harm to freedom of speech and democracy? Shouldn't we strongly protest against this?

But out of respect for her and understanding of her as a public figure, I didn't ask questions, just shook hands with her in a friendly way.

I think she must have a lot of mental journey that I didn't know until now.

Another friend of hers said to me, "I didn't vote for Trump, but I understand why Norman did it."