Bakampa Brian
Baryaguma
On Tuesday, November 8, 2016, Americans
elected Mr. Donald J. Trump, the 45th President of the United States
of America. The presidency of the United States is the most important job in
the world, due to America’s global dominance in virtually all spheres –
economic, socio-cultural, military, political, etc. Mr. Trump was sworn in, and
inaugurated as President, on 20 January 2017.
President Trump
literally hit the road running, making bold and controversial decisions, and
pronouncements. His most far-reaching, and widely reacted to decision is the
Executive Order, slapping a three months suspension on movement into the United
States of people from seven Muslim-majority countries namely, Iran, Iraq,
Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya, and Yemen. The President explained that this was
to give US authorities ample time to tighten border control measures, so as to prevent
dangerous people from entering the United States.
The decision,
coming soon after Inauguration Day, was sudden, unexpected, shocking, and quite
disruptive to many people. Several were detained at airports across the US, and
many more around the world were either denied visas to the US, or simply had
their American visas cancelled. But the Order was later nullified, and set
aside by US courts, although President Trump has vowed to reinstate it, and
have it prevail. We wait to see how he will do so.
President
Trump’s Executive Order faced, and received widespread criticism, and condemnation
from people, both within and outside America. I am more concerned with the reactions
of non-Americans. Suffice to say that for most contemptuous Americans, their negative
reaction is just an overflow of their anger, and hostility towards Mr. Trump,
accumulated during the campaigns, and their eventual loss in the polls, since
most of them supported Mrs. Hillary Clinton for president. For them, this is
just another golden opportunity to publicly humiliate the man they hate with a
passion.
For the rest of
us, non-Americans, Mr. Trump’s nationalist, exclusionary, and somewhat
isolationist policies and rhetoric, are a wake-up call; a notification –
perhaps a reminder – that things cannot, and will not remain the same anymore.
For so long, America has played a godfather role in the world, so much so that
a sense of expectation has been created among people of other nations that the
United States will always be there for them especially, during difficult times,
no matter what. Today, any talk or act, contrary to this expectation, unnecessarily
sends chills down people’s spines.
But it is important
to understand that under President Trump’s administration (and I dare say
henceforth after him), America will not be a guaranteed place of refuge
anymore. Therefore, countries and their citizens are challenged to sort out
their own issues and problems, instead of either running to, or surrendering
them to America for resolving. Much as the United States is a migrant nation,
it should be appreciated that it cannot, strictly speaking, continue being as
such, compelled and obliged to accept foreigners as of right. Like everything
else, this too must come to an end, so that the American society settles, with
known membership, and well laid out procedures of acquiring citizenship. And concerning
allegations that President Trump hates Muslims, I don’t think he does. Rather,
his comments are a calling upon Muslims to revisit their religion, and eliminate
merchants of evil, operating behind the banner of Islam. Of all religions in
the world, why should it be Islam on the spot, for the wrong reasons? Something, somewhere, isn’t right, and should
be rectified.
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