The last few days have been hard on a lot of people–especially kids. It’s easy to overlook how kids take the news, because we often think they don’t fully understand what’s going on. However, this is not true. One little girl really, really does. Nine-year-old Sakeena Ahmed of Oak Brook, Illinois has been experiencing the side effects of Islamophobia lately, and is speaking out.
Afraid of what’s going to happen in the next four years because the election, Sakeena she bravely wrote a letter to Donald Trump, which her mother shared o Facebook.
Ahmed’s mother, Aamina, shared her daughter’s letter on Facebook and Twitter because she’s tired of her daughter being upset over people who feel they need to be afraid of Muslims–that they aren’t really American. She told the The Huffington Post:
“She was very upset at how he was making people feel about Muslims, asking me “why does he say Muslims are like this? Why doesn’t he find out more?” So I suggested that maybe she write a letter to him. Her eyes got wide and she asked if she really could write a letter to him. So I said, “Why not?”
Sakeena’s letter is heartbreaking, as she writes about feeling hated:
“Being Muslim is a little difficult. Imagine if everybody hated your religion. My mom wears a scarf around her head. I go to the store and people just look at me.
I mean, like, aren’t we all human? If that was you, wouldn’t that hurt your feelings? You said you want to make American great again. Can you show me?”
She then goes on to say:
“Don’t we all have the same plan? We all just want to live in peace and not war.
You are saying we are mean and cruel, but we are not! We are nice and giving! You are saying we are terrorists. We definitely don’t do anything that you say we do.”
Her questions are the questions we all need to be asking right now, of everyone. It breaks my heart that we live in a world where a little girl feels hatred spewed at her–and that she feels so powerless at such a young age.
Read More:
Coming to Terms with Medical Termination
‘Do You Have Any Kids Yet?’ is a Question I Hope to Stop Hearing Soon
My ‘Invisible Illness’ Makes Me Feel Different from Other Moms
