KSU students, faculty share opinions, debate effects of Trump travel orders

Photo by Thomas Hartwell

KENNESAW, Ga. – Seven days after his inauguration, President Donald Trump signed an unprecedented executive order temporarily restricting, and in some cases altogether halting, travel from seven Muslim-majority countries into the U.S. Proponents of the order hailed it as a necessary security measure to prevent terror attacks on the U.S., while critics called it discriminatory and a blatant ban of travelers, visa-holders and refugees, based on religion.

In the days following the executive order, protesters took to streets, capitals and airport terminals in cities all around the country. But some of the most outspoken protesters were found on college campuses. In only three days, an online petition entitled “Academics Against Immigration Executive Order” amassed more than 7,000 signatures from U.S. academic faculty members, as reported by the U.S. News and World Report. The petition now has more than 43,000 total signatures.

President Trump’s initial executive order was struck down by a federal judge in Seattle, and the 9^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the ruling. The president has since amended his executive order and again been blocked by federal judges in Hawaii and Maryland.

While the legitimacy of the newest executive order remains under review, the protests and vocal disagreement with President Trump’s policies and rhetoric have continued on college campuses nationwide. Kajol Patel is a junior at Kennesaw State University and serves on the International Student Association’s executive board as the international festival coordinator. She says, whether the revised executive order is blocked or not, the attempted policy placement is not one of a welcoming country.

Students gather to work, eat lunch and chat in KSU’s Global Village, a hangout spot coordinated and

sponsored by the International Student Association. Photo by Thomas Hartwell

“You know the terms, like, ‘melting pot,’ ‘the salad bowl.’ The U.S. is made up of so many different types of people with different backgrounds,” said Patel. “So, I see (the ban) more as discrimination. It’s kind of grouping everyone – like just because you’re Muslim, you’re automatically considered a terrorist, or you’re bad or have bad intentions. It’s wrongly grouping people.”

KSU freshman, Brian Dickey, disagrees. The orders aren’t discrimination, he says. They’re security measures paramount to national security. Global terrorism is the issue in question, says Dickey, and there’s no solution without a decision.

“Terrorism is kind of a tricky egg to crack,” said Dickey. “But you’ve got to kind of identify the source, and I don’t think we’re going to get anywhere if we just kind of dance around it. I think we need to take some sort of hard action, and I think (the order is) a step in the right direction.”

He pauses, smiles and emphasizes, “I don’t know if it’s necessarily the right option, but I think it should be given a chance.”

Dickey is a self-proclaimed “die-hard Trump supporter,” and he is one of many who say the president isn’t given a fair chance to explain himself or prove his policies’ effectiveness. Dickey says the campaign rhetoric may have been shocking to a lot of people, but now is the time to judge by President Trump’s actions.

“I personally believe people are jumping to conclusions with (Trump) in office,” said Dickey. “People are not giving him a clear-minded chance. When it comes to politics, the truth is – in almost every case-scenario – no one’s ever just said, ‘You’re right,’ when they’re arguing politically. Especially when it comes to balancing relations – in terms of discrimination – and public safety, there’s a very gray, gray area.”

But Patel says, even ignoring the “gray area” of public safety versus discrimination, there’s a concern of a growing acceptance of a culture of discrimination, taught by the president’s words and actions.

“(Trump) is the face of America right now. He’s all over the news, he’s all over the place, and he’s preaching acceptance (of discrimination), and that’s all people are seeing on the news,” said Patel. “If that’s all they’re shown, then I guess that’s what people will believe is OK.”

The comments from both sides of the argument, says Dr. Joseph Bock, director of KSU’s School of Conflict Management, Peacebuilding and Development (program site), have often been blown out of proportion as a result of a very divided state of nation over this issue.

“There is a lot of fear in our society,” said Bock. “So this (debate) is a result in a politically charged environment.”

The U.S. and its citizens, regardless of what side of the debate people find themselves on, says Bock, are still the accepting country and people that they always have been.

“I do think people are standing up in solidarity with Muslims here in the US,” said Bock.

But what is most important in the debate is the mutual respect on both sides – a respect that Bock says is common at KSU.

“I think we have a diversity of views at KSU, and that is one reason it is a special place,” said Bock. “We are not ideological conformists. We respect the human dignity of everyone, provided they affirm the inherent dignity in others.”

Patel and Dickey also acknowledge the need for respect and understand that, especially with an issue like this one, sometimes people will just have to agree to disagree.

“I don’t think we’re going to get to a place where everyone’s happy, but as an American, I believe America comes first, before anything else.”

While she may not see eye to eye with Dickey, Patel says, while the issue of national security is, of course, important, so is being the “land of opportunity.” But, if nothing else, she says, there is one good thing that’s come from all of this:

“People are freely talking about (discrimination) now. People are really voicing their opinions,” said Patel. “And maybe it is because of the ban – where it was so shocking that people have a need to voice their opinion – but, in a lot of cases, people are expressing how important they think immigrants are.”

The Refugee Sewing Society

By THOMAS HARTWELL

CLARKSTON, Ga. -- The Refugee Sewing Society of Clarkston, Georgia operates as a place of belonging and socialization for refugee women first and a business for providing income to those families second, according to Director Lori Smith. The women who participate in the organization are able to socialize and acclimate to their new communities while supplementing their income and helping to provide for their families. What started years ago as one woman at the Clarkston International Bible Church has grown into a self-motivated group, 25-strong.

Clarkston, Georgia: A city of refugees

Two men chat outside of the ATL International Mall in Clarkston, Georgia. Photo by Thomas Hartwell

By THOMAS HARTWELL

CLARKSTON, Ga. – Twenty men packed in a tiny, dimly lit restaurant sit and eat listening, eyes locked on a wall-mounted television blaring crackling audio, to the results of Somalia’s heavily guarded elections in an airbase in Mogadishu. Without looking away from the television, they frantically nod or scowl and shake their heads at each other’s comments, chattering in varying dialects of Somali. The restaurant empties as the election coverage ends, and the group of men sit just outside, crowded around a small, round table, smoking cigarettes and talking politics in a mix of Somali and English, occasionally erupting into bouts of disagreement or laughter.

Abdi Issak and another Somali man, dressed in a baggy, olive drab cargo jacket and beanie, stand just outside the group of bickering men, observing and chatting. Issak, a man in his 60s, respectfully refers to the frail, slender man as “one of the town elders.” Down the sidewalk, men, women and children dressed in long robes, burqa and hijab wander through shops and stop in restaurants, greeting each person as they go. The stores that line the strip display gold jewelry and the deep purples and greens of silken clothing. The signs offer services: wire money, buy insurance, mend clothing, apply for citizenship.

Nearly half of Clarkston, Georgia’s 7,500 residents are refugees, and the ownership of virtually every business on Somali Plaza reflects its diversity. Photo by Thomas Hartwell

Somali Plaza, in Clarkston, Georgia, is a pocket of extreme diversity in an already diverse area of Atlanta. Here, virtually every business is owned by a refugee or descendant of a refugee, and this kind of community, contrary to what some Americans believe, says Issak, is what a city of hard-working citizens looks like.

“Some people, they look at us and they say, ‘Why (do) you take our tax money?’ But since 1993, I’ve never stopped a job. I’m working, I (don’t) get food stamps – maybe three months I got food stamps. The rest (of the time), I said, ‘No, I don’t need it,’” said Issak. “I work hard. I’m 64 years old – still I’m ready to work.”

Issak was born in Baidoa, Somalia, and lived there until the violence of the country’s civil war threatened his life. His work with the U.S. government and its diplomats at embassies early in his career made him a militant target, and in 1990, he was forced to flee his country, leaving his family behind. For six weeks, Issak walked through the African bush, dodging roads from the Somali capital of Mogadishu to the border of Kenya. There he met U.S. foreign workers who took him to the U.S. Embassy in Nyrobi. After nine months, he was able to arrange for his seven children to be sheltered in a refugee camp in Mombasa. Two years later when U.S. forces began lending aid to the war-torn regions of Somalia and Kenya, he and his family were granted their first interview by the U.S. refugee program. Issak was recruited to work with U.S. aid in Somalia for six months, after which, he, his seven children and his sister received a second interview. Months later, in July of 1993, they were granted refugee status in the United States, and settled in Clarkston. Issak and his family are all now citizens.

Since his arrival, Issak has been employed at apartment complexes, churches, various local companies and has worked odd jobs to support his family and send his children to school. Now, all seven of his children are college graduates, pending his youngest daughter’s graduation in May. Issak works as a field manager for The Glitter of Hope Foundation, a local nonprofit that partners with the Somali-American Community Center in Clarkston to assist refugees in their transition to life in a new country.

Abdi Issak (left), through The Glitter of Hope Foundation, gives a car to two Syrian brothers whose family arrived to Clarkston, Georgia in January. Photo by Thomas Hartwell

The community center’s executive director, Omar Shekhey, says Clarkston is full of stories like this and is a city of transcendent, community-wide acceptance and support. Shekhey and Issak, and their two respective organizations, work closely in their efforts to provide services like day care, English classes, mentoring programs and assistance with citizenship applications to incoming refugee families. The families who arrive in Clarkston often have stories of great strife, and when they come to the United States, says Shekhey, their priority is becoming productive and enthusiastic members of their new community. This priority, he says, has been the same for every refugee for decades.

“Refugees have been – always – survivors. They have worked so hard to get where they are today. They have (gone) through horrors. They have seen killings. They have seen suffering,” said Shekhey. “These are people who have survived through all kinds of terrible conditions. Being here is easy for them. They just go to and work and support their family.”

Omar Shekhey, executive director of Clarkston’s Somali-American Community Center. The center serves as a foundation for many refugee families newly settled in the area, providing economic, psychological and moral support. Photo by Thomas Hartwell

In 1980, President Jimmy Carter’s signature on the Refugee Act formalized a process of admitting refugees in humanitarian crisis into the U.S. and provided a system of aid in resettlement into specific communities across the country. Clarkston, says Mayor Ted Terry, was an efficient choice for Georgia. Clarkston has affordable housing, it’s walkable, there are two colleges in the city and public transit is easily accessible. But now, says Terry, not only is the city of Clarkston helping the refugees who settle there, but those refugees are breathing life back into the city.

 

“We have people from all over the world who are used to doing their business and gatherings outside,” said Terry. “So we have an $8 million streetscapes project that’s going to connect all sides of the city through 10-foot sidewalks and pocket parks and things like that. I think you’re going to see a lot more street culture that’s going to come back to life in Clarkston.”

Beyond the economic gain and positive recognition from around the nation, says Terry, Clarkston’s acceptance is representative of what it means for America to truly be a melting pot.

“(Clarkston is) known as the Ellis Island of the South. Many people’s first entry point and experience in America is here in Clarkston. It’s because of that that we have the 40 different nationalities and 60 different languages,” said Terry. “Here in Clarkston, you get to travel the world on a budget.”

This city’s acceptance of diversity and the practice of welcoming those in need, says Shekhey, is what makes it both representative of the American dream and representative of American immigrants.

“America is exceptional, why? Because America is brown, yellow, white and black. When we talk about exceptionalism in America, we talk about community – helping each other,” said Shekhey. “When we come here, everybody is thinking, ‘How can I improve my life? How can I contribute to this great nation? How can I be part of this country?’”

The World View, Episode 5: Brexit and the Potential Opportunities for Travel

In this episode, I discuss the repercussions and potential travel opportunities of the exit of Britain from the EU (also known as Brexit). Interviews with BBC Southeast reporter Natalie Graham, travel experts and soundbytes from the BBC SE financial podcast "Money Box."

https://soundcloud.com/user-484985836/brexit-and-the-potential-benefits-for-the-traveler 

The World View, Episode 4: President-elect Donald Trump

I talk to an international affairs expert about what the policy of a Trump administration will look like, and I talk to international students at Kennesaw State University about their opinion of Trump and his future as president.

https://soundcloud.com/user-484985836/president-donald-trump-and-the-new-us-direction

The World View, Episode 3: Information Security, Hacking and the 2016 Presidential Elections

In a digital age, information security online is a top priority for businesses, organizations and personal computers. Data security is of everyday concern, but in a presidential election season, there is the additional concern of security of voter data. In the wake of the Democratic National Committee hacks, believed to be carried out by cyber attacks from Russia, I talk with experts in Information Security, Elections and Foreign Affairs to address these issues.


https://soundcloud.com/user-484985836/russian-hacking-and-the-elections 

The World View, Episode 2: The People of the Syrian Refugee Crisis

I was lucky enough to have stories shared with me of struggles that virtually no American can understand -- struggles of a war-torn country. Syrian citizens are leaving their homes, their lives and their families in search of a better life. I take a look at what kind of challenges these people face and what they're after in the new communities that they join.

https://soundcloud.com/user-484985836/the-syrian-refugee-crisis