From: Leila Janah <le...@lxmi.com> Hi there,
I've tried to avoid commenting too much on Trump's election to avoid demonizing Republicans and people in my network who support him. But at a certain point, policy transcends politics. No one can avoid speaking out against Trump now that he's made our country hostile to immigrants, refugees, and people of diverse faiths. President Trump's ill-conceived ban on refugees and immigrants from several majority-Muslim countries attacks the rights of legal US residents and heightens, rather than reduces, the risk of radical Islamic terrorism. The immigration ban pits America against our allies and lowers our standing in the world, making our companies less competitive (Google cofounder Sergey Brin went to SFO to stand with protestors) and destroying our reputation as a progressive business leader attracting the world's top talent. Halting the US refugee program puts tens of thousands of lives in needless peril. As it is, we admit far fewer refugees than much smaller countries, like Germany, Turkey, Lebanon, and Kenya. Refugees are not free-loaders seeking to cause trouble. Refugees are Holocaust and genocide survivors, victims of extreme religious and political persecution, and families broken by violence. We are a nation whose strength comes from our compassion and diversity, whose core philosophy welcomes the many waves of immigrants who have always made our country great. We are not Trump. We are not hate, bigotry, and persecution. It is our collective obligation to do whatever we can to ensure that religious diversity and our (relatively tiny) refugee program aren't sacrificed for the political purposes of an increasingly erratic leader. Hours after the #MuslimBan, a mosque was set on fire in Texas and thousands of people had flooded into US airports to protest the immigration ban. Is this "making America great again?" If you're as appalled as I am, take action now in two ways: 1. Donate to the ACLU (www.aclu.org) which funds legal campaigns to protect the fundamental rights Trump threatens. If you can't donate, follow the ACLU and share their content across your social networks. Entrepreneurs Tony Fadell and Chris Sacca have pledged to match donations up to $100K if you tweet them your receipts. 2. Subscribe to the New York Times and uphold solid reporting of these issues. President Trump has repeatedly bullied journalists and attacked the Times. Truth matters. We are all complicit in this if we don't take a stand. Let's fight for the America we believe in. Leila -- Liberationtech is public & archives are searchable on Google. Violations of list guidelines will get you moderated: https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech. Unsubscribe, change to digest, or change password by emailing moderator at compa...@stanford.edu.
