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Article by Nida Ali, November 7, 2016<\/strong><\/p>\n And the reasons should be obvious.<\/p>\n The unconstitutional and illegal surveillance of the Muslim community by law enforcement and the anti-Islamic vitriol in this national election cycle has been motivating Muslim students to take a more active role this year. After Trump called for a \u201ctotal and complete shutdown\u201d on Muslim immigration, Muslim Americans became even more motivated.<\/p>\n The NYPD had undercover officers and informants spying on the Hunter campus in 2012, according to the Associated Press. Last week, U.S. Judge Charles Haight rejected a lawsuit settlement over the NYPD surveillance of Muslim Americans after the 9\/11 attacks. He also suggested changes to the agreement, in an effort to strengthen protections against future unwarranted police surveillance. Haight, wrote NYPD Confidential Columnist Leoanrd Levitt<\/a>, “doesn’t trust the department.” He also wrote, “Haight has distrusted the NYPD for more than a decade \u2013 ever since former Commissioner Ray Kelly and his spymaster David Cohen misled him into easing longtime strictures on the department.”<\/p>\n “I am constrained to conclude that the proposed role and powers of the civilian representative do not furnish sufficient protection from potential violations of the constitutional rights of those law-abiding Muslims and believers in Islam who live, move, and have their being in this city,” Haight wrote in his decision.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Nadia Amrani, 21, bit her nails and shifted around in her black jersey dress as she recounted a disturbing altercation. Amrani and her friend, Tanha Tabassum, another student, were talking as they walked outside of the Thomas Hunter Hall Building after a quick coffee run in the gray, wet weather one morning. They had covered their hair with tightly wrapped headscarves. Suddenly, an elderly man, white, standing outside the building, cursed them. “This is what it would be like with Trump as President,\u201d said Amrani as she crossed her legs and put one brown boot over the other as she sat on the ledge of the third-floor skywalk connecting the east and west buildings. Amrani also said that she will definitely vote, and she will vote for Hillary Clinton.<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s not Donald Trump\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Amrani, a psychology major, expressed her dread of a Trump presidency as she pulled out three small fliers from her red leather bag with the presidential candidates\u2019 faces on them. \u201cI would be scared if Trump won,\u201d Amrani said. She wasn\u2019t happy about her decision to vote for Clinton \u201cI don\u2019t want to take part in her terrible foreign policy that leads to the killing of many Muslims around the world, particularly her support of Israel and its security,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Noureen Ahmed, 22, a resident of Queens, pushed her large black frame glasses further back onto her black headscarf as she said she\u2019d be voting for \u201ceither Hillary or an independent party candidate. Trump is not an option.\u201d<\/p>\n Yet, Ahmed also expressed her reluctance to vote for Clinton. \u201cAs a Muslim,\u201d she said, as she shuffled her feet on the dusty black floor of the third-floor campus skywalk, \u201cI feel hesitant to vote for someone whose past foreign policies lead to multiple Muslim deaths around the world. Her support of American militarism in the Middle east is scary to me.\u201d She, however, made it clear that her parents want to vote for Clinton because \u201cshe supports Muslims at home.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Hunter campus is alive with political discourse.<\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n On the same dusty skywalk floor, Sarika Antora, a Hunter graduate psychology student, dipped a slice of cheese pizza in ranch dressing as she explained her support for Clinton. \u201cI\u2019ve been sure that I would vote for Hillary since before the primaries,\u201d she said, because \u201cshe\u2019s a great candidate with sound economic policies.\u201d Antora has majored in psychology and minored in human rights, and she is very concerned about domestic policies. She also said that Clinton would maintain the legacy of the Obama administration. \u201cWe\u2019re not going to be changing any time soon, and if we do, we won\u2019t change for the better because we aren\u2019t ready for change in terms of economic policies and foreign policies,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cHer foreign policy sucks but I don\u2019t think it\u2019s valid to call her out on it because Obama has been following it for years,\u201d she said. Regarding Donald Trump, she waved her hand and sneered, \u201cTrump is insane, and he\u2019s not going to bring us up in any policy. Nothing will improve.\u201d<\/p>\n Zoe de\u2019Oliveira, 23, a psychology major, who recently converted to Islam, said she would vote but that she didn\u2019t like Clinton or Trump. Wearing a denim button down and black leggings, she played around with a brown beaded necklace around her neck as she said, \u201cI\u2019m probably going to vote for Hillary.\u201d But she also said that Clinton may be \u201ca hidden Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n Millions of Muslim Americans have registered to vote. Muslim Americans voters may be influential in states with a large populations of registered Muslim Americans, according to a Washington Post article<\/a>.\u00a0 Florida\u2019s 170,000 Muslim Americans could very well be a critical factor in determining who carries this battleground state, according to a PBS news article.<\/a><\/p>\n But the opinions of Muslims unable to vote still reflect the common sentiment in the community. Adrian Flannigan, 23, a resident of Far Rockaway, Queens, a biology major who graduated in June, 2015, said, \u201cIf I could vote, I would opt out. I would not vote on principle.\u201d Flannigan, a convert from Jamaica, interviewed in the hallway where the Muslim Student Association Club is located, came to the United States at the age of 13. \u201cTrump is both incompetent and dangerous for Muslim-Americans,\u201d said Flannigan who is studying physical therapy. \u201cHe\u2019s ill-tempered and that\u2019s not conducive for a presidency.\u201d<\/p>\n His opinion on Clinton was not much better, although he did say that she was \u201ccapable\u201d but “her foreign policy is hawkish. She vehemently supports Israel which I view as aiding genocide and her foundation is a source of complaint amongst Haitians for exploitation of resources. I do not trust her positions on issues as she seems to fall back on her words often.\u201d<\/p>\n Iqra Rehman, an accounting and human rights major, immigrated 10 years ago from Pakistan and is not an American citizen. \u201cIf I could vote, I would vote for Hillary even though, I hate the lady and her views,” said Rehman, 20, sitting on a on the desk of the third floor student cafeteria. Rehman said she disliked Clinton\u2019s foreign policy. “She supported the war in Iraq, the genocide of many Iraqi and Afghani civilians. And she supports all the drone killings in Pakistan, Libya, Somalia, etcetera,\u201d said Rehman, who also said, \u201cShe has so much blood on her hands.”<\/p>\n Regarding Trump, she said, \u201cHis participation in this presidential race screams white, male privilege and has allowed a safe space for bigots to blatantly express their racism and hatred towards the minorities in the country. He\u2019s making Islamophobia worse with his anti-Islam rhetoric.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Nida Ali can be reached at Nida.Ali39@myhunter.cuny.edu<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Article by Nida Ali, November 7, 2016 And the reasons should be obvious. The unconstitutional and illegal surveillance of the Muslim community by law enforcement and the anti-Islamic vitriol in this national election cycle has been motivating Muslim students to…<\/p>\nNadia Amrani, Noureen Ahmed<\/h3>\n
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Sarika Antora, Iqra Rehman<\/h3>\n