Hannah Schneider is a junior communications major and creative writing minor and writes 'Schneid Comments' for the Daily News. Her views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper. Write to Hannah at hmschneider@bsu.edu.
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I was in first grade when 9/11 occurred. For the last 14 years, I have wondered what it would have been like to experience it as an adult. I wondered, but did not wish.
On Nov. 13, I was given a taste. It was bitter. I lived in another country when it happened. I was asleep in my bed while my dad tearfully watched the news at 2 a.m. and called my mom, who was on a business trip to China. I do not remember the swirls of hate, fear, hurt that spun around in the world in the following days, weeks and months. Today, I see it.
A viral post from Nader Atassi on Facebook says, "Attacks like the ones tonight in Paris are committed to purposely trigger an Islamophobic backlash. That backlash is not an unintended consequence of such attacks, it is part of their logic. ISIS types want an Islamophobic backlash because it lends credence to their narrative that there is a war between the West and Islam. By strengthening and emboldening the xenophobic right-wing in Europe, they strengthen their own worldview as well. And the most tragic irony is that that backlash may target refugees who themselves had been fleeing ISIS's reign of terror.”
He is correct, and more than that, he has predicted the future of Mike Pence’s most recent announcement. Pence has announced that the state of Indiana will not receive Syrian refugees, and in saying that, he is giving terrorists what they want. Pence is becoming a purveyor of hate, and it is not the first time he has been one. I am all too reminded of how the Religious Freedom Act in the spring sent so many people into anger about who is representing us.
I have lived many places, but Indiana is slowly becoming the state in which I have lived the longest. Indiana is my home, and I have something I want to say to its leader.
Mike Pence, this is the second time in a year you have insulted my home. The attacks on Paris are a snapshot of what has been happening in Syria for years — they are victims of this hate and violence just like the victims of the Bataclan massacre and those that fell in front of restaurants — those that were slain in mid-sentence, mid-laugh, in the middle of living.
This is not just an opinion column today, it is a plea, a beg to the public, to anyone willing to read this on their phone for a few seconds. Responding to these events with Islamophobia, aggression towards helpless refugees or any sort of intolerance is giving ISIS and other terrorists exactly what they want. Please don’t do it. Do not let them win.
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