A Lesson from History: Why the Talk of Relocating Must Stop
In 1816, one of the first large-scale anti slavery efforts was launched. Contrary to common belief, this effort was not focused on abolition, but rather on relocation. The American Colonization Society, founded in 1816, worked to relocate free African Americans to Africa and the Caribbean. The most notable destination for these immigrants was in western Africa, where the American Colonization Society had obtained land in order to establish a colony. The colony was called Liberia -- Latin for “place of freedom”. Starting in 1822, free African Americans emigrated to Liberia to escape the horrid treatment they encountered in the U.S. during the 1800s. From 1822 to 1865, between 12,000 and 20,000 African Americans relocated in Liberia.
Despite the efforts of the American Colonization Society, slavery continued to grow in America at a steady rate. While a relatively small number of African Americans were relocated to Liberia the number of enslaved people in the U.S. increased unwaveringly and alarmingly, and the degradation of African Americans in the U.S. continued, unhindered. For those who did not relocate, they remained mired in a swamp of inhumanity.
We study history to learn from our past to better our future. History teaches us valuable lessons which we must apply to our world today. From the American Colonization Society, we learn that running changes nothing, and instead, allows for the problem to grow. African Americans involved in the relocation process were given two options: fight or run -- they chose the latter. In doing so, they left their own kin stranded, almost helplessly. For the African Americans who departed this country, they also left something that was theirs behind -- this country was just as much theirs as it was the white man’s. While that notion wasn’t necessarily apparent at the time, it was their job to stand together with their brothers and prove to White America that this was true. By running from the problem, they only advanced it for other African Americans. History teaches us that running never helps, but fighting -- civilly -- always does.
Today, we, as a Muslim community, face a similar plight: Donald Trump has created, in essence, a Muslim ban, thus further ostracizing the Muslim American population. Within the population, there have been echoes of relocating to other countries in order to escape the discrimination and the Islamophobia. However, there’s a huge problem with this idea, and we can see it and its effects in the American Colonization Society’s relocation efforts: our country is ours, and relocation deprives us of what is ours. To my fellow Muslim American, America is just as much yours as it is anyone else’s. If you run, you give conservatives what they want, and you lose what belongs to you. Now is the time when it is imperative to take action and to fight; there is no time for running.
America has always been a land that is known for its change, but change comes from action. Relocation will never initiate change. By emigrating and going elsewhere, we allow for the likes of Donald Trump, Steve Bannon, Michael Flynn, and the rest of the white supremacists to establish a White America. If we move away from this country, we allow for the establishment of white supremacy, and we leave the rest of the mistreated behind, creating a situation much alike to the situation in the 1800s. As we saw then, African Americans were abused in the most disgusting of possible manners. Those who ran didn’t challenge the status quo, but those who stayed and fought carved out a rightful place in society for African Americans. It is now our time, as a Muslim community, to stand together and fight in order to carve out our rightful place in American society. If we run, it will never happen. But if we fight, civilly, it will.
In the words of President Obama, “Yes, we can.”
