We believe that one of the most significant problems facing Americans today is the risk that our nation will regress to a time when we were divided, both legally and socially, based on race, religion, and ethnicity. These divisions have always existed in America, but in recent decades, it seemed those walls of division were breaking down. Old wounds were healing and diverse communities were joining together. That changed with resurgence of racial hatred and religious bigotry heralded by the Trump Administration. Like the monster in a horror movie, white supremacism never truly died, and now it has returned with a vengeance, catching our society while we were complacent. Defeating it, once and for all, is perhaps our greatest challenge.
By Ruwa RommanThursday August 30, 2018 07:29 AM EDT
Previously a development coordinator for Points of Light, a field coordinator for the Georgia Muslim Voter Project, and a marketing consultant with the National Center for Civil & Human Rights, Ruwa Romman is the director of communications at the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Georgia.
Ruwa Romman: We believe that one of the most significant problems facing Americans today is the risk that our nation will regress to a time when we were divided, both legally and socially, based on race, religion, and ethnicity. These divisions have always existed in America, but in recent decades, it seemed those walls of division were breaking down. Old wounds were healing and diverse communities were joining together. That changed with resurgence of racial hatred and religious bigotry heralded by the Trump Administration. Like the monster in a horror movie, white supremacism never truly died, and now it has returned with a vengeance, catching our society while we were complacent. Defeating it, once and for all, is perhaps our greatest challenge.
As for the biggest problem facing Atlanta: even though our city is relatively diverse and accepting, race was still the primary factor in the last mayoral election, and race plays a major role in the displacement of communities of color at the hands of development projects. As housing prices skyrocket, more and more communities are being destroyed and replaced. This is a tragedy because there is so much history in Atlanta, longtime residents of which have shared that history for generations.
Ruwa Romman: We need to make sure that businesses which receive approval for major development projects take into account the community members who already live in that area. There is no doubt that development is a necessary component of a thriving city, but that progress must not directly or indirectly displace entire communities. We must protect residents from sharply rising property taxes, and the city must spread the economic benefits of development projects. Granting businesses exorbitant tax breaks, and displacing communities for those business, is not a morally or financially sustainable model for the City of Atlanta.
Ruwa Romman: Protesting in the streets has been, and can be, an effective way to bring attention to an issue. However, protesting must be a means to an end, not an end in and of itself. One of the things that made the March for Our Lives, and the Women’s March before it, so successful is that organizers didn’t just protest. They registered people to vote, held town halls, and otherwise kept the momentum going after the protests ended. This is why we at CAIR Georgia do not simply protest injustice. We seek to roll it back by educating Georgia Muslims about their legal rights, and encouraging them to exercise those rights, whether in the court of law or the halls of the legislature. We know this work does not stop at protests.
Ruwa Romman: Like protesting, social media is a powerful tool for both positive and negative change. We have seen this not only in the United States, but overseas during the Arab Spring. Social media should serve as a jumping off point for activists to educate each other, rally support for causes, and debate issues in a frankly but friendly way. However, too much social media, or misused social media, can do the exact opposite. At its worst, social media distorts reality by creating an echo chamber, exacerbating conflict, and leading to groupthink. We need to leave our screens and talk to other people, especially people with different social, political, and religious views than our normal circle of Facebook friends. Activists must also resist the a false sense of accomplishment that social media can create, just as we must avoid doing good work for the sake of acquiring more likes and followers.
Ruwa Romman: As the only Muslim civil rights organization in Georgia, CAIR Georgia understands that we cannot only defend the rights of Georgia Muslims. Our rights are intertwined with the rights of our neighbors of various backgrounds. That’s why we work with a variety of civil rights groups, activists, and political organizations to learn about the struggles other communities face and, when possible, support their efforts.
Ruwa Romman: Talk to your neighbors, especially the ones who look different than you, or think differently than you do. Take the time to create small communities. Things as simple as a potluck can go a long way to increasing bonds between people. We at CAIR Georgia are inspired by the example of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), who taught that all of our neighbors have obligations over us, no matter their religion, race, or background. A person cannot be a believer, he said, if that person goes to bed full while his neighbor is hungry. Our country is going through a lot right now, and we need look out for one another. Doing so will, God willing, help roll back the tide of hate in the long term.
One of the most important problems facing Americans today is our loss of focus on living together as one nation. Because we are more divided in many ways, we are losing ground in the global landscape and will not be able to compete on a global scale if we don’t figure out how to work in accordance with one another.
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There are so many problems we’re facing, it’s overwhelming: systemic racism, sexism, ageism, inequity, homelessness, marginalization, immigration policy, school shootings/gun violence, sexual assault, human trafficking, climate change … this is an incomplete list, and I feel sick to my stomach thinking about it. Much of it stems from hatred and fear of “the other.” It feels like we’ve lost a basic sense of human decency.
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I want very badly to name the issues of poverty, wealth inequality, and class oppression, but all of these are intertwined with, and compounded by, the problem of race, difference, and grappling honestly with America’s history and identity. I have a metaphor for this process, it is a cracked egg with the yoke running long.
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Healthcare is a human right. That means ensuring that every person doesn’t just have access to health care, but has the ability to afford health care.
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Apathy towards injustice is toxic. We have become so entangled in conversational clouds on social media that we honestly feel that ‘shares’ and ‘likes’ are making a direct impact. This helps to a certain degree, but it does not solve the problems plaguing our nation today.
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The biggest problem facing Americans today is the stark difference between where we have made progress in this country under the Obama Administration and where the Trump Administration is going. With regards to the Trump Administration right now on immigration and voting rights, we believe they are moving in a direction against the values of most Americans.
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I believe that racial discord remains the most divisive issue facing Americans. It continues to suppress wages for all and promotes anger that leads to violence within the oppressed communities. Remove racist symbolism and implement long-term remedies to counter the long-term legacies of discrimination.
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Of all the global issues facing us, including biggies like climate change and nuclear war, what troubles me currently is the rise of fascism in governments around the world. This is what also troubles me about America. People are emboldened to openly discriminate and hate because our elected officials represent values of hate.
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The most important problem facing Americans today is partisan politics that removes empathy from the conversation toward compromise on the real issues that are affecting everyday Americans. Everything is viewed through the lens of tribal political division, when the solutions to most problems facing the nation can be solved through bipartisan collaboration.
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There are so many things that need to be fixed but somehow we need to stop the OTHER mentality. Trying to embrace difference — and understanding that our differences are what make us stronger — will lead to a better unity within our populations. We spend so much time hating and singling out those that are different. If we used that energy to come together we could make a better life for all of us.
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Atlanta and America have never participated in reparations for its genocide, land theft, and displacement of indigenous peoples, its kidnapping and enslavement of African peoples, or its destabilization, colonization and assassinations in other nations. So, in 2018, what we are still faced with is the displacement, incarceration, and murder of black and brown people in this city, this country, and this globe.
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The most important problem facing all of us is our increasing inability to work with and get along with those who don’t share our views. I know it’s a cliché, but “United we stand, divided we fall.”
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The most serious issue for all Americans is the very real risk of our democracy being taken away, which is happening on a daily basis. There are so many issues: racism, human rights, climate change denial, guns, income equality, lack of a universal heathcare system, police brutality, tearing refugee families apart and putting them in interment camps, our status in the world and how we interact with other nations, and a government party in charge that refuses to act in the best interest of the American people.
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The greatest problem facing USA citizens today, is how to become a global citizen without having an imperialist or colonial mentality. The greatest problem facing Atlanta today is how to move from the white and black mentality to become a multicultural city in action and not in words only.
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Greed. The only consistent measure of success is wealth. If you’re so good, so smart, so talented, why aren’t you rich? Why should anybody listen to you? You’re accomplished, but if you’re poor, you haven’t “succeeded.” Rich, therefore smart. Rich, therefore good. There’s a paucity of everything, so you’d better have dough. If you’re needy, it’s because that’s what you deserve. Loss of wealth is loss of power, loss of status.
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The most important problem is the denial of the problem. Most white people have been lulled into the myth of a “post-racial” America. Research on implicit bias and the persistence of numerous forms of institutional racism, including in the criminal justice system, demonstrate the reality of racism in 2018. A much greater threat than hate crimes and organized white supremacists is our inability to address core issues like white privilege and internalized white supremacy. We cannot progress until we have that honest reckoning. Atlanta paints itself as the city “too busy to hate,” but it’s been too busy to do the real work to begin to heal the very old wounds of its racist history.
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The most important problem facing Americans today is the pervasive ideology of white settler colonialism. By this I mean that we live with a way of thinking brought over to America that goes back as far as the English Reformation in the 16th century — the belief that God has ordained a select group of white people to claim land — regardless of who might already have been on it — as a God-given right.
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“The most important problem facing Americans today” is that we have so many problems that rotate in and out of first place that we cannot choose and therefore cannot answer the question. The second part of the question is easier (for me). Atlanta’s most important problem is a subset of a national problem.
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A decline in trust. We’re losing opportunities to get to know each other. We spend all kinds of time and money creating our own private, secluded spaces, both in the physical world and online, where we don’t have to encounter people who look or think differently than we do.
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The most urgent problem facing not just Atlanta, but all of humanity, is the fact the U.S. is now ruled by a fascist regime (Trump/Pence) set on reshaping society in a way that will be catastrophic for humanity and the planet.
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One of the most important problems facing America is the widening income inequality/economic mobility gap. For many, the “American Dream” is just that, a dream they will never realize. Many of the social and political challenges we are dealing with today stem from this problem.
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The list is long and it’s all really important. But most of the things on that list have a root cause, and I think it’s greed. People’s desire for power and wealth outweighs their humanity and their ability to see humanity in others.
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