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Kanyon King

Professor Simonsen

HUMA 1100

04 December 2017

Civic Engagement

I took it upon myself to learn more about my communitys stance on immigration,

refuges, and the racism that plays a large role in both. I think that we are at a point in time where

immigrants as well as refugees are at the forefront of politics and political debate. The Trump

administration is trying very hard to conserve the American way of life and, in doing so, are

leaving a lot of people out in the cold. Trump and his administration have this idea that we need

to preserve American culture, we need to protect the American people, and we need to

reestablish ourselves as the super power we once were. Travel bans have been established,

racism has grown towards those of middle-eastern descent, and fear of them has grown as well. I

think we are at a point where we are not only dealing with racism against African Americans, but

racism towards Muslims, Indians, Mexicans, and basically anyone that isnt a white Christian.

I spent several hours listening to talks about racism, about refugees, about immigrants,

and about Americans acceptance of foreign-born, culturally diverse human beings. I read reports

about Utahs stance on refugees and immigrants, as I wanted to know where my own home-town

stood on the topic. When I worked for Comcast installing cable, I interacted with many

immigrants and refugees; this was because Comcast has a program that allows poor households

with children to get an internet connection at a drastically reduced rate, for educational purposes.

I did not know the difference at the time, and did not ask, but it seems likely now that the
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majority of those that I interacted with were actually refugees. I say this because I have learned

in my research the difference between refugees and immigrants, a distinction that I feel most do

not understand, all they see is a middle-easterner or a Muslim or a Hispanic. Most people,

including myself, have racial biases, so to me most of these people that I met were from

somewhere in the middle-east, as I didnt actually get to know all of them. This problem worsens

when you consider racism and hostility; it is hard to tell an immigrant from a refugee, just as it is

hard to tell if someone is from India or Pakistan. A lot of people dont care, they just take what

they have seen in the media and apply the label terrorist to them.

It was surprising to learn that as of 2016 Utah had become home to over sixty thousand

refugees. This is very significant considering the fact that at least thirty United States governors

said they would not have refugees coming to their states. What is even more surprising is the fact

that we accept refugees, have given homes to quite a large number in fact, and we are a

Republican state. As far as immigrants go, many live in Utah, and many attend the colleges in

Utah like Utah Valley University and the University of Utah. With Trumps latest comments on

the DACA program, a program that allows young undocumented children the right to obtain

citizenship, many of these students held a protest in Salt Lake City just a few weeks ago. This

protest was to show the support of the DACA program and hopefully persuade government

figures in Utah to quickly find a replacement for it. Senator Orrin Hatch even tried to convince

Trump to keep the DACA program and is now working to help DACA recipients to gain a level

of legal status.

This whole situation really reminds me of the readings we had about Asian Americans

being detained because we feared them. We are dealing with the same type of persecution

towards Muslims and unfortunately anyone who resembles a Muslim is being caught in it as
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well. Trump is trying to completely shut out immigration from countries in the middle-east and a

whole lot of Americans are persecuting them because of the actions taken by a small group of

extremists. I think is important that we recognize everyone as human beings and try our hardest

not to judge them or treat them unfairly simply because of the actions taken by a small group that

share the same skin color or have similar beliefs. Plenty of Christian Americans have done awful

things, but we dont persecute all Christians. Plenty of Americans have done awful things, but

we dont treat our neighbors any differently because of it.

Being able to learn more about immigrants and refugees, reasons that foreign born

individuals come to America, and my home states stance on these matters was really

enlightening. It is nice to know, that despite being a Republican state, the majority of Utah still

values human life and tries to help others no matter their beliefs or differences. It was also

interesting to learn that several religious groups also do their best to help support refugees

including Muslims and Mormons. These groups help by donating furniture, teaching English,

and even teach them how to get jobs. I think that it is important to realize that these groups are

not in any way trying to convert the refugees. Growing up, it seemed like everywhere I went

there was an attempt to push me towards the Mormon religion. As I got older and started to

understand the premise and meaning of religion, the more I was able to realize that they werent

all concerned with taking over the world. I think this strongly relates to our readings about

religion, and the underlying purpose of all religions, which seems to involve being a more caring,

kinder, and thoughtful individual. One of the Mormon volunteers that was helping refugees

stated that she hoped that her efforts could help improve their beliefs about Mormons.
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Reflection on the Course

This course definitely helped me to understand certain things that I did have an interest

in, and it also helped me understand a little bit more about people who are fighting for rights.

After high school, I took some time off from school, and during this time, I think I made a lot of

revelations that were gone over in this class; things about religion, philosophy, equality and the

like. It makes me wonder if I would have accepted a lot of the information and content of the

course if I would have taken it right out of high school at a younger age. Certain things about

religion and philosophical views, seemed very strange when I first discovered them, and I wasnt

sure if everyone was aware and how everyone processed it if they were. Some of the things that

we discussed in this class also made me wonder how others were reacting to the information, as

some of my classmates were young and coming right from high school. I think that a lot of the

things we talked about would have been harder to digest for me earlier in my life. I do think that

this is an interesting and unique class, and I enjoy philosophy and was very interested in different

cultures and religions for a long time. It was nice to be able to learn more about different

religions, I feel like I have a much better understanding of them.

This course was bigger than just a math class or a biology class; it was like a broad view

of the world, the thinking and culture of other human beings, it felt relevant. I think a large part

of why I enjoyed it so much was because of the fact that I had already given a lot of thought to a

lot of the subjects that we talked about, and when I discussed some of it with friends and family,

it just didnt seem to make sense to most of them. It was interesting to take part in a course that

was able to reinforce or broaden my knowledge on things that I had already sort of thought about

and gone through on my own. I think this is a class that everyone should take because it is
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information that helps you to relate to other people and understand different peoples ways of

thinking.