When Melissa Chance Yassini came home from work on Dec. 8, she found her daughter Sofia in tears.
Melissa Chance Yassini and her daughter Sofia. Photo by Melissa Chance Yassini/Facebook. Used with permission.
Sofia had been watching the news with her grandmother, when she heard about Donald Trump's call to deport refugees and ban Muslims from entering America.
"She ran to me with a look of absolute fear on her face," Melissa told Upworthy.
Sofia, who is 8 years old, was convinced that Trump wanted to kick her and her family, who are Muslim — and American citizens — out of the country.
"It was the first time that it really drove home to me that we’re in a dangerous place right now," Melissa said.
Melissa stayed up most of the night comforting and reassuring her daughter. Exhausted and frustrated, she posted about the experience on Facebook the next day.
The post caught the eye of Kerri Peek, an Army veteran from Colorado, who responded to Melissa a few days later.
"Salamalakum Melissa!" Peek wrote on Facebook. "Please show this picture of me to your daughter. Tell her I am a Mama too and as a soldier I will protect her from the bad guys."
Photo by Kerri Peek/Facebook. Used with permission.
Peek — who is Hispanic — told Upworthy that her heart broke reading Melissa's post, which reminded her of similar statements that have made her own family feel unwelcome.
"It bothered me all night. Stuck in my craw, so to speak," Peek said. "This rhetoric and fear, hate, and violence is not okay. It's not the United States that I would fight for. I was awake all night."
Peek started a hashtag — #IWillProtectYou — and encouraged her fellow vets to respond. The messages of support began pouring in.
"Calling all vets. I've been reading reports of kids being harassed and accosted because of their faith. This is UNAMERICAN. Now is the time to act," veteran Andres Herrera wrote on Facebook.
Andres Herrera. Used with permission.
"Let Muslim children know that we will not hurt them. That they are safe here in America. That we will protect innocents as we always have and by added benefit keeping our oaths to uphold and defend the Constitution," Herrera added.
"I am not Muslim," veteran David Bruce wrote on Facebook, "But when anyone says the Army that I served with will go on to remove Muslims from my country, they'll have to take me too."
Photo by David Bruce/Facebook. Used with permission (on the contingency that I mention Bruce said, "I thought photo filters would hide how messed up my gear looks. They didn't. Oh well.”)
"Sweet girl, I am no longer in the Navy, but know you are protected," veteran Sarah Cullen wrote. "#IWillProtectYou to the moon and back if necessary. Many hugs sent your way."
Photo by Sarah Cullen/Facebook. Used with permission.
"We are Muslim, an Army family, and we will protect you," Aneesah Hydar wrote on Facebook.
Photo by Aneesah Hydar/Facebook. Used with permission.
As the responses continue to come in, Peek remains blown away — but not surprised — by her fellow vets' willingness to stand up to bigotry.
"I have always been proud of my Battle Buddies (we are all comrades-at-arms)," Peek said. "But this is outstanding."
Melissa told Upworthy she is incredibly moved by the show of support for her daughter.
"I have probably received close to 500 messages from various people in our military, from just people," Melissa said.
"Christians, atheists, Jews, every walk of life, every stage, have reached out to Sofia and I with overwhelming support and love."
Most importantly, Sofia now knows there’s an army of her fellow Americans who have her back.
Peek's message came through loud and clear: No matter what Donald Trump says that makes Muslim-Americans feel unsafe and unwanted, there are men and women in America's armed forces who won't stand for it.
"I read each and every message to her," Melissa said. "And she now understands that we’re all part of a fabric which is America."
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The Principle of Least Interest: He who cares least about a relationship, controls it.
I teared up when I read this. While I actually kind of like Trump it hurt to read that his words scared this little girl. And I loved the responses from our military people.
When I was little, the Holocaust and the Japanese-American internment camps were not ancient history, they were recent realities.
Growing up I knew several people who had survived Hitler's death camps, they had their Nazi ID numbers tattooed on their forearms.
Sometimes people would say, "It can't happen here in America". But the underlying tone included "or can it?"
When I was her age the "or can it" was a real thing to consider.
I understand her fear.
Could Trump be elected??? Be afraid. Be very afraid.
If Trump gets elected, it will be the result of backlash of the idiot Obama. Every action has a consequence, and electing that moron to office TWICE will result in things you really don't like.
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LawyerLady
I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you.
A VERY disingenuous article. Trump has not suggested kicking any American citizens out of the country.
Heck, he hasn't even suggested kicking those non-citizens that are here LEGALLY out.
What he has said is that we should keep more Muslims from entering the country--and we should.
NO ONE on the globe has some unalienable right to enter the U.S. The U.S. has every right to set up whatever conditions it wants to for people to be able to enter. It would be beyond prudent to deny entry to those groups, nationalities, and citizens of those nations from which the vast majority of terrorists come from. It's obvious our current policies are wholly useless in preventing said terrorists from entering the country (see San Bernadino atrack and Boston Marathon bombing).
The fact that an eight year old girl doesn't understand the finer points of such political discourse is too bad--but then it's obvious that many adults don't, either.
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I'm not arguing, I'm just explaining why I'm right.
Well, I could agree with you--but then we'd both be wrong.
FREEDOM of religion. Take that away, and we are no longer America.
I don't understand the point you're making.
flan
Me, either. We have freedom of religion (despite how hard liberals are working to end it)--but that does not somehow apply To non-citizens Who are not in this country.
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I'm not arguing, I'm just explaining why I'm right.
Well, I could agree with you--but then we'd both be wrong.
When I was little, the Holocaust and the Japanese-American internment camps were not ancient history, they were recent realities.
Growing up I knew several people who had survived Hitler's death camps, they had their Nazi ID numbers tattooed on their forearms.
Sometimes people would say, "It can't happen here in America". But the underlying tone included "or can it?"
When I was her age the "or can it" was a real thing to consider.
I understand her fear.
Could Trump be elected??? Be afraid. Be very afraid.
You are a HUGE hypocrite. You were in favor of bombing these very people in another thread, and now you are critical of a POTENTIAL policy to keep,them from entering the U.S.
further, you would support Israelis VERY strict immigration policies, but want the U.S. to not do the one thing that would be most effective in keeping terrorists from entering our country.
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I'm not arguing, I'm just explaining why I'm right.
Well, I could agree with you--but then we'd both be wrong.
FREEDOM of religion. Take that away, and we are no longer America.
I don't understand the point you're making.
flan
Me, either. We have freedom of religion (despite how hard liberals are working to end it)--but that does not somehow apply To non-citizens Who are not in this country.
The little girl in the OP most certainly IS a U.S. citizen.
The first amendment does not say Freedom for Christianity, it says Freedom of religion. You cannot strip people of their citizenship and deport them based on their religion.
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LawyerLady
I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you.
FREEDOM of religion. Take that away, and we are no longer America.
I don't understand the point you're making.
flan
Me, either. We have freedom of religion (despite how hard liberals are working to end it)--but that does not somehow apply To non-citizens Who are not in this country.
The little girl in the OP most certainly IS a U.S. citizen.
The first amendment does not say Freedom for Christianity, it says Freedom of religion. You cannot strip people of their citizenship and deport them based on their religion.
????
Where do you get your nonsense. No one is talking about deporting citizens.
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I'm not arguing, I'm just explaining why I'm right.
Well, I could agree with you--but then we'd both be wrong.
FREEDOM of religion. Take that away, and we are no longer America.
I don't understand the point you're making.
flan
Me, either. We have freedom of religion (despite how hard liberals are working to end it)--but that does not somehow apply To non-citizens Who are not in this country.
The little girl in the OP most certainly IS a U.S. citizen.
The first amendment does not say Freedom for Christianity, it says Freedom of religion. You cannot strip people of their citizenship and deport them based on their religion.
????
Where do you get your nonsense. No one is talking about deporting citizens.
Do you people even read the OPs before you comment?
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LawyerLady
I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you.
FREEDOM of religion. Take that away, and we are no longer America.
I don't understand the point you're making.
flan
Me, either. We have freedom of religion (despite how hard liberals are working to end it)--but that does not somehow apply To non-citizens Who are not in this country.
The little girl in the OP most certainly IS a U.S. citizen.
The first amendment does not say Freedom for Christianity, it says Freedom of religion. You cannot strip people of their citizenship and deport them based on their religion.
????
Where do you get your nonsense. No one is talking about deporting citizens.
Do you people even read the OPs before you comment?
Yeah, I read it. My point stands. He has not mentioned deporting U.S. Citizens.
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I'm not arguing, I'm just explaining why I'm right.
Well, I could agree with you--but then we'd both be wrong.
Read the OP. The little girl was afraid of being deported.
So what? Shes a little kid who doesn't understand the relevant politics--pretty much like EVERY OTHER eight year old.
You asked where LL got her nonsense. From the OP. Try to keep up.
repeating nonsense does not somehow make it true.
since no one has suggested deporting citizens based on their religion, the freedom of religion comment is irrelevant.
People should not be afraid to practice their religion in this country,not for any reason. The constant railing against Muslims and fear mongering is un-American.
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LawyerLady
I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you.
Read the OP. The little girl was afraid of being deported.
So what? Shes a little kid who doesn't understand the relevant politics--pretty much like EVERY OTHER eight year old.
You asked where LL got her nonsense. From the OP. Try to keep up.
repeating nonsense does not somehow make it true.
since no one has suggested deporting citizens based on their religion, the freedom of religion comment is irrelevant.
She was actually discussing the OP. I'm not sure why you pretend otherwise. Also there has been lot's of talk about deporting "them" or rounding "them" up like the Japanese during WWII. You sure seem to want to just get rid of "them" all. For someone who claims to know history you must also know it has a habit of repeating itself.
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“Until I discovered cooking, I was never really interested in anything.” ― Julia Child ―
Read the OP. The little girl was afraid of being deported.
So what? Shes a little kid who doesn't understand the relevant politics--pretty much like EVERY OTHER eight year old.
You asked where LL got her nonsense. From the OP. Try to keep up.
repeating nonsense does not somehow make it true.
since no one has suggested deporting citizens based on their religion, the freedom of religion comment is irrelevant.
People should not be afraid to practice their religion in this country,not for any reason. The constant railing against Muslims and fear mongering is un-American.
Um, ok. That has nothing to do with what trump actually said, but whatever.
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I'm not arguing, I'm just explaining why I'm right.
Well, I could agree with you--but then we'd both be wrong.
However, if her family can't shield her from the news and explain the reasons behind the news reports, well, that's on them.
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A flock of flirting flamingos is pure, passionate, pink pandemonium-a frenetic flamingle-mangle-a discordant discotheque of delirious dancing, flamboyant feathers, and flamingo lingo.
The OP suggests a connection between what Donald trump has publicly stated and this girls fear. The only connection is by those who can't even be bothered to look at what he actually said and go off on some tangent about rounding people up, deporting citizens, and freedom of religion--NONE of which have anything to do with what he said.
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I'm not arguing, I'm just explaining why I'm right.
Well, I could agree with you--but then we'd both be wrong.
I bet a lot of that girls fear comes from the propaganda coming from her own family's mouths.
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A flock of flirting flamingos is pure, passionate, pink pandemonium-a frenetic flamingle-mangle-a discordant discotheque of delirious dancing, flamboyant feathers, and flamingo lingo.
The OP suggests a connection between what Donald trump has publicly stated and this girls fear. The only connection is by those who can't even be bothered to look at what he actually said and go off on some tangent about rounding people up, deporting citizens, and freedom of religion--NONE of which have anything to do with what he said.
But it is how the media is portraying what he said.
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LawyerLady
I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you.
The OP suggests a connection between what Donald trump has publicly stated and this girls fear. The only connection is by those who can't even be bothered to look at what he actually said and go off on some tangent about rounding people up, deporting citizens, and freedom of religion--NONE of which have anything to do with what he said.
But it is how the media is portraying what he said.
Sure, but that's not his fault which is what this article is trying to portray.
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I'm not arguing, I'm just explaining why I'm right.
Well, I could agree with you--but then we'd both be wrong.
The OP suggests a connection between what Donald trump has publicly stated and this girls fear. The only connection is by those who can't even be bothered to look at what he actually said and go off on some tangent about rounding people up, deporting citizens, and freedom of religion--NONE of which have anything to do with what he said.
But it is how the media is portraying what he said.
Sure, but that's not his fault which is what this article is trying to portray.
It is partially his fault b/c of the way he talks, he leaves himself wide open to interpretation. But the media is fear-mongering, and it is not right.
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LawyerLady
I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you.
The OP suggests a connection between what Donald trump has publicly stated and this girls fear. The only connection is by those who can't even be bothered to look at what he actually said and go off on some tangent about rounding people up, deporting citizens, and freedom of religion--NONE of which have anything to do with what he said.
But it is how the media is portraying what he said.
Sure, but that's not his fault which is what this article is trying to portray.
It is partially his fault b/c of the way he talks, he leaves himself wide open to interpretation. But the media is fear-mongering, and it is not right.
No it isn't. Not when there is a deliberate disconnect between what he actually said and what is being attributed to him. Heck, you are doing the same thing. So is Ed.
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I'm not arguing, I'm just explaining why I'm right.
Well, I could agree with you--but then we'd both be wrong.
The OP suggests a connection between what Donald trump has publicly stated and this girls fear. The only connection is by those who can't even be bothered to look at what he actually said and go off on some tangent about rounding people up, deporting citizens, and freedom of religion--NONE of which have anything to do with what he said.
But it is how the media is portraying what he said.
Sure, but that's not his fault which is what this article is trying to portray.
It is partially his fault b/c of the way he talks, he leaves himself wide open to interpretation. But the media is fear-mongering, and it is not right.
No it isn't. Not when there is a deliberate disconnect between what he actually said and what is being attributed to him. Heck, you are doing the same thing. So is Ed.
Yes, it is. They are trying to misinpret what he says to make people afraid - so they won't vote for him. Comprende? And Donald Trump feeds into it with the way he rants.
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LawyerLady
I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you.
Read the OP. The little girl was afraid of being deported.
So what? Shes a little kid who doesn't understand the relevant politics--pretty much like EVERY OTHER eight year old.
You asked where LL got her nonsense. From the OP. Try to keep up.
repeating nonsense does not somehow make it true.
since no one has suggested deporting citizens based on their religion, the freedom of religion comment is irrelevant.
People should not be afraid to practice their religion in this country,not for any reason. The constant railing against Muslims and fear mongering is un-American.
Read the OP. The little girl was afraid of being deported.
So what? Shes a little kid who doesn't understand the relevant politics--pretty much like EVERY OTHER eight year old.
You asked where LL got her nonsense. From the OP. Try to keep up.
repeating nonsense does not somehow make it true.
since no one has suggested deporting citizens based on their religion, the freedom of religion comment is irrelevant.
People should not be afraid to practice their religion in this country,not for any reason. The constant railing against Muslims and fear mongering is un-American.
Finally, we agree on something!
WE agree on more than this!
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LawyerLady
I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you.
The OP suggests a connection between what Donald trump has publicly stated and this girls fear. The only connection is by those who can't even be bothered to look at what he actually said and go off on some tangent about rounding people up, deporting citizens, and freedom of religion--NONE of which have anything to do with what he said.
But it is how the media is portraying what he said.
Sure, but that's not his fault which is what this article is trying to portray.
It is partially his fault b/c of the way he talks, he leaves himself wide open to interpretation. But the media is fear-mongering, and it is not right.
No it isn't. Not when there is a deliberate disconnect between what he actually said and what is being attributed to him. Heck, you are doing the same thing. So is Ed.
Yes, it is. They are trying to misinpret what he says to make people afraid - so they won't vote for him. Comprende? And Donald Trump feeds into it with the way he rants.
Yeah, so blame them and not trump.
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I'm not arguing, I'm just explaining why I'm right.
Well, I could agree with you--but then we'd both be wrong.
Personally, I find Trump to be a coward, plain and simple. He takes the most negative route for everything, and stirs up fear and anger and hate in his followers.
He would make a terrible president, plain and simple. We need someone to promote unity, not divide us further.
Read the OP. The little girl was afraid of being deported.
So what? Shes a little kid who doesn't understand the relevant politics--pretty much like EVERY OTHER eight year old.
So what? Eight-year-olds don't magically understand everything. She had a valid concern, imo.
flan
Her concern was not, in fact, valid. The fact that she didn't understand it doesn't make it valid, either. It's up to the parents to explain it, and this parent and those around her fed in to the medias blatant distortion and deliberate untruths.
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I'm not arguing, I'm just explaining why I'm right.
Well, I could agree with you--but then we'd both be wrong.
Personally, I find Trump to be a coward, plain and simple. He takes the most negative route for everything, and stirs up fear and anger and hate in his followers.
He would make a terrible president, plain and simple. We need someone to promote unity, not divide us further.
The EXACT same things could be said about Obama--and he has eight years of a track record to show it. You are enslaved to the medias deliberate distortion of the truth, as well.
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I'm not arguing, I'm just explaining why I'm right.
Well, I could agree with you--but then we'd both be wrong.
I bet a lot of that girls fear comes from the propaganda coming from her own family's mouths.
Statements, that you call "propaganda," which they learned from bullies like Trump.
flan
They didn't learn anything from trump. he has been on the political scene only a few months. You are ridiculous. neither you or Dona can come up with one valid criticism.
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I'm not arguing, I'm just explaining why I'm right.
Well, I could agree with you--but then we'd both be wrong.