Thousands filed into Civic Center park on Saturday, carrying signs written in Arabic and English with sayings like “Refugees welcome here” as they protested in solidarity with Muslims.
“Protect Our Muslim Neighbors” was a Facebook event created after President Trump’s travel ban was announced last weekend preventing citizens from predominantly Muslim Iran, Iraq, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, Libya and Sudan from entering the U.S.
Mohamed Mouadane, 44, immigrated from Morocco after the 9/11 attacks and was at the rally with his 7-year-old daughter, Heba Mouadane, and her friend Nour Bendhahnane, also 7. He held a sign written in Arabic and English that read, “My America includes: Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Atheist…” as he stood listening to various speakers. He said seeing all of the support was encouraging.
“It’s so great to see all the people out here speaking up and showing support,” he said. “This is America. This is my America.”
Mouadane said growing up in Morocco, he could not speak up about the government and he wants his daughter and other young people to understand their First Amendment rights and obligations to use their voice and share their opinions without being afraid.
There is a lot of fear in the Muslim community right now, Mouadane said, and he is more afraid now that he was right after 9/11. Hadi Abdulmatin, 45 and a member of the Islamic Center for North America and Muslims for Humanity, said many in the Muslim community are worried about what could come next.
“They do not know what the future holds,” he said. “We want the best for society and we always pray for the people where we live to bring peace and security and prosperity.”
Despite the fear within the community, Hossha Yasini, 17, said she feels hopeful.
“There is a lot more solidarity than there is hate, especially in the Denver and Colorado area so I am more hopeful than fearful because there are just so many people out here today who are supporting people like me,” she said.
Yasini said she has attended three previous protests. But for others, this was only their first or second time protesting.
Cindy Perry, 66, said she never felt her democracy was threatened until Trump was elected.
“Trump has been spewing hateful rhetoric and has elevated an entire culture of fear and has tried to divide our nation,” she said. “The Women’s March was the first time I was jolted out of my white privilege.”
Perry held a neon-colored sign with an American flag that read, “Remember never again! That time is now!!!” — referring to the Holocaust and the U.S. blocking Jewish immigrants.
Asha Abdulkadir, 25, was born in Somalia but raised in Kenya after her family fled their home, which is in the midst of an on-going civil war.
“We can’t let this happen. We’ve seen this before,” she said. “We said never again.”
Abdulkadir is a citizen who came to America 11 years ago and was at the protest with friends, including fellow Somali Ebyan Eriq, 29, who had escaped to Egypt for five years before coming to America in 2005.
Somalia is one of the seven countries included in the travel ban.
Both women stressed how vigorously refugees are vetted, noting that it’s not like refugees can just book a plane flight straight from Somalia. Instead, people relocate to refugee camps in neighboring countries, such as Kenya and Ethiopia, where they apply for refugee status.
“It was a long and brutal process but I feel like, at the end of the day, it was worth it,” Abdulkadir said. “This ban blocks opportunities to those refugees, opportunities that we had… This just opens the door to more bigotry if we allow this to happen,” Abdulkadir said, pointing out that a refugee has never carried out an attack on American soil.
Abdulkadir didn’t view the travel ban as a Muslim ban, saying that 1.7 billion people practice Islam. It also had little to do with terrorism threats as none has originated from the blocked countries. But those countries have some of the most refugees. Abdulkadir speculated that the ban was really a way to block refugees.