They Are Kindergarten Girls.
I write this as a proud American with Somali heritage.
The United States raised me. I grew up there. I went to school there. I built my career there. I started paying taxes as a teenager, and even today, while living abroad, I still fulfill my obligations as an American citizen.
That is precisely why this hurts.
When I see Somali children—kindergarten girls, no less—become the subject of national political messaging simply because they are visibly Muslim, I don’t see a political victory. I see children being pulled into a debate they never chose.
Before anyone asks where I’m coming from, understand this: my criticism doesn’t come from a lack of patriotism.
It comes from the belief that America is at its best when it judges people by their actions, not by their ethnicity, their faith, or the headscarf of a five-year-old child.
That’s the America I grew up believing in.
And it’s the America I hope we never stop striving to be.
They aren’t politicians.
They aren’t activists.
They aren’t world leaders.
They are kindergarten children.
Little girls standing on a stage in graduation gowns, celebrating a milestone that every child deserves to enjoy.
The only thing that seemed to make them controversial is that many of them are wearing hijabs… And I guess that was enough for the President of the United States to amplify them to millions of people online.
As a Somali American, I couldn’t stop asking myself why.
Why are Somali children becoming political talking points?
Why are little girls wearing headscarves treated as though they represent some national threat?
You don’t have to agree with immigration policy.
You don’t have to agree with refugee policy.
You don’t even have to agree with multiculturalism.
But when kindergarten children become targets of political outrage, something has gone wrong.
What struck me most was the image itself.
Not because I saw danger.
But because I saw children.
Children who deserved to celebrate their graduation without becoming the center of a national political argument.
This also comes at a time when images of schoolchildren caught in war have horrified people across the world. Earlier this year, a girls’ school in Iran was destroyed during the conflict, killing large numbers of children, an event that remains the subject of investigation and international scrutiny.
Seeing Muslim schoolgirls become symbols—whether in war or in politics—should make all of us uncomfortable.
Children should never become political props.
Criticize governments.
Debate borders.
Argue over immigration.
Campaign however you want.
But leave kindergarten girls out of it!
Because once we stop seeing children as children, we’ve already lost something far more important than politics.
I honestly don’t know what else to say …