We join together to tell Donald Trump: #WeDoCare

Donald Trump, the leading Republican candidate for the White House, announced a “policy” to ban all Muslims from entering the United States if he is elected next year. And then the candidate doubled down on his anti-Muslim comments.

His proposals were “probably not politically correct”, the candidate said aboard an aircraft carrier. And then he said three more hurtful words: “I. Don’t. Care.”

Well, we do care. We reached out to a wide range of civil society members and also asked Guardian readers to reflect on Trump’s statements and his anti-Muslim policy.

Here’s a selection of what they said:

‘If I don’t hate Muslims, Trump doesn’t have a right to either’ – Sulome Anderson, journalist

My father, Terry Anderson, was kidnapped by radical Islamists in Lebanon three months before I was born in 1985. He was released after almost seven years, which is when I met him for the first time. My father’s captivity and resulting trauma affected him, and me, in ways Donald Trump can never understand.

As far as I know, Trump hasn’t had the experience of being blindfolded, chained in a basement and brutalized by Muslims for the better part of a decade. He wasn’t forced to spend his first seven years without a father, watching his parent grow thin and wasted in hostage videos made by Muslims. His childhood wasn’t stolen from him by Muslims; he wasn’t plagued by addiction and psychological problems for years as a result of what Muslims did to his family. His life wasn’t almost destroyed by Muslims.

So if I don’t hate Muslims, and neither does my father, why is he allowed to? If both of us realize that the violence committed by a small minority of extremists doesn’t define the existence of a large and diverse population, why can’t he? If my family doesn’t use our experience to propagate hatred and Islamophobia, why is he? Who is Donald Trump to vilify an entire religion when we don’t?

I care about Trump’s disgusting statements because I have many Muslim friends and family members. I don’t want to see them put into a database or barred from visiting my country. His words matter because they carry on a legacy of bigotry that includes the segregation of black people in the US and the abhorrent treatment of Jews in Nazi Germany.

History has not been kind to the leaders who took part in those hateful practices and it will not be kind to Donald Trump either. He’s constantly yelping about making America great again. What makes America great, Mr Trump, is that our country considers all people to be equal under the law and cherishes the values of democracy and tolerance. You’re not making our country great, you’re humiliating us in the eyes of all who hold those values dear. Your foul rhetoric preys on America’s worst characteristics, ignorance and fear and the United States is much greater without you.

‘Trump evokes the darkest chapters of religious and racial bigotry in America’s history’ – Margari Aziza, co-founder of MuslimARC

I am an African-American Muslim woman who converted to Islam 22 years ago. When my mother took a DNA test, a significant portion of her ancestry came from regions in Africa that are majority Muslim. Statistics show that many African slaves brought over on slave ships were likely Muslim. From the descendants of African slaves forcibly migrated, to Levantine traders arriving in the 19^th century, Muslims have always been a part of this country.

Muslim immigration increased following the Civil Rights Act, where our nation stopped racist laws that barred non-Europeans. Muslim Americans have been vital in this nation. As one of the most racially diverse religious communities, we have shown how people who are very different can work together.

I’m the only Muslim in my multi-ethnic, multi-faith family. My Christian mother has always supported my spiritual journey. Yesterday, my mother called me concerned about Trump’s call to ban Muslims. She asked: “Will this affect your friends?” She knew it would affect families, marriages and even family members seeking to visit each other. she knows how much my Arab, South-Asian, Black, East Asian, African and European Muslim friends love me. She said she supported my anti-racism activism because it brought people together and provided hope.

Trump is using his wealth and platform to fan the flame of fear, paranoia and bigotry. Even if he does not win public office, he is making it acceptable to express fascist views. His speech, and lack of accountability, evokes the darkest chapters of religious and racial bigotry in America’s history.

We care because no one running for the highest public office should ever advocate for violating our Constitutional rights. I care because, as a Black American Muslim, I am standing with the people that Trump hopes to oppress with his nightmarish vision of America.

‘Donald Trump is further mainstreaming anti-Muslim hate’ – Ali Gharib, journalist

Donald Trump might not care if people think his latest anti-Muslim outburst is offensive and dangerous, but we all should. The point we have arrived at – with the ugly face of anti-Muslim bigotry reaching the point where a frontrunner for a major party’s presidential nomination can spout this stuff – has been a long time coming.

And it’s not because of an uptick of Islamic terrorism; it’s because too few have done enough to nip these bigotries in the bud before they bloomed into today’s poisonous flowers. Trump’s ugly rhetoric only serves to further mainstream this kind of hate.

Backlash against Muslim Americans after the horrific recent terror attacks in Paris has already seen an “unprecedented” spike in anti-Muslim threats and acts in the US, according to a preliminary report from the Council on American Islamic Relations, and the list of these sorts of incidents is growing.

While Islamophobia has existed on the American fringes for a long time, having a mainstream political figure, such as a leading presidential contender, encouraging distrust and disdain for Muslims is bound to spread it further.

The danger of Trump’s proposed policies entail isn’t the policies themselves – these would face obstacles due to their costs, logistical feasibility and discord with the Constitution if anyone ever tried to implement them – it’s what they convey to a frightened American public susceptible to growing bigotry. And this is what we must guard ourselves against.

‘I don’t want to hold my faith and identity as a secret’ – Sarah Harvard, journalist

I was eight years old on September 11. I remember walking into my third grade classroom where my best friend pointed his finger at me in front of everyone and called me a terrorist. My teachers became mean. I remember one saying: “young Muslim kids want to kill other non-Muslim kids”.

The anti-Muslim hysteria was running high, and as a result, I remember the discussion our extended family had when we decided the need to legally change our names. I remember waiting in the big extravagant courtroom knowing we were going to leave behind centuries of rich history and legacy.

Immediately after, I was told to never ever defend Islam or speak about Islam. I was told to always defend America, because I was an American. For 12 years, I held my faith and identity as a secret. And for what? To continue to bear a last name that sounds a bit more “white-passing”?

To be eight years old and aware of the fact you’re not welcomed in your own country is traumatizing. From all the bullying and outright Islamophobia at such a young age, I was acutely aware I was considered sub-human compared to my peers. In result, I was robbed of my childhood, detached from my community and felt alone in a world where my sole existence was subject to dehumanization. I was a criminal. I was a fraud. I was one of “them”. That’s a lot to take in before hitting puberty.

When I heard Donald Trump calling for the ban of all Muslims, I couldn’t help but think about the many young Muslim girls and boys who will feel as if they’re forced to conceal something that is such a big part of their life. I don’t want them to waste over a decade of their life pretending to be someone they were not. I want them to be proud of themselves, their culture and their identity.

‘Trump heightens the danger of terrorist attacks in the United States’ – Aryeh Neier, president emeritus of the Open Society Foundation

Donald Trump has succeeded up to now by making ever more outrageous remarks. This has enabled him to stand out in a crowded field and capture the lion’s share of the attention among the Republican presidential candidates. It has also won him at least temporary support from a segment of the American public that is frustrated and angry that the country can no longer impose its will on others so readily as in the past.

Actually, the tradition that particular ethnic or religious groups should be excluded from the United States extends beyond concerns for national security. Nineteenth century nativists were intent on excluding Chinese and many also sought to limit immigration from Catholic countries in Europe.

At the time of the second world war, antisemitism played a major role in excluding those fleeing the Nazis and my family and I fleeing Germany in 1939 went to England because the British were generous in accepting refugees on the eve of the war while getting into the United States was hopeless. Trump himself first attracted major attention in the presidential race by playing on fears of immigration from Mexico.

In keeping with a long tradition in the United States, many of Trump’s supporters probably blame threats to security on those in their midst who they believe are conspiring with the country’s foreign enemies. Keeping out all Muslims may make good sense to them.

But Trump’s present proposal would greatly heighten the danger of terrorist attacks in the United States. To the extent that some Muslims in the United States may plan attacks, it is crucial that other Muslims should provide information to law enforcement officials to help prevent those attacks. Citizen cooperation with the police is urgently needed in reducing street crime and the same is likely to be the case in dealing with terrorist crime. Making Muslims think of themselves as a persecuted minority is hardly the way to elicit such cooperation.

‘Muslims have been denied privilege of being individualized’ – Dina Sayedahmed, student

To exist as a middle class woman of color who wears the hijab is not easy. While I do not intend to tuck my hijab away to protect myself from assault, I am afraid. It is terrifying to hear presidential candidates – especially Donald Trump – openly toss hateful words towards Muslims and accuse them of cheering on 9/11, despite there being no evidence of such claims and the fact that many innocent Muslims have died both on 9/11 and in the aftermath.

With the airwaves full of hateful rhetoric and accusations, we should all be mindful be that violent extremism is not exclusive to Muslim communities. It finds its way into every community, regardless of religion, race, and sex.

It baffles me that despite the number of massacres led by white men, the perpetrators were recognized as individuals, contrary to the Muslim experience. White men as a whole were never held responsible for condemning white terrorists’ actions nor was the white race accused of being a breeding place for extremism and violence.

Muslims and other minority groups have been denied the privilege of being individualized. Until attacks by groups like Daesh stop being attributed to an entire population, Muslims will never be safe from demonization.

‘Trump has brought white supremacy back into polite company’ – Haroon Moghul, commentator

Donald Trump has alienated so many demographics it seems impossible to imagine he has any path to victory. But it is not only the distant prospect of success that should worry us. With a fascist’s plaintive insistence that he is only speaking a truth the powers that be would rather not hear, that his politically incorrectness is merely genuineness, he has brought white supremacy back into polite company.

No matter how offensive his suggestion, now we have to debate it. We can ask seriously, “Can we really ban all Muslims from entering America?” Or joke nervously: “Does this mean Obama’s grandmother would be unwelcome?” But this hides what he has done. What was unthinkable becomes merely unreasonable, what was far right becomes center-right. He may have ruined the Republican brand, or imploded the coalition it depends on.

But the sentiments he stirs do not go easily away.

The first step to defeating radicalization is accepting that there is a problem with radicalism. Many Muslim communities woke up too late to this truth, and suffer for it. It is only in the past few months that many conservatives realize what they have created, and how little control they have over it. But perhaps they think it easier, safer, simpler, to surrender to it rather than challenge it. The plain truth of the matter is, with Donald Trump in charge, it doesn’t matter if he plans to keep people out.

No one will want to come in.