Guest commentary by Sam E. McGregor Jr.
“Dad, I want to go to the Donald Trump rally. Will you get us tickets?” When my 14-year-old son asked me this question, I had to ask for clarification. “Son, don’t you know the kinds of things he has been saying?” My response was an attempt to intimidate him to relinquish this idea. “I know. But I want to hear him.” Justifying this as an educational opportunity for my son, I then went online to the website provided to request the free tickets for the event coming to our modest sized community of Rock Hill, South Carolina.
You may know what happened at this event. Rose Hamid, a Muslim woman from Charlotte, attended the event as well. She wore a shirt that read, “Salam, I come in peace.” She sat behind the presidential candidate and was eventually forced to leave for standing in silent protest.
Before the event began, we were instructed that if people started to protest we were to chant “Trump, Trump, Trump.” My son was not in the Winthrop Coliseum for these instructions. He was in line at the concession stand with his Cuban-American female friend. She appeared to be one of the handful of people of Hispanic origin in the building. My son and his friend got to the front of the concession line and realized they did not have enough money to buy the food they wanted. A nice couple behind them covered their outstanding balance for overpriced nachos and cheese.
When my son returned he said, “Dad, you said there would be mean people here. Everyone has been very nice to me.” I realized at that point that I too was stereotyping people based on my own preconceived ideas and my son was watching me. “There are nice people here,” I responded. I had feared that this Trump rally would be like the David Duke (former KKK leader) anti-immigrant rally that I once attended in North Carolina many years before. At the Duke rally, our small community had to endure Neo-Nazi skinheads coming into our blue-collar town.
At this Trump rally we saw my son’s 2nd grade teacher. We saw a couple of people that used to attend our church, including a woman that I had once laid hands on and anointed in a service of healing for her brain cancer. We saw my son’s friend and his dad who had reached out to a family of illegal immigrants and brought them into their home when they spoke no English. The crowd of Trump supporters at this rally consisted of many people who seek to live out their Christian faith every day.
When the first protestor stood up and shouted and as Ms. Hamid stood in silent protest, the crowd moved from a place of generosity to one of hostility. Many folks present would reflect on this event and say, “She wanted to stir things up,” or “She shouldn’t have been there,” or “The liberal media misrepresented what happened.” I know what I felt at the time. As the crowd chanted I became nervous. I could feel the intense anger rising. I felt at the time that this division and hostility was not God’s intention for the way human beings should treat one another. I had a sense that this was not the Holy Spirit at work.
Five miles from my church sits Holy Islamville. Some who know nothing about this 30-acre property call it a terrorist training camp. I know it as the place where Sayeed and Fatimah live with their children and where Umar comes to worship. Over the past few years I have been involved in building relationships with people who live there. We have been attempting to break down barriers. Across York County in South Carolina, we conduct events and workshops to help Christians and Muslims learn more about one another.
It is not easy to cross boundaries with people who dress differently than I do and who practice a different religion. As I have sought to do this work, my inbox and Facebook messages have sometimes been pretty hostile from some as well as affirming from others. I recently appeared before our county council to remind them that Jesus was a Middle Eastern refugee, yet the council voted to pass a resolution stating their opposition to Syrian refugees from settling in our area.
I know what it is like to sit at table with my Muslim friends and talk about raising children and I know what it is like to sit in a rally where the crowd screams and pushes the outsider out the door. Only one of these two places gives me spiritual nourishment. Only in one of these two places do I have a sense that the Holy Spirit is at work doing a new thing.
SAM E. McGREGOR JR. is pastor of the Allison Creek Presbyterian Church in York, South Carolina. He is married to Kathryn and is a father to three. He was recently recognized by the local NAACP chapter and residents of Holy Islamville for his efforts to promote peaceful co-existence in York County.
