A sign that Trump’s overbearing presence may be waning?
Good news: We may have reached Peak Trump. Don’t credit news and media outlets, who seem to love to give him airtime, whether they like him or not. This is happening person by person, American to American, through social media.
On December 8, Melissa Chance Yassini came home from work and discovered her 8-year-old daughter, Sofia, extremely upset. She had been watching the news with her grandmother, and there had been a report about Donald Trump wanting to ban Muslims from entering the United States and deport refugees.
Melissa Chance Yassini with daughter Sofia.
“She ran to me with a look of absolute fear on her face,” Yassini told Upworthy. “It was the first time that it really drove home to me that we’re in a dangerous place right now.”
Later that night, Yassini wrote about it on her Facebook page. “She checked the locks on the door 3-4 times. This is terrorism. No child in America deserves to feel that way.”
Then, social media took over. Responding to Yassini, Army veteran Kerri Peek asked her to tell her daughter, “I am a Mama too and as a soldier I will protect her from the bad guys.” Peek started #IWillProtectYou, and encouraged other veterans to respond. Andres Herrera, who took up the cause quickly, wrote on Facebook, “Let Muslim children know that we will not hurt them. That they are safe here in America.” Hundreds more responded.
“I have probably received close to 500 messages from various people in our military, from just people,” Yassini told Upworthy. “Christians, atheists, Jews, every walk of life, every stage, have reached out to Sofia and I with overwhelming support and love.”
Yassini’s story is a refreshing example of American citizenship and evidence of the intelligence and compassion of our military veterans—and the attitudes that can turn the tide toward a bigotry-free election.