AFTER the terrorist attacks in Paris last month, a real estate mogul and television host with nature-defying hair used the moment to publicly muse about registration databases and even special identification cards for American Muslims. For the sake of efficiency, I created a card myself, listing my skin tone as \u201cCaramel Mocha,\u201d my ethnicity as \u201cBollywood\u201d and my religion as \u201cSunny-Side Sunni.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Monday afternoon, Donald J. Trump, that mogul turned leading Republican presidential candidate, said that this country should bar all Muslims from entry until we can \u201cunderstand this problem and the dangerous threat it poses.\u201d He used the horrific attack in San Bernardino, Calif., which claimed the lives of 14 and wounded 21, to cast suspicion on roughly 1.6 billion people worldwide.<\/p>\n
The proposal was so outlandish that at first I tweeted to ask if he actually said bar Muslims or muslin? As an American Muslim, I don\u2019t support either idea, but I can live without the latter. (Although I would miss the softness.)<\/p>\n
We live in absurd times with these absurd realities, but sadly, there is no laugh track.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the \u201cTrump Drill\u201d: Begin with an ominous warning such as, \u201cSomething really dangerous is going on,\u201d before launching into an insidious exercise of manipulating fear against minorities to cynically mobilize support. It\u2019s most effective after tragic events like the San Bernardino shootings, reportedly carried out by a radicalized couple, Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, who were sympathetic to the Islamic State.<\/p>\n
When I first heard the news of the attack, I also began a drill. The Muslim Drill. It\u2019s familiar to many minority communities. First, I pray for the victims and their families. Then, I start a different sort of prayer: \u201cOh, Allah, please don\u2019t let it be a Muslim. Just let it be some white dude.\u201d<\/p>\n
My prayer reflects no ill will or animosity against white people, but rather a realization that when a white male, say, kills three people at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado, the entire civilization, behavior and population of whatever constitutes \u201cwhiteness\u201d are not indicted and asked to engage in post-tragedy condemnathons.<\/p>\n
White Christians generally don\u2019t have to denounce violence in the name of their religion or hope their patriotic \u201cAmerican-ness\u201d isn\u2019t questioned by a nameless, skeptical jury.<\/p>\n
But that is exactly what American Muslims are expected to do after violent extremists they\u2019ve never met commit violent acts in cities they\u2019ve never visited.<\/p>\n
Even before the shooting was declared an act of terror, an American Muslim civil rights organization held a news conference to condemn the shooting on behalf of the \u201cAmerican Muslim community.\u201d Memo to Muslims and haters alike: There\u2019s no such thing as a monolithic Muslim community. American Muslims are among the most diverse religious communities in this country, who can\u2019t even decide on what day to celebrate Eid.<\/p>\n
Who can blame anyone, though, for pre-emptive condemnations when anti-Muslim bigotry is now mainstreamed? The F.B.I. reports that anti-Muslim hate crimes are about five times more common now than they were before 2001. However, that hasn\u2019t stopped some American Muslims from pledging more than $100,000, as of Tuesday evening, for the families of the San Bernardino victims.<\/p>\n
When Syed Farook was named as one of the San Bernardino shooters, a Muslim friend texted: \u201cDonald Trump loves this. If it is ISIS, it\u2019s like they want him elected so he can put us in camps,\u201d resigning himself to his inevitable internment. We joked that we could make money by making bean pies and hummus in the camps and selling them on the black market.<\/p>\n
It is dark and can seem callous, I know. But many American Muslims have learned to adopt a gallows humor since the attacks of Sept. 11. This doesn\u2019t minimize the tragedies \u2014 we, like all Americans, mourn for the victims and fear for our country \u2014 but rather allows a collective catharsis amid the anxiety.<\/p>\n
For example, after law enforcement officials confirmed that Mr. Farook\u2019s wife, the other shooting suspect, was a Pakistani citizen, I noticed that #Pakistani was trending on social media. I mused about creating a new \u201cPakistani Drill.\u201d I\u2019ll start telling people that I\u2019m a pre-partition Indian who is \u201cspiritual but not religious\u201d and loves \u201cSlumdog Millionaire.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course, general suspicion, manifested in calls for exclusion, is no laughing matter. An exasperated Arab-American friend asked on social media: \u201cCan someone please come up with a strategy we can get behind to put the brakes on this slide to the very ugly future on the horizon?\u201d<\/p>\n
An unlikely but welcome brake came from the former vice president Dick Cheney. In a radio interview, he said, \u201cThis whole notion that somehow we can just say no more Muslims, just ban a whole religion, goes against everything we stand for and believe in.\u201d<\/p>\n
I actually agree with Mr. Cheney\u2019s statement. Truly, we must be witnessing the apocalypse.<\/p>\n
Many Americans know there is a problem of violent extremism and mass shootings in our country. \u201cThe Trump Drill\u201d will not help us. We don\u2019t need a repeat of a shameful past that rationalized internment and bigotry in the name of security. We need a way to feel secure that celebrates our values: pluralism, liberties, diverse partnerships and the inevitable marriage of halal meat with corn tortillas. Maybe we can call this the \u201cAmerican Drill.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wajahat Ali, a writer and the author of the play \u201cThe Domestic Crusaders,\u201d is a journalist at Al Jazeera America.<\/p>\n
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