On June 16th, 2015, Donald Trump announced that he was running for president. This announcement brought mixed emotions to the American people. His supporters praised his outspoken personality and policies on immigration, while his critics condemned his politics and his intolerance.

As an Asian-American woman who comes from a family of hardworking immigrants, I was less than pleased to hear certain aspects of Mr. Trump’s stance on the immigration of both legal and illegal people. I was even more outraged when I read that he hinted to two reporters that he wanted to place all Muslim-Americans in a database of some sort. I was again disgusted when I watched a video of a Trump supporter also advocating for that database; she believes that Muslims should have no reason to object, assuming they’re law abiding and overall decent people. She also mentioned that “999 of them could be good people and it only takes one terrorist to blow this place up.”

This woman is correct in one thing she said; it does only take one terrorist “to blow this place up.” However, it only took two non-Muslim students in Columbine, CO to bring weapons to their school and kill 13 people in 1999. It only took one man, a former landscaper, to bring a gun to a historical black church in Charleston, SC and kill nine people in 2015. It only took one self-proclaimed Evangelical Christian man to bring a gun to a Planned Parenthood in Colorado Springs, CO and kill three people, including one police officer in 2015.

We know mass shootings occur. We know violent attacks on American soil happen on a regular basis. We know that some are carried out by non-Muslim American citizens. If we know all of these things, why do we not demand a database for them? Why don’t Americans gather together and lobby for a list of every high schooler in the United States of America, in fear of another Columbine? Why are we not enraged and pestering for a roster of every landscaper in this country to make sure nothing like what happened in Charleston happens again? Why are we not asking politicians for a database of every Evangelical Christian to prevent another Planned Parenthood shooting? 

Mr. Trump, I applaud you for being honest with what you want for this country. I applaud you for your success in the business world, for building an empire that has granted you great recognition and wealth. I applaud you and your right as an American to run for president. But, I feel as though you don’t understand your own campaign slogan. The latter cannot be achieved unless the former has.

So, how do we make America great again? Understand the meaning of the word equality.