Talking Points: Muslim Americans Responding On Broadcast Today

• This is a very, very tough day for me as an American. It is hard for me as a Muslim [woman/Californian/parent/any other common identity]. It is hard to believe that my fellow citizens have voted for someone who seems to deny my human value. And it is a hard day for everyone who wanted to see our common values as Americans confirmed and divisive rhetoric repudiated. And frankly, it is a genuinely scary time.
• That said, I have faith America is going to come together as one nation, undivided. This nation is the strongest democracy in the world, and that is rooted in our constitutional right to the freedom of religion. We don't tell people how to pray and we don't ban people based on their faith. We are stronger when we stand united, and my most sincere hope is that the country can find its footing now that a president has been elected.
• I am not ready to call it quits or give up on my country. For every ugly act we saw in the last year, there were at least two that gave us hope about the fundamental decency of countless Americans. [Opportunity for an anecdote here - examples of people coming together].
• This is my country. I have no other home, I have no other place I want to live. I want my country to love me as much as I fiercely, unconditionally, love it. I want my fellow countrymen to view an assault on my rights as an assault on theirs, because an attack on me based on my faith alone is an attack on what makes us fundamentally American. 
• When Donald Trump delivered his acceptance speech, he promised to be a president that would represent all Americans. That includes people like me - people who should not have to fear for our safety because we wear a headscarf or because we pray at a mosque rather than a church or a temple. I hope that this great country I love will also embrace me and others like me when Donald Trump is president. I'm confident we can make that happen, but it will require work and real solidarity at a time when our nation seems irrevocably divided.
• Our nation is strongest when we stand united. Protecting religious minorities and defending the nation's freedom of religion isn't just the right thing to do. It makes us stronger. That is not who we are today. My hope is that the next 73 days will be spent healing the divides of this country across political lines, and creating a safe country for people like me to raise my children in.