One circus closes down after 146 years; another, more sinister, is spawned to take its place.
The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus will perform one last time in Uniondale, N.Y. on May 21, and that’s it. The Greatest Show on Earth is no more.
No matter, because it has been replaced by the Craziest Show on Earth, featuring the world’s foremost Scary Clown, Donald Trump.
And the Trump show is already playing right here on the North Shore, as with a flourish of his pen, the Wizard of Trump Tower has turned an entire North Shore community into second-class citizens.
Trump’s ban on access to the United States is a direct hit on the thousands of Iranian citizens and dual citizens who live on the North Shore; it also affects those from Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Yemen and Libya.
This, um, initiative is allegedly aimed at terrorists, but it is interesting to note that since 2001, these nations have produced seven per cent of all terrorists attacks, responsible for zero deaths.
You could argue (as many have) that the ban is clearly directed at Muslims, as all of these countries are predominantly Muslim. So you don’t have to carry a passport from one of the seven to feel targeted and diminished.
Not long ago, I wrote a column about Weaving Our Humanity, a show held at Presentation House last November. It was a brave little thing, bringing together immigrants new and not so new, to tell their stories in words and music, and it was wonderful.
The woman who produced it, Meharoona Ghani, is the manager, community connections and diversity at the North Shore Multicultural Society. She is also a Muslimah, a Muslim woman.
When we talked in November, Meharoona irrepressibly promoted the positive virtues of Weaving Our Humanity as a safe, warm inviting space where we can share our common humanity.
When we talked this week, that positive outlook was still firmly in place, but the foundations were rocking a bit. The task of the North Shore Multicultural Society is immigrant settlement and diversity training – it’s ground zero this week for the full impact of the Trump Circus – and that means freaked-out people are counting on Meharoona and her colleagues for strength and guidance.
“I’m focused on being strong and positive,” Meharoona told me. “Don’t feed the fear. Remain pro-active. That’s what being human is all about.”
Meharoona admits her attitude is an act of will. She guards against “going down the rabbit hole” as she calls it. She shut down a week ago, turned off the cable, turned away from the media because it was all so scary and sad that she was “teetering on the place of wanting to cry.” Pause. “And I did cry.”
Instantly she rallied. “But I’m not going to be intimidated. Racism is not new. It’s always under the surface. What is new is that a person in power has given permission to the old racists, and that is scary.”
As I write, Meharoona is thinking about a North Shore town hall to “bring everyone together.” Weaving Our Humanity writ large. The end result? Not quite sure, but bringing people back together is a start. And don’t leave it up to someone else. Everyone has a part to play.
“The business community!” she exclaims. “Trump is a businessman. The business community has to take a stand and say: ‘We’re not good with this!’ They need to shake his bottom line.”
Meanwhile, as she and her colleagues at the North Shore Multicultural Centre are contemplating the grand gesture, a single-finger salute to the Craziest Show on Earth, Meharoona has opened up a smaller, more intimate space for co-workers at the agency.
“I’m telling people I’m just having lunch. I’m not facilitating or anything, but people can come and eat lunch too – and if they want to talk about how they are feeling there will be someone there to listen.”
With Meharoona, I constantly get this image of a candle in the rain: warm and brave, the sort of light people feel inclined to huddle around.
In the wake of the events of the past week, it must be easy for those directly affected by the Trump ban on Muslims to feel as if the candle has gone out; there is no warmth, no light.
Lady Liberty shines a beacon no more – at least for more than 200 million people for the next 90 days. Its cruellest blow is to Syrian refugees, who desperately need a safe harbour. There are thousands of stories – people barred from their homes, families estranged, individuals persecuted by enthusiastic persecutors.
It must be easy to feel alone. Yet Meharoona’s message to the community is simple: “You are not alone.”
It’s up to all of us to make it so.
Journalist and communications consultant Paul Sullivan has been a North Vancouver resident since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the rise of Madonna. [email protected]
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