Sixty-Five Authors Campaigned Against Donald Trump’s Immigration Ban


Sixty-five of the world’s leading artists and authors have jointly submitted a letter in which they have openly criticized President Donald Trump’s immigration ban.

Earlier this week, more than 60 of the most prominent names in literature have sent a joint letter with PEN America to President Donald Trump, urging him not to impose a newly revised immigration ban that would affect the ability of writers and other artists to travel to the United States for work and other work-related things.

The letter’s signatories, including Philip Roth (author of Goodbye, Columbus), Zadie Smith (author of White Teeth), Khaled Hosseini (author of The Kite Runner), Stephen Sondheim (winner of eight Tony Awards) and others, expressed as evidence their opposition to the previous Executive Order, which was signed by President Donald Trump on January 27, 2017.

Author Khaled Hosseini speaks at the Saturday Book and Author Luncheon. [Image by Brad Barket/Getty Images]

President Trump’s executive order was intended to ban the citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States for a period of 90 days and to all refugees for 120 days. In a statement released by the president, it is clear that the intended ban does not imply a ban on all the followers of Islam. Instead, in Trump’s own words, the immigration ban is not a Muslim-ban.

“There are over 40 different countries worldwide that are majority Muslim that are not affected by this order.”

PEN America’s own World Voices Festival of International Literature, scheduled for May 1-7 in New York, has yet to comment if the new immigration ban will affect the authors coming to America.

“Closing our doors to writers, artists, musicians, and intellectuals not only fails to make America safer but also creates a sort of cultural isolationism that will tear at our nation’s creative fabric,” said Suzanne Nossel, Executive Director of PEN America. “By implementing a blanket ban on visitors who have certain country names printed in their passports, President Trump would dam up the free flow of ideas, opinions, and beliefs that has distinguished the U.S. as a global center for innovation, and would instead fortify the fear and ignorance that characterize the darkest days in American history.”

Apart from the above-mentioned authors, even Stephen King has come forward and joined over 450 other writers in signing a petition that listed reasons why their group is against Donald Trump’s candidacy.

“The rise of a political candidate who deliberately appeals to the basest and most violent elements in society, who encourages aggression among his followers, shouts down opponents, intimidates dissenters, and denigrates women and minorities, demands, from each of us, an immediate and forceful response,” the petition reads.

Apart from the notable authors from around the world, there are several Hollywood personalities who have openly condemned Donald Trump’s immigration policies.

Most recently, three-time Academy Award-winning actress Meryl Streep took the opportunity to show her disdain towards Donald Trump. During her Golden Globes speech on January 8, the actress referred to Mr. Trump’s speech at a South Carolina rally back in 2015 when he waved his arms and made fun of a New York Times reporter Serge Kovaleski.

[Image by Christopher Polk/Getty Images for CDG]

“There was one performance this year that stunned me,” she said. “It sank its hooks in my heart. Not because it was good. It was that moment when the person asking to sit in the most respected seat in our country imitated a disabled reporter.”

“This instinct to humiliate when it’s modeled by someone in the public platform by someone powerful it filters down into everybody’s life,” she further added. “Disrespect invites disrespect. Violence incites violence.”

Apart from Streep, the Taxi Driver movie star, Robert De Niro has openly criticized Donald Trump. During the 22nd Sarajevo Film Festival on August 13, 2016, De Niro called the presidential candidate “nuts.”

“It’s crazy that people like Donald Trump… he shouldn’t even be where he is, so God help us,” he added.

[Featured Image by Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images]

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