U.S. Military Members Tell Frightened Muslim Girl, “I Will Protect You”

Earlier this month, Melissa Chance Yassini, a mom from Dallas, wrote a heartbreaking Facebook post about how Donald Trump's bigoted rhetoric about Muslims affected her young daughter Sofia. Yassini wrote, "Sad day in America when I have to comfort my 8 year old child who heard that someone with yellow hair named Trump wanted to kick all Muslims out of America. She had began collecting all her favorite things in a bag in case the army came to remove us from our homes. She checked the locks on the door 3-4 times. This is terrorism. No child in America deserves to feel that way." With a simple hashtag, members of the U.S. military have made it their mission to prove to Yassini and her daughter that they agree — children deserve to feel protected, not victimized. Upworthy reports that Yassini received a reply to her Facebook message from Army veteran Kerri Peek, who included a photo of herself in uniform and some reassuring words for Yassini's daughter: "Please show this picture of me to your daughter. Tell her I am a Mama too and as a soldier I will protect her from the bad guys." Peek went beyond offering her own reassurance. She reached out to other service members and asked them to help her support Sofia, introducing the hashtag #IWillProtectYou. Servicemen and -women have been using the hashtag to post their pictures and pledges to protect all Americans. Hopefully their support will prove to Sofia that there are many, many Americans who won't stand up for hate speech and won't let those in power bully those without power.