Making his voice heard. Olympian Mo Farah wrote an emotional post about how Donald Trump’s refugee ban will directly affect his family, sharing his words via Facebook on Sunday, January 29.
“On 1st January this year, Her Majesty The Queen made me a Knight of the Realm. On 27th January, President Donald Trump seems to have made me an alien,” the 33-year-old distance runner wrote. “I am a British citizen who has lived in America for the past six years — working hard, contributing to society, paying my taxes and bringing up our four children in the place they now call home. Now, me and many others like me are being told that we may not be welcome.”
Farah, who was born in Mogadishu, Somalia, now lives and works in Portland, Oregon, where he is highly involved with the Nike Oregon Project alongside other runners.
“It’s deeply troubling that I will have to tell my children that Daddy might not be able to come home — to explain why the President has introduced a policy that comes from a place of ignorance and prejudice,” he continued. “I was welcomed to Britain from Somalia at eight years old and given the chance to succeed and realize my dreams. I have been proud to represent my country, win medals for the British people and receive the greatest honor of a knighthood. My story is an example of what can happen when you follow policies of compassion and understanding, not hate and isolation.”
Farah is one of the world’s most recognized long-distance runners, and took Olympic gold for the 10,000 meter event at the 2012 London Olympics. He also made history at the 2016 Rio Olympics by winning both the 10,000 meter and the 5,000 meter gold medals, making him the second man in history to accomplish such a feat.
He married to Tania Nell and the couple have three children together — twin daughters Aisha and Amani, 4, and a son, Hussein, born in 2015. Farrah is also the stepfather to Nell’s daughter Rihanna from a previous relationship.
Farah’s story is just one of many that are circulating on the internet in the days following the president’s signing of an executive order to ban citizens from seven Muslim-majority nations on Friday, January 27. On Saturday, January 28, celebrities like Kal Penn, Michael Moore and Sophia Bush voiced their disgust at the so-called Muslim ban.
