NEW YORK - Nov. 21, 2016 - PRLog -- Despite my reservations, I feel compelled to respond to Sophie Theallet's open letter encouraging other designers to rebuke and essentially blacklist Melania Trump.
Although I respect that she is voicing her opinion, something just didn't sit right with me.
Passions are running high in the United States after a contentious Presidential Race that has cast even more light on national divisions and set countryman against countryman.
Like Ms Theallet, I am an immigrant. I was born in Iran and immigrated to Canada and then to the United States. Something about the current climate of division has eerily brought back a feeling I have not felt for a very long time: A feeling of subjugation of one's thoughts.
This unpleasant and all too familiar feeling doesn't come from an oppressive government. It stems from a unique paradox. That some of the most "open minded", "inclusive", and antiracist of us have become politically exclusive, closed minded, and cognitively intolerant.
By no means am I revealing my politics here, as I don't think it is relevant and I am not one to tell anyone else what to think. But I do believe that it is unfair to cast aspersions on a future first lady, who is also an immigrant, without even giving her a chance to do some good.
I, for one, could only dream of a chance to dress Michelle Obama, who I feel is an incredible role model who oozes grace with strength of character and genuine good will for the American people. Very little was known about Mrs. Obama before she arrived in Washington. But people from both sides of the political spectrum came to respect her. I think Melania Trump deserves the same chance.
Lastly, an incredible privilege we have as Americans is the freedom to dissent. But let's not debase that right with calls to boycott and to write off others who disagree.
Therein lies the paradox. Ms Theallet's letter espouses what she claims to reject, by branding another immigrant with bombastic adjectives designed to demonize and devalue.
I think it is high time we all take a collective deep breath and treat each other as countrymen, whether we agree with one another or not. Tolerance doesn't just apply to race, religion or creed. Tolerance of ideas is essential to freedom.
Arefeh Mansouri
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From one Fashion Designer to Another: A Designer's Reply To Sophie Theallet's Letter Regarding Melania Trump
November 21, 2016 at 12:39 PM EST
