We need to talk about Donald Trump’s plans for Muslims.

As we enter a new political age in the United States, this essay is—I think—important. I wrote it for The Guardian, and I believe we have to be vigilant and active after this election. Here’s part of what I wrote:

There’s a rightwing fiction in the US that is frequently promoted by the likes of Fox News and that had a major impact on this election. The notion is that in our contemporary, multicultural age, salt-of-the-earth white Americans don’t get theirs while every minority and special interest group gets extra privileges. The idea cultivates a mood of bitterness and suspicion, even if it’s fundamentally untrue. Many Americans honestly believe that Muslims are getting special privileges that some accept will lead to the imposition of Sharia law in this country.

But this is ludicrous. Muslims don’t want special privileges. We just want to be treated the same way that everyone else is treated. Instead, we’re going to get special registration. Hardly a fair trade.

We need more than assurances from Trump that he’s thinking about the whole country when he invokes “everyone”. We need to know that equality under the law will be guaranteed under his administration. In fact, what we really need to be doing is proving to all Americans that everyone deserves to be treated equally while acknowledging all of our differences, and that that’s the kind of equality that makes for a better, stronger society.

But until that day comes, every one of us needs to be popping off while we can, because if we don’t, there may come a time when popping off is not just useless but illegal. Pop everywhere you can, whenever you can. Pop all afternoon and evening. Pop all day and night. Pop with friends and strangers. Pop till you drop, because nothing right now is more important. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Read the full essay here.