For decades, political communication and mainstream media trained themselves to sound reasonable, disciplined, and safe. In the process, they hollowed out large portions of public language. When institutions consistently refuse to name what people are actually experiencing, they create a vacuum. Trump filled that vacuum not with truth, but with the feeling of honesty. And in moments of deep distrust, feeling can outweigh fact.

As Middle Easterners, we know all too well how the media weaponizes our peoples’ suffering as political rhetoric for government interest. Our grief is exploited for talking points or leveraged for foreign military intervention—or utter inaction in the face of a humanitarian crisis.

I came home from Vietnam to an America whose mainstream media said people like me—a US citizen, born, raised, and educated here—did not belong. I came home to stories of warrantless home invasions of US citizens and the labeling of peaceful protesters as domestic terrorists. During this divisive time in our country, who gets to decide who is an American? Who gets to shape culture?

There are always decisions to make when in a leadership role, and not all of them are obvious. For me, one of these decisions involved my joining the KALW Board last Fall. It was a full-circle moment.