I attended the Beyond Burkas and Bombers discussion. We watched the Beyond Burkas and Bombers documentary which showed Muslim Americans talk about how their lives changed when 911 occurred. Life was never the same afterwards and many Americans grew an irrational hatred of an entire faith. Everything evil and bad was associated with anything Muslim or possibly related to being Muslim. Often Muslim Americans must answer the questions for a few individuals that committed these terrorist acts. It is important to understand that it is not the belief of these radical individuals nor just their religious beliefs that represent them, but them as individual human beings. After the film Dr. Sahar spoke and made it clear that we are all enemies of what
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One of the speakers mentioned that just the other day a man started angrily shouting Islamophobic comments at her, and that made her fear for her life. Another speaker mentioned that someone tried to run him and his family off the road. As a minority myself I always try to keep in mind not to make assumptions of others based on stereotypes. However, I had not realized how serious the discrimination against Muslim Americans still is. In order to move forward people cannot deny the problem is serious and requires equal level of seriousness and critiquing. I suppose after a while people become desensitized and it is easiest to turn a blind eye. So it is important to disrupt Islamophobia while it is happening. A possible way to do this is by starting a conversation with a Muslim person in order to deflect the attackers words. This will show the other person that not everyone thinks like them. It is important to remember that Muslims are not all the same, they are not monolithic, reducing Muslim Americans into one label is scary and says a lot of the individual making those generalizations. America claims to be the place of opportunities and freedom. However, it is detrimental to our society that we are not practicing what America claims to be. In order to improve as both a society and individuals, we must investigate and examine our own
One of the speakers mentioned that just the other day a man started angrily shouting Islamophobic comments at her, and that made her fear for her life. Another speaker mentioned that someone tried to run him and his family off the road. As a minority myself I always try to keep in mind not to make assumptions of others based on stereotypes. However, I had not realized how serious the discrimination against Muslim Americans still is. In order to move forward people cannot deny the problem is serious and requires equal level of seriousness and critiquing. I suppose after a while people become desensitized and it is easiest to turn a blind eye. So it is important to disrupt Islamophobia while it is happening. A possible way to do this is by starting a conversation with a Muslim person in order to deflect the attackers words. This will show the other person that not everyone thinks like them. It is important to remember that Muslims are not all the same, they are not monolithic, reducing Muslim Americans into one label is scary and says a lot of the individual making those generalizations. America claims to be the place of opportunities and freedom. However, it is detrimental to our society that we are not practicing what America claims to be. In order to improve as both a society and individuals, we must investigate and examine our own