This week I began to read the book Zeitoun for my Lit. class. It is the account of a Muslim family during
and after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, and I highly recommended since it
is very well written. The reason I am
bringing this up in my reflection is that one of the themes of the book is
prejudice that American Muslims faced after 9/11 occurred. The more I am reading about it in the book,
the more I am appalled at how people treat this group in the fear that they are
all connected to either the Talibans or Al-Qaeda. For example, Kathy, Zeitoun’s wife, was
brought up a Christian and converted to Islam in her twenties. However, that created great attrition with
her family, which automatically assumed that it meant women’s oppression. Also, as Zeitoun owned a painting company,
sometimes the clients would look for another company as soon as they found out
that he was Syrian and Muslim. I couldn’t
help but think how degrading that must have been for Zeitoun and his family.
Everyone looking at you as if you committed a crime or are about to simply
because of the religion you practice, must be both scary and offensive. It made me realize that, though we like to
think that in the West we are “liberal” and embrace all cultures and religions,
prejudice and ignorance can still be widely encountered.
I totally agree. Despite the widespread idea we westerners have that western democratized nations are understanding and open-minded, we still haven't surpassed prejudice. I find it interesting many people think when women convert to Islam, or wear a hijab or burka , it means they're being oppressed. I think it's quite the contrary. To my best understanding, women decide to wear a hijab do so because it's a way to hide their beauty, oftentimes so people won't judge them for their looks but for their personality or intellect. As long as the choice is there, what's the harm?
ReplyDeleteI agree as well, Magda. For my college writing class I wrote a human interest article on anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States. For my article I interviewed a Muslim student on campus, and he was telling me how he has been repeatedly subject to strip searches and skepticism in U.S airports. It's not surprising the airports did this to him, but it doesn't negate the fact that there seems to be a rising "fear" of Islam in the West. And your right, if the U.S is seen as some democratic, liberal, and "accepting" nation, then why is this Islamophobia still prevalent here? I think pure ignorance is to blame for this. Most Muslims are not affiliated with Jihadist terrorist groups, but people will believe what they want to believe, and continue to stereotype the Muslim community as radical and violent people.
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