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Islamic Racial Profiling in America

By Ryan McCrerey


Over the span of the last fourteen years ever
since 9/11, Islamic Racial Profiling has become more
prevalent throughout the world amongst social and
professional circles. Whether it be airport security, law
enforcement, or people at a park, in todays age most
Muslims are singled out and often correlated or compared to terrorists. The Islamic community is often
under scrutiny for their religious practices and beliefs
and under this social setting, this represents prejudice
in the fullest sense.
Apart from the media aspect of Islamic racial profiling,
I had the pleasure of interviewing two American Muslims, a father and daughter, to give a firsthand view on
racial profiling.
Ryan (Ry): What experiences have you had (if any)
regarding prejudice or racial profiling?
Bina (B): In middle school I would be asked what my
religion was. I always said that I did not know because
my mother is Christian and father was Muslim. When
I said my father was Muslim my friends would gasp
and ask if he was a terrorist or a brutal man. That was
never the case; my father is a smart and understanding
man who would never wish pain upon others. From
then on people would treat me differently. If my bag
was too big, theyd make jokes about a bomb being in
there when I really had a hoodie stuffed in it. It was
very disappointing to see my fellow classmates act this
way.
Rachid (Ra): I was accused at work of wrong doing
without any proof of it, I believe it was due to racial
profiling.
Ry: What do you think is the reason that certain people hold negative views regarding Muslims?
B: The reason is social media. If you look at TV shows,
the terrorist is always presented Muslim. Muslim
women that cover their heads are not seen in beauty
magazines, tv shows, or news. Also 9/11 really affected
the way Muslims were viewed because the news emphasized that it was done by Muslims and thats how
Muslims were identified to be terrorists.

Ra: One of the reason is the media, TV show, and the


news show and talk only about the bad people that
identify as Muslims. We need to hear and understand
the other billion Muslims, and listen to the truth about
what its like to be a real Muslim.
Ry: What do you think should be done about this?
B: I think that we should be viewed with positivity.
The news should focus on the Muslim women that are
doing well in society and TV shows should stop representing Muslims as the terrorists. Also I think people
should get to know Muslims before they make prejudice comments.
Ra: I believe that we should look at how Muslims really
are, and not for what theyre taken or seen as on social
media.
Ry: What effects have racial profiling/prejudice had on
your life? (If any)
B: Honestly it makes me want to do better and just be
myself. Everyone can assume Muslims to be terrorists
or brutal people, but I know who I am and I am an
American citizen and my religion does not affect it at
all.
Ra: Its had a positive effect because it makes me want
to work harder at behaving in such a way that I am not
a representative of the negativity of my racial background.
We can see that in America there are racial issues
amongst Muslims that are very prevalent, but whats
most interesting is the humbling effect it has had on
Islamic people.

Changing Stereotypes
By Courtney Adkins


Ever since I can remember, there has been a
negative connotation that goes along with the word
Muslim or Arab in the Western World. Whether the
bad taste in ones mouth about Arabs/Muslims is due
to a specific occurrence which happened to involve a
Muslim or person of Arab descent, its safe to say that
most people in the Western World tend to group Muslims/Arabs into the terrorist stereotype. While this
assumption is totally understandable on the forefront
due to all the bias the media has shown involving stories of terror attacks, it does require some correcting;
because as most people who have an Arab or Muslim
friend know, not everyone who worships Allah or is
from an Arab country is a terrorist.

I can personally vouch for Muslims and Arabs
alike, because I have had the opportunity to be immersed in an Islamic and Middle Eastern culture for
the past five years. The story starts in March of 2010,
when my mother got recruited, interviewed, and hired
for a job to teach in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates,
all over the span of about a week. I could go into more
detail about that whole process, but I wouldnt want to
bore anyone. The fact of the matter is, I, as well as my
whole family, were taking a giant leap of faith by making this move across the pond. As a thirteen year old
middle school cheerleader, I never had the need nor
desire to learn much about the Middle East, or keep up
with events happening there until I was told I would be
living there.

The process of selling most of your earthly
possessions, saying goodbye to loved ones, and trying
to explain to your friends that you wouldnt be riding a
camel to school, is quite an exhausting one, to be quite
honest. I was scared out of my wits, mainly of leaving
the only place Ive ever known and jumping into a
polar opposite way of life after hanging in the air for 15
hours. Luckily, I was able to make a couple (American)
friends online before the move, because they were children of teachers who were hired by the same company
that my mother was, so they knew what I was going
through. The thought of leaving all I ever knew behind
and essentially starting over was still terrifying, however.

Once my family and I were done with the
fifteen hour flight, we stepped off the plane and into

a whole new world. The first thing I remember when


getting off the 747 was how futuristic the airport
looked design and architecture is definitely the Middle Easts forte. Fast forward to the next morning, my
family and I head down to the main restaurant of the
Intercontinental Abu Dhabi for a continental breakfast. This is when the first interaction Ive ever had
with a Muslim (that I can recall) occurs. Sandeep was
his name, and he was from Nepal. He was our waiter,
and took a quick liking to my littlest sister Emma, who
was five at the time, and had the blondest, curliest hair
youve ever seen. Our family and Sandeep formed a
quick mutual infatuation with each other, because we
were not only the first family he has served (according
to him) that has ever actually had a conversation with
him, but he was the first taste we got of how truly kind,
caring, and genuine Muslims are.

Unfortunately, we had to leave Sandeep behind
when we moved from the hotel to our semi-permanent
housing accommodations in a smaller town two hours
from Abu Dhabi called Al Ain. There, I was able to
meet up with my friend Mikayla who I had met online,
since our moms were both teachers for the same company. She had already been in Al Ain for a year, and
made a lot of friends in her neighborhood that she was
excited to introduce me to. The first person I met was
her best friend, Dalia, who is from Yemen. Now, mind
you, going into this new stage of life, I expected every
Muslim or Arab I met to be fully covered head to toe,
only fluent in Arabic, and too shy to ever be someone
I called friend. Dalia was the polar opposite. She was
one of the most stylish people I had ever met, decked
out head to toe in designer clothes, spoke English more
fluently and enunciated better than half of the people
I knew back home, and she was the most bubbly and
outgoing person I had met so far in the UAE.

The rest of Mikaylas friends who she introduced me to continue to impress me, person after
person, everyone was so friendly, helpful, and seemed
genuinely interested in any and everything I had to say.
This was a new feeling for me, because most of my life
in America before moving, I sort of just stuck to having two or three really good friends at any given point,
and never tried to talk to anyone else. After meeting
several of Mikaylas (and now my) friends, I could tell

this experience was already helping me to open up


more as a person and develop skills I didnt even know
I would need.

Unfortunately, as I mentioned earlier, there is
a very negative connotation that most Westerners feel
when they hear the word Muslim or Arab, and even
Middle East. Why is that, though? Its quite possible
that their negative feelings originate from the terror
attacks of September 11, 2001. It could also be due to
more recent events, such as Benghazi, other al-Qaeda
related attacks, or even more recently, ISIS terrorist attacks. The key word there, however, is terrorist. Due to
the fact that these terrorists nearly always use the Holy
Quran to justify their attacks, people who cant or refuse to understand the real Islam then become part of
this group of people who believe all Muslims must be
terrorists. Being ignorant to the real facts of the Quran
and Islam justifies this misconception, since you will
then assume that their main piece of literature tells
them to carry out this violence against non-Muslims,
even though this is far from the truth.

I remember a conversation I once had with my
friend Suri (whom I met thanks to Mikayla). We were
discussing this very topic, and he was confessing to me
how he was having a difficult time obtaining a student
visa to go study in the U.S., because he held a Syrian
passport. This was around the time recently when Syria
started making headlines for all of the attacks occurring regarding ISIS, and therefore the U.S. was taking
extra precautionary measures to make sure no ISIS
members got into the U.S., even if they were genuinely
just college-ready students wanting a quality education. Although Suri is doing well now with his studies
in Istanbul, he is still hopeful that someday soon, the
barrier between his citizenship and educational opportunities will be lifted.

So, we know why there is so much widespread
hate for people of the Islamic religion or of Arab descent, but who is to blame here, besides the terrorists?
In my humble opinion, the media is at fault. The over
sensationalizing of every single news story involving
the Middle East, Islam, or a different way of thinking
that the western world holds, is quite ridiculous. One
way to stop this unwarranted prejudice against normal
every day human beings who happen to carry the label
Muslim or Arab is to stop supporting these news
networks, newspapers, magazines, etc. who publish
this inaccurate or biased information. Another way is
to simply step out of your comfort zone and befriend
someone of the Islamic faith or of Arab descent, and

the span of your empathy for them and everyone else


in their religion or ethnicity will increase exponentially.

So, in conclusion, the moral of the story is:
dont let the bias that western media, as well as other
peoples ignorance, rob you of some potentially amazing friendships and experiences. Not only is the Middle East a beautiful place to visit or live, but Muslims/
Arabs are some of the most welcoming, hospitable,
friendly people I have ever met. If youve never made
acquaintance with a Muslim or Arab because of an irrational fear you may have towards them, turn off Fox
News, get on the first plane to Abu Dhabi or Dubai,
and prove me right.

The Syrian Refugee Crisis


By Connor Gregory


The developing dilemma of the Syrian Refugee
Crisis has led to the displacement of millions of families as they try to flee a mounting civil war in Syria.
The refugees are searching for a safe haven to shelter
them from their war stricken homeland, however, this
is causing major issues in the countries that are choosing to offer them asylum. On the flip side, the influx of
people to European countries is placing a major strain
on the entirety of Europe as the population swells
exponentially and beyond what current resources can
handle. With a giant catch twenty-two spanning the
continent, the worlds nations need to seriously analyze
which plans of action are right; morally and subjectively.
This crisis takes its roots back in 2011 during the
Arab Spring, where many countries in the Arab world
toppled their authoritarian regimes. In Syria, however,
the Al-Assads refused to step down, as they had been
ruling as quasi-dictators since the 60s. To keep their
power in place, they started a brutal civil war. Because
of this, many ethnicities and religious groups fought
each other constantly. Some of these groups include
the Islamic Front, YPG, the Opposition Front, Government Forces, the Hezbollah, and ISIS. ISIS came in to
set up a totalitarian Islamic caliphate using any means
necessary, including chemical weapons, mass executions, large scale torture, and repeated deadly attacks
on civilians. Very quickly, they became one of the
most violent, and successful, extremist organizations
on Earth. The citizens of Syria quickly became stuck
between the regime, rebel
groups, and religious extremists, with death on every
side. One third of the refugees are displaced in Syria,
while over 4.3 million have fled their home country. 95% of those who fled went to their neighboring
countries, but camp became quickly overcrowded and
undersupplied, leaving these families exposed to cold,
hunger, and disease. Seeing their hopeless situation,
the refugees then fled to Europe, but Europe was not
ready for the influx of people in such a short amount of
time. The world needed to come together and act as a
united front, but instead it has become more divided
(Taylor, 2:20). The Dublin Regulation makes it so the
refugees have to stay in the state that they originally
arrive in, which puts major strain on the border states,

and with Greece on the verge of economic collapse,


refugees are taking shelter on islands formerly reserved for tourists. Many states refused to take in any
refugees at all, which leaves the border states alone in
this struggle. Many of the refugees sailing the Mediterranean have drowned, but that didnt stop countless
other from making the same perilous journey. The
perception of the crisis finally changed when a photo
circulated of a dead Syrian boy lying face down on a
beach in Turkey. This caused Germany to say that it
would, without exception, accept all refugees, and is
prepared to take in 800,000 in 2015. However, they
imposed border controls days later, and then went to
the EU for a solution. Support for the asylum seekers
has come mostly from other people, and not from
politicians who could create country wide solutions.
These people need help, and they are families and
children like our own. We are writing history right
now, and how do we want to be remembered? As
xenophobic rich cowards behind fences? We have to
realize that these people are no different than us.
By accepting them into our countries and integrating
them into our societies, we have much to gain. There
is only something to be lost if we ignore this crisis.
More dead children are sure to wash ashore if we dont
act with humanity and reason, so lets do this right,
and be the best we possibly can be (Taylor, 5:38).

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