Madison Auten

Professor Katsanos

Global Connections
April, 30 2016

Islamophobia
On saturday, April 29th, I attended an event in Rowe that focused on this term
islamophobia. The event lasted two hours and consisted of speakers that described personal
experiences, acts of discrimination, and struggles that they have been faced with due to their
muslim heritage, religion, and race. Not many people attended the event, about ten to twenty
people, and almost all, if not all, of which were muslim. My favorite speaker was a man between
the ages of thirty and forty and was born in America by parents who immigrated to America from
Pakistan. This speaker, whose name I respectfully can not remember, has written many articles
speaking up for the muslim community in popular papers such as The New York Times, and The
Atlantic, and many other major news articles. He is also a lawyer, as well as a writer, and
dedicates his time to speaking up for the muslim community. He spoke as if he was preaching to
his own people, encouraging them to stay positive in this hateful time, he also approached the
topics very lightly and with a sense of humor, which made it more entertaining and less
depressing for the audience. As the speaker talked about his childhood, he mocked how
muslim he was despite the fact he was born in America. He told the audience that when he was
young, kids at his school would mock him and meanly call him Ghadi, he joked about this saying
that he was honored to be compared to someone as moving, inspirational, and respected as
Ghandi. He then started off by talking about the tragic terrorist event that happened in NYC on
9/11. He describes to us where he was, and what he was doing when the first building was
collapsing. He goes on to tell the audience that he just kept praying in his head to not be a
muslim, to please not be a muslim. The same thoughts went through his head during the Boston
marathon, Paris attacks, and the other terrorist acts put forth by extremist of muslim faith. I was
informed by that speaker that Muslims were more favorable by the public in October of 2001,
one month after the attack on the twin towers, than they are by the public today in 2016. Another
major topic that was discussed was the conversations going around in the presidential debates.

Donald Trump has stated that he wants to get rid of people of Muslim people and have no
muslims in America, despite the fact the speaker was born in America. Many negative and scary
things said by politicians regarding Muslims have been favored and support by American people;
as if it is okay for someone in a position of possible future power claiming he wants to get rid of
Muslims and Mexicans. He jokes and calls Obama a Muslim, explains that Muslim Women are
the most educated minority, and also goes on to say that Muslim people are the ones to blame for
this negative image about their religion. However, those who categorize all Muslims as apart of
ISIS, Al Qaeda, etc., is extremely uneducated on the Islamic faith, and can not use the extremist
as examples of people of Muslim faith.
I very much enjoyed listening to the speakers and attending this event. I found it healthy
to make myself a minority for once, and to be submerged in new perspectives on issues going on
today that are regarding the Muslim people. I can not imagine the toll it must take on someone
who has grown up in a society that is scared, threatened, and does not accept the Muslim
religion. I realized during the event that when people like Donald Trump say things along the
lines of getting rid of Muslim people it genuinely worries them. Which it should. The things
that Trump has said has made it very hard to not assume that his intentions are to separate
Muslims from society in ways similar to that of Japanese Americans, and even the Jewish people
during Nazi Germany. It is not fair that Trump, and other politicians, can just say the things they
do about Muslims, most of which are American people, and expect them to just deal with the
hatefulness. I could not be as calm as they were during this event. They joked about some of the
things said, and kept really positive mindsets which I respect but do not understand. I mean, I can
not imagine a man with a surprisingly good chance of becoming president singling out MY
race/religion and telling his supporters he wants to get rid of ME. It's scary, honestly and its
depressing that Muslims in America today have to go about feeling judged and hated. The event
was very intriguing to me and I enjoyed getting the opportunity to hear from the perspective of
those who are impacted directly by the judgement/hate Americans sadly have on Muslims. I am
happy that I was able to open my mind up, see things from the other way around, and listen to
the stories and hardships told by the speakers. It was definitely worth my time, and I am thankful
that I have that event to remember everytime I hear a student, politician, family member, etc.,
speak badly of the Muslim religion.