i am a pakistani muslim and i go to high school. i have not had people give me hard times but i have gotten a few weird looks from people that i normally never got. the majority of the students in my school do not discriminate but some do. many do it behind peoples back. one of my friends is a palestinian and he is against all these attacks, but people still bug him. the first time they showed a picture of osama bin laden on tv one of the students asked him if that was his dad. that really pissed me off. i would love to go kick that guy in the face but that i dont want people to think muslims are violent. another thing today some students were harassing a girl with a hijab on. i didnt see it but some of my friends told me about it. i find this weird because i studied history with many of these students and they couldnt believe it when the jews were being discriminated. they hated the nazis for that. but those students were the ones who were making fun of the muslim girl. now i hear about people vandalizing and throwing rocks at mosques. but i am glad to tell you the majority of the students did not say anything to me because they knew just because an arab muslim might have attacked the WTC doesnt mean that all muslims are bad. another thing i really didnt like was when the news showed palestinian people celebrating what happend. there was no need to show this. now all the stupid people in america would start hating ALL palestinians and muslims for this
Man, I really wich G.W. had said something in his address about this. I'm sorry if you feel alienated, and I hated the footage of people cheering, too. I think it was irresponsible for them to show it the way they have, with so little commentary. Good luck. fromobile-
Stuff like that has begun to happen in Australia. A Muslim Club in Brisbane was hit by two molatov (sp??) cocktails yesterday, and other racial acts are happening. Truly sad. The news showed some graffiti that read "Death to Jews and Christians". That's both sad and disturbing.
A Mosque in Denton was hit with a Molotov Cocktail, but there were no injuries. There have been other vandalism attacks on Mosques in the DFW area reported on the TV.
kirkit, I'm sorry for the hurtful acts you and people you know are experiencing and it makes me angry too. All I can say is let's not let the anger get the best of us.
I am sorry for the ignorant Americans out there as well. Here in the D/FW area....I have seen on the news at least two mosques vandalized. One was like a drive-by and sprayed the mosque window with bullets. The other may have been a single gun shot putting a hole through the window. Thankfully, noone was hurt. I fear that the younger crowd are probably the culprits. I saw on TV one car with two young kids sitting out in front of a mosque in their car holding an American flag out the window. They thought they were making some kind of statement but, in reality, they were hurting their fellow Muslim Americans. All Americans are hurting right now and are angry. Racist remarks and venting on innocent people who feel as we do is completely uncalled for. They probably feel that we had Arab Muslims living in the US who were terrorists....so most or all must be the same way. That is clearly wrong. What has scarred the Muslim image is the fact that some terrorist Arab Muslims were actually living among us and learning to fly in Florida and California or whereever...then one day, they call it a day and crash some planes. How can something like that possibly happen is what everyone wants to know? Terrorists living among us....and we didn't know who or even if there are more out there? This makes Americans very untrusting and leads to stereotyping. Most people know this is clearly wrong and don't lash out. Unfortunately, some people can be cruel and act badly for things which they don't have a clue about. But, America is known for its racism which has never gone away and tragedies like this certainly don't help. America making Japanese-Americans during WWII live in camps is wrong as well...with alot of these people joining our side in fighting WWII. I think fear of not knowing who to trust brought this on and brings out today's incidents as well. Fear brings out the worst in some people. I was listening to some of the Howard Stern radio show this morning. I couldn't believe the crap I heard from the callers and even Howard himself. While he is certainly sympathetic and appreciative of the tragedy and rescuers and all....the references he, his in-studio people, and the callers were making came across as ignorant and just plain stupid. Howard can be a real jackass IMHO and it showed through in his show this morning. People are angry and they are clearly venting out everywhere. I'm sorry for what you may be going through. This is no time for people to vent their anger out on innocent people. We must find the guilty ones and not act out in haste with a misguided hatred before the facts are known. Osama, regardless of whether he had anything to do with this or not, still needs to be brought to justice....obviously. But, not just him, all of the terrorist groups. If we just got him, then it may make things worse by bringing on more terrorist attacks. It will be hard to catch cowards who hide in the shadows...but we are at war brought on by terrorists and we will prevail. They brought the fight to us and we will bring the fight to them. I just hope and pray we don't resort to just missiles and end up taking out alot of innocent civilians as collateral damage in the process. Surf
Yea had a few window smash ups in mosques round here in CHicago too but mostly nobodys being picked on. But in some parts, people are picking on anyone looking anything close to Indian, Paki, Arabian....or anything from east-south east.
i actually live 2 minutes away from the denton mosque that was firebombed last night, and attend it at least 3-4 times a day (if not five) needless to say, today has been a very weird sad day to say the least. my roommate works in a gas station, and he works the night shift and he was threatened repeatedly by random people. another friend of mine who works in a gas station, a lady told him "you better get a bullet proof vest cuz ill be back" an egyptian girl who goes to my school had her tires slashed. 4 muslim guys at UTA got beat up in a big fight. i get lots of stares because of my beard, but havent really experienced anything yet. its sad really, anyone who knows anything abuot islam knows islam means peace, and that we do not condone anything like this. in fact, not only are these actions (obviously) forbidden in islam, but so is the entire IDEOLOGY of these nutcases. they say theyre doing it for islam, but in fact, what they are doing has no islamic basis, and they are just trying to carry out their grudges. it just makes me sad that people here can be as ignorant as to go through something like this and turn around and do the same thing a few hours later.
I deposited a paycheck at the bank yesterday here in Chi. Five bank employees were huddled around a small (rabbit-eared) TV in the corner of the building, and one lone teller was behind the desk on what I guessed was a slow transaction day. The teller's name was Mohammed and he seemed (unsuitably) embarrassed at the sounds and sights of the TV news bleatings. I cashed my bread, smiled, and felt a hell of a lot like Jon Favreau (I think it was) in 'Swingers;' stuffing extra bills into the delivery man's hands while his buddies tear into his skin color from another room.
This is something I worry about a great deal. The fact is that compassion MUST be shown to those of middle eastern decent in this country. It is unfair to categorize them as terrorists just because their skin color is different. The irony is that people didn't shoot out the windows of Christian churches after Timothy McVeigh was busted.
I would like to say something on this....Yall know I'm a overzealous-gun-toting-kill-them-all nut right? Yea and that may be right....but what is not right is to mistreat any other American here regardless of there ethnic decent. These people are here as part of a melting pot. Respect is a tremendous thing. Especially when nearly all of us are different....Just today I was at price gouging gas station, though I won't say it was Texaco as the crap place that did it...oops. ..And a middle-eastern ethnic person was behind the counter. Just in front of me was a guy who threw the money at the attendant and stared at him like he was crazy. The cashier said something like: "why you throw the money like that?"...and this guy (who might have been drunk) said something like: "I'll take it back if U.S. dollars isn't good for you and come back with something else" (in a raised voice, very angry). At this moment, the cashier stopped confronting the crazy guy and just handed him the change without saying a word. As he did the nut said "how about a damn bag for my beer", and he obilged. The guy left and I was behind him and I could see the cashier was visibly shaken. He had broken a sweat and messed up on counting my change back....I thought to myself this is'nt right and hope actions like this will cease.
Yes ignorance abounds everywhere. I wish the President would say something about this. I am sure that Muslim Americans are every bit as outraged about this attack. The thing about America is that we are all brothers, and it is ok for me to say something about my brother, but it is certainly NOT ok for someone else(another country) to say something about them. This will all subside, but I would think about shaving that beard, I think God would understand. DaDakota
I think that it would send a signal if Federal Marshalls were sent to protect Mosques around the country. Maybe some of these boneheads would understand that they are targeting the wrong people. If I hear of any mosque being defaced around here, I will personally go help clean it up.
I just came from Curry in a Hurry in Salt Lake (I actually ate next door at The Rusted Sun Pizzeria b/c there were half a dozen police cars outside of Curry in a Hurry). Some ****ing idiot threw a can of gasoline at the place. This is Salt Lake... I never ever expected this here. These are real issues, and real people are going to get hurt. It'd be nice if everyone found comfort in their GOD (or whatever) and tried to seek understanding in a peaceful manner. Oh yeah, and dumb ass racists... you threw a can of gasoline at a restaurant (that does serve Pakistani food mind you) run by Indians. It wouldn't be right either way... but you're still dumb ****s. Be careful everyone.
The US is going to need to the cooperation of Muslims here and abroad to fight global terrorism. Ignorant people only make things worse. The US has asked Pakistan to close its borders, stop supplying fuel to the Taliban Government, help find Bin Laden, and allow access to their airspace. It appears that talks went very well today between the US and Pakistan. How do you think the Pakistani Government will feel when it finds out that its countrymen living in the US are being targeted for no reason?
Smokey, Of course talks went well, come on, you think that we are being as politically correct with these countries these days? Hopefully, they will REALLY support us, and not just give us lip service. DaDakota
This is something that really worries me too. I'm a Christian and albeit not the biggest Muslim supporter. BUT, I am 100% for the freedom of people to live as they choose, and for no one to impede that right. Racism is one of the biggest issues in my life. I feel that I have a higher sense of awareness on the subject than most Americans (I could be wrong, but I still think I'm right). I already posted the story about finding the anti-Middle Eastern graffiti in the men's room at U of H, and my intent to come to the aid of any Arab-American that is being harassed. But, I still wonder about some individuals.... I had a girl in my Cultural Psychology class over the summer. She was a very "conservative" Muslim. She covered everything except her hands and face. In that class we talked about many social issues, and one class period we discussed the Taliban. She was the one person in the room who expressed support for the Taliban. She brought media clippings from Middle Eastern sources that showed the Taliban in a very different light from what we are used to seeing and hearing here in the U.S. She even defended some of the Taliban's acts that we as Ameicans could not understand, like women not being allowed to work (losing all their jobs, and not being able to go to universities) and the labelling of Hindus. She said that the Taliban wanted to label the Hindus to "protect" them. When we told her that the Nazis said the same thing prior to WWII, she didn't see the connection. She also said that women didn't need to go to universities, because they didn't need the extra education to become a wife and mother. I didn't get it, and asked her many questions and offered many different views. I don't agree with her, but I respect her views. I'll disagree with her until the cows come home, but if I see anyone harrassing her, I'll be right there to break it up. Today I was in the computer lab waiting for a computer to become available. I was standing next to two guys of Middle Eastern descent, and they were talking. Being close enough to hear, I did catch part of their conversation. One guy was asking, "How do they know bin Laden did it?" I got very frustrated with that comment. I think the point that some need to see is that even is Osama bin Laden had nothing to do with this particular attack he will still be held accountable for his terroristic attacks on U.S. embassies and the U.S. navy warship that was attacked. Our President has declared a war on all terrorists, not just the one's responsible for the attack on Tuesday.
i don't get it DREAMer. the girl was in a university yet she agreed with the Taliban's position of women not being in universities? She sounds like a nutjob to me.
