A Ghostwritten Article
“Look at me, I am a sixth grader at Sedgwick Middle School in West Hartford, Connecticut, I am doing well in school, I am on the honor role my father is a doctor; I have nothing to be ashamed of.”
When my parents moved here in 1988 they believed that they were doing what was best for us. Here we could get an education, learn to speak English with out an accent, go to top universities, and grow up in a diverse area. The fact is that we got many more, friends, a wonderful life, but along with all the wonderful things we experienced discrimination.
The definition of discrimination is the mind set because of a certain bias against a certain group of people. I believe the reason people discriminate against me might be because they are not used to diversity. They all grew up in a white suburb, not used to people who had grown up elsewhere. Difference scares them. “If there is any other reason for their discrimination, I’d like to know about it.” This was portrayed in a recent event that although was an ocean away, affects each and every one of us.
One thing that I will never forget is the time after 9-11. My mother and I were at Target, as we were leaving, the cashier gave us strange, bad looks, her thoughts showed through her her eyes. It was terrible to be thought of differently, because of what I look like, or believe. The trouble did not stop then and there. In 3rd or 4th grade kids called me Asada Bin Laden. “I felt like I wanted to go and sit in the janitor’s closet.” I figured out, these were not my real friends, I found out that friends are the people who like you for you.
We go to the Juloos in Manhattan as part of the Shi’ite faith to mourn the loss of Muhammad, by reading poems of sorrow and hitting our chests. This year we had more to protest. There were more than fourteen hundred people marching down Madison Ave. For five hours the thousand plus people show that they are proud of what they believe in and that we are united. This is the way that everyone should be; not Islamic, Muslim or Christian but united.
Something that proved my view on discrimination was in a comic strip that has caused a big fuss, throughout the world. This was a comic strip that depicted our prophet, Muhammad, as a terrorist.
The comic strip showed me, although unusual, that discrimination is still out there. Like any other kid, I was going onto the Internet to play some games and my home page (MSN) popped up. There the comic strip was, grabbing my attention. It was an article that any one else would just look over, but this meant everything to me. A Danish article about what a disturbance that one comic strip had caused. This comic strip had the Muslim Prophet with a bomb entwined in his turban. My mother and father, from Pakistan, were the first people that I told. They told me not to tell my younger brother or sister who are in 1st and 3rd grade because they would not understand. Later on I heard my father talking to my mom saying, “Why do people do this when they know that others are going to irrupt?”
This disturbed me greatly is because I am Muslim, more specifically Shi’ite; we believe there are twelve successors of the Muslim prophet. To see the prophet, portrayed as a threat, aroused terrible acts all over the world. It was like September eleventh all over again. But instead of people just decimating against me in my life, and affecting me personally they hit the entire Muslim faith. They took one blow, that is all that it took; it hurt us all.
Some people say, “ What about freedom of speech?” They had a right to do what they did. Think about it, do they have a right to show hate to an entire religion? This act out of pure dislike, beyond any one person, but everyone person is effected.
This year in Quest we researched and wrote about an event, where a person or people stood up for what they believe in or did not. This, I knew is what I needed to focus on. With the essays of my peers and the idea of standing up in my mind I have created a video of these essays being read out loud. Everyone needs to stand up for what they believe in no matter his or her age, race or religion.