American Muslims- There's Something You Haven't Heard Before! | Teen Ink

American Muslims- There's Something You Haven't Heard Before!

June 4, 2010
By Anonymous

I don't understand how this, is supposed to be my fault. What did I do? Nothing, I did no more or less than everyone else- so why, why do you look at me like that, why do you joke about me like that?
Do you blame me? can you seriously sit there, utterly clueless about what you condemn, and blame me? Me? Who has nothing to do with anything, who's more American than anything else? You're going to sit there and blame me? Or, no, better yet, blame my 7 year old brother, whose only ambition in life is to get to the top level of a Spiderman videogame? Or my uncle, who worships at the feet of his little baby girl and is full to the brim with jokes? Why not my overworked aunt, who hates the scent of the hospital by this point, but still is the kindest person i know?
Blame my quiet, good-to-the-core daddy, or my hardworking momma.
Blame these people, the innocents who wanted nothing more from life than to live. To live, is that such a crime? To live and love and help, and not hide their faith away.
Blame us for the awful, bloodthirsty actions of people thousands of miles away, who we never knew or want to know; who we hate as much as, if not more than, all of you.
And, wow, I love how twisted all of your logic is. Every little bit of it, I swear, all the flimsy things you say to blame me.
Why are you even doing this?
I like to write and draw. my favorite movie is 10 Things I Hate About You, sports hate me almost as i hate them, and at the moment I have a crush on a super cute guy. I'm a KID. How can you connect me to insane evil dudes out in the deserts of Afghanistan?
Furthermore, I'm freaking American. My loyalty lies firmly with this country, but from what I'm hearing, you'd like me to believe that apparently America doesn't like that, doesn't want my loyalty.
Why is everyone making such a fuss about 'The War on Christianity', about how apparently they get stares when they sing bible songs in America, when I'm not even allowed to express my faith? When I have to dodge the question of religion altogether in fear of getting that shocked, scared, cold look? I'm sorry if you don't get this, but never have I encountered something in Islam that tells me to be violent. Never have I felt that any of the women in my family are any less than the men, or that the men can boss them around. I believe in God, and I believe in good. Is that so bad?
And, Sarah Palin? Please just tell me why I'm at fault here. Tell me I'm forced to feel the guilt for remorseless criminals I have nothing to do with? Tell me why I was raised adoring the fact that America is a free country that gives its peoples rights, and am now finding out that those rights don't apply to me? How am I supposed to explain that to my little brother?
And, Sarah, honey, you can take all your 'shunning of political correctness'/blatantly hurtful racism and shove that crap down a toilet.
Cause, see, I believe that preaching hate is wrong- no matter what your race or religion. I'm afraid I can't make exceptions for white male republicans.
Haven't you heard yet, that the only thing spurring violence is hate? That it often leads to persecution and the killing of innocents?
See, honey, it doesn't matter if you're American or Afghani- hate is hate, and it hurts.


The author's comments:
I wrote this piece due to a number of things that had happened in America recently. First, the Pakistani terrorist who attempted to attack Times Square. After it happened, my friend looked at me rather condescendingly, and went 'You know he IS a muslim, right?' Yes, honey, I know. Are you trying to make me feel guilty? Do you think I should feel the regret for a man I have no relation whatsoever to? Second, the Christian missionary, Rev. Graham, who made widely remarks about what a 'wick and evil' religion Islam was, and was conseuqently banned from the National Day Of Prayer for a short time. In the end, due to Sarah Palin's remarks that we needed to stop this 'political correctness' and that the controversy was ridiculous, he attended. I was very upset when I wrote it, and I think you can see my hurt clearly. I'm still hurt. I think I always will be, honestly. And thirdly, controversy over the new Arab-American Miss USA. Simply because of her descent, she was labeled as a spy and a terrorist. People started cooking up crackpot conspiracy theories of a grand muslim beauty queen terrorist scheme.

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This article has 4 comments.


Ramsha S. said...
on Jun. 7 2011 at 7:07 pm

I say every person has a right to stand tall and proud when they say their religion. Not one religion that I know of claims violence is the key to everything.

And I think a lot of people are confused with your religion. One time when I was telling my friends about your religion, most of them said they liked it! However there was sadly one guy who grimaced immediately...but that just made me think how schools should teach also teach their students about all the religions in this world and their ways so misunderstandings can be cleared up before some kid makes a comment on how some religions worship the devil.

 


Abidah BRONZE said...
on Jul. 17 2010 at 10:23 pm
Abidah BRONZE, Indianapolis, Indiana
4 articles 0 photos 5 comments
Beautiful. Thank you.

justakid2 said...
on Jun. 12 2010 at 7:51 pm
i know how you feel, i told a fairly nice friend i was wiccan and he went nuts and he called me a satanist when i dont believe in the devil... its bad

on Jun. 9 2010 at 1:34 pm
EmoToboe BRONZE, Kemp, Texas
1 article 0 photos 42 comments

Favorite Quote:
When you've lost it all.......That's when you finally realize.....That life is BEAUTIFUL

Amazing article, very well written.

I completely agree with your article, so many people today are narrow-minded and can't understand anything different from themselves, and that breeds hate.

It's a little messed up, how people assume I'm not American because I look different. When I was born, raised, and have never been outside of the U.S.

Also, I could never understand why people are so prejudiced against people of Islamic faith. Muslims are people too...just like anyone else