When people first take a look at me, a majority of the time they have trouble trying to figure out my ethnicity. They will ask me where I am from, and me with my sarcastic humor will say, "guess." My name never gives it away, especially because people seem to have butchered the pronunciation of it in every humanly way possible. Nine times out of ten someone will guess a country that can be found in the Caribbean or South America: Dominican Republic, Colombia, Puerto Rico and many more countries. All of which are wrong, and then they will take a better look at me after I have said no three or four times. These people will notice my dark features such as my thick dark brown eyebrows and even thicker hair. They will notice that my nose is slightly bigger than the usual person, that there are certain words that I will pronounce with extra phlegm and then they will notice Allah written in gold hanging from my neck.

So, then I will say that I am from the country of Palestine, they will not know what that is because in today's world we are not educated on what Palestine is, instead we are taught that there is a group of Arab-Muslims who want the land where the nation of Israel is. But yes, I am Palestinian, but I am also an American. I am a first generation child born and raised in the heart of Miami, Florida to two Palestinian parents. But when I do introduce myself, I will introduce myself as Danna, the Palestinian.

Realistically speaking, I am an America; I was born here - I am a natural citizen and I have been born with all the equal rights as the rest of the Americans that live amongst me in this nation. But sometimes I feel like my background and ethnicity has stripped me of my basic rights and has as well marginalized me and made me feel like I am not a person. I have been told that I should not be proud of the person that I am because of what others have made my people look like. That we are all terrorists who kill in the name of Allah and that if you get me angry I will set off a bomb. That I know the Al-Qaeda terrorists who attacked on 9/11, that I am in contact with ISIS and I know when and where the next attacks will be. But realistically speaking I am an American-Palestinian university student more focused on trying to create peace in this world and unity rather than continue to let people create a divide amongst different races and ethnicities.

Being Arab is supposed to be wrong, being Muslim is supposed to be wrong. I am hated by many who do not even know my name let alone anything else about me. I am hated by ignorance who assume I should be wearing a burka and that I should have no woman rights. The most that I can do is teach these people and show them how absolutely wrong they are, that joking about bombs and poking fun of me is not right. That Islam is the largest growing religion in the world and that the 1.6 million Muslims all around the world are not all terrorists, they are not all suicide bombers. It is my job to continue to represent these 1.6 million people and prove so many others wrong. One can not put the blame on every Muslim for the acts of others the same way I cannot blame every single Christian for the small percentage that is in the KKK or bombs abortion clinics. I cannot blame every single Jew for killing people in the Gaza strip. Each religion has face hardships, whether it be crusades, mass killings and the Holocaust. Not one religion is better than the other especially because they all sprung from the same concept and share so much.

So why am I being criticized for my religion and Arab culture? Am I supposed to continue to allow this to be okay? Am I supposed to continue being "randomly selected" at the TSA line every time I travel. Or am I supposed to sit quiet and watch everyone enjoy Arab food such as hummus and falafel while they smoke hookah that my people invented and watch belly dancers all night that is a part of my heritage. I should not have to worry about the US government trying to close down the Mosques and make us wear badges to identify us, nor should I be paranoid about whether or not supremacist groups will try to attack me and think it being a way to get rid of another future terrorist. My greatest worry is unfortunately having to see what comes next in the future of Islam and if ignorance comes together in hope to try and bash us and rid us.