When I was younger, it must have been in the third or fourth grade, I likened, in an assigned essay, diversity to a laundry basket. Being so full of shades and hues and speaking so strongly to the diversity of a wardrobe and its ability to accommodate any desired ensemble with the grace afforded as a direct result of the polychromatic makeup of the wardrobe, each and every colors existence is of merit. I now know how laundry is done and I hardly wish to condone the segregation of “darks” and “lights” and of “regulars” and “delicates”. I, myself, am no stranger to discrimination. I am Muslim, and there’s no mistaking me for something else; my name is Mohamed. I have been stopped at airports and interrogated as a child, I have walked down the aisles at Target with my family while husbands prodded their wives and pointed at us, and more than a couple of times my family has been approached by an angry individual demanding that we “go back to [our] country”. Why?
Racism is not a thing of the past. As long as ignorance lives, bigotry and obscene intolerance are ever resilient. It has been spoken about so much that we have become desensitized to its fatal nature. Equality is not a lenient state. Equality mandates that I am to you what you are to me. I am not a lesser being because of my religion, I am not a lesser being because of my tanned skin, and I am not a lesser being for whatever reason you or anyone may present. I am as American as anyone and I demand to be looked at as so. This is not a favor that I ask of; it is my right. The USS Equality takes only a single hole to sink entirely. We all need for the integrity of our convictions to endure. I rally under this claim not only for those like me. This is not a unique plight. The plight of the African American and the more blatantly oppressed peoples is the plight many minorities share. Misrepresentation of our demographics, hideous lies about our cultures, and grotesque political aims have plagued all of us. It has driven those under the boot of racism to a most morose fatigue.
A fatigue however, is not an acceptable state. We are not helpless. It is incumbent on every single person who values equality to see that it is manifested truly. The question shouldn’t have been “why?” it should have been “still?”. The age of cowering behind the First Amendment to put down others should be long gone. Are we not a society that progresses? Are we not a people who respect others in the same capacity that we, as equal members of society, expect to be respected? I am not suspected of any crime so why should I be interrogated. I am not an extraordinarily large tub of Nutella to be pointed at. I am a Muslim American.
