This week, I'm fortunate enough to be taking a vacation in the Caribbean. I'm fortunate enough to have a job and a university education and friends and family to return home to. I'm fortunate enough to live in a community surrounded by people who are of my race, religion, culture, and ideas -- or at the very least tolerant of it. This week, I've read three stories of my fellow Arabs/Muslims suffering from violence; and those are just stories that I've heard from major news outlets. There is no doubt in my mind that there are many, many more incidents that corporate news has not deemed worthy of coverage. Here is my letter to all of these victims.
To Victoria Jabara Williams,
You are literally living in my worst nightmare. I'm in one of the safest places for Muslim-Americans, but I still live with a slight fear that a member of our community will be the next victim of lethal Islamophobia.
My heart is heavy for you -- you and your family aren't Muslims, but you still experienced the hatred against our heritage that we all feel. My family and I do not experience verbal abuse too often, but it's never anywhere near the abuse that you have received. Especially not from a neighbor, on a daily basis.
My heart is heavy for you, because the piercing stares my mother receives is enough to break my heart. If someone went as far as to run her over, they might as well run me over, too.
My heart is heavy for you, because your attacker is a straight white male -- and was eligible (and obtained) bond. He got out long before he was ever supposed to and your family continued to suffer for it.
My heart is heavy for you, because you expressed your fear to the police department and did not receive the help, safety, and assurance you desired -- and lost your brother in the exact way you all feared. My brother and I are total opposites and bicker to no end, but I cannot imagine life without him.
My heart is heavy for you, and so is the entire Arab American community. We stand behind you, and we mourn the injustice your family is facing with you. We promise you, Victoria, that you are not alone.
To the families of Imam Maulama Akonjee and Thara Uddin, and the followers of the al-Furqan Jame mosque in Queens,
The story of your tragedy hit me particularly hard. My political beliefs stem from the belief in separation of church and state and the first amendment. This country was founded on religious freedom, the founding fathers did not want this country to have a national religion. The first amendment states that we are able to follow any religion we want, worship whomever we wish, or none at all, if that's what we choose. And the fact that, yes, we, as Muslims, can build mosques and pray together and worship Allah as we are supposed to...at a cost...absolutely crushes me inside.
I wept when I read about your massacre. It made me realize that we are not free, no matter how much non-Muslim citizens say we are. If we were free, Imam Akonjee and Thara Uddin would still be living and leading prayer and I wouldn't know their names. If we were free, there wouldn't be the sickening counter-terrorism against Arabs and Muslims who have absolutely nothing to do with terrorist groups. If we were free, I wouldn't have to joke about being "safe" because I can pass as many different races, not just my Lebanese heritage.
But we are not, we are not free. And I am so sorry that you all had to get the worst end of it. I admire your strength -- as individuals and as a community. We stand, cry, and bleed with you along with the Jabara family.
To Omran and the other victims of the war in Syria,
Omran, you have had the loudest voice this week without saying a single word. You have opened many eyes, and sparked enlightenment in many.
Omran, you are alive. You are alive to tell the world about an issue many may not care for and make them care.
But Omran, what if the developed countries of the world, my country, allowed children like you and all of your families in? What if immigration wasn't an issue? What if that fear of terrorism didn't exist and people actually realized that we have the same enemy? What would have happened if this we looked past Islamophobia and racial discrimination against Arabs and let you and your family in a long time ago? Habibi I promise you, you would not have to have been pulled from the rubble. You would not have wiped the blood off of your face. You would not have had such a huge impact on the world.
But you did. You did and now maybe people will see that you and your family and the infinitely many like you are not here to harm us, you are here looking for refuge.
You have done something amazing, Omran. I hope to see real change because of your silence.
To every other victim of Islamophobia and racial discrimination,
I'm so sorry that you are not getting the coverage you all deserve. I'm sorry that non-Muslims' cries against us is louder than our cries for help, understanding, and peace.
I promise you, we are progressing. We're trying to do amazing things and mov past this horrid identity, but we are constantly being held back by crimes against us. I'm sorry for that, as well.
But we stand together. We are one. I promise you that there will come a day when we don't have to live in fear, that the bloodshed will end, that all of you hijabis can live amongst everyone else and not get stares, that we can go to the mosque and pray as we please, just like every other religion, that we can take pride in our heritage without being called, "dirty Arabs," or, "you damn Muslims."
I live for a day when ignorance fades and people learn that Islam is, in fact, a religion and not an ideology. That people are accepting of us. That the war in our home countries end.
We are not there yet, but we will be. Just like every other race that has been discriminated against in history, we will rise and our children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren will learn about the horrors that we faced in their history classes and wonder how we ever lived through it. Someday, someday soon.
On behalf of the Dearborn community,
Sincerely yours,
Narissa
