Last Saturday night, one of the worst tragedies in American history occurred. A shooting took place at Pulse, a club in Orlando, Fla., and took the lives of 50 innocent souls. This was considered the most deadly mass shooting to ever take place in the United States. What disheartened me even more was seeing the shooter's name flash on the TV screen: Omar Seddique Mateen.
With this recent act of terrorism, along with the previous string of terrorist attacks that took place in other areas such as Paris and Brussels, Muslims are becoming easier targets to blame for these violent acts. Once Mateen's name was released, the media couldn't help but restate his Muslim religion and his strong beliefs in the Islamic State. Even Donald Trump was able to use this catastrophe to his grimy advantage, encouraging his followers at his most recent rally to blame Muslims, and reinforced his ideas of banning Muslims from the country.
This is what Americans need to know: the general Muslim community is fighting with you, not against you. We are just as scared as, if not more so than, everyone else. We want this bigotry and extremism to come to an end more than anything in this world. We are completely saddened and disappointed that such a horrific ordeal had taken place during Ramadan, a time for Muslims to celebrate peace and unity.
Being Arab in America nowadays is very tough. People look at me differently once I tell them my last name: Hussein. People have laughed at me, mocked my ethnicity, and bullied me for being born the way I am. Some people I considered my closest friends would make fun of me and call me a "terrorist" or "sand n*****."
It's time for this injustice to end.
America, now is the time for the blame, stereotyping, and generalizing of the Arab and Muslim communities to stop. We want nothing more than to unite with you and end this regime of terror. We want peace. We want harmony. We want to help make this world a better place.
Islam is not the reason for all of this destruction and turmoil. It is the fault of the minority of extremists in any religion who exploit their faith to justify their monstrous actions. The names Omar Mateen, Osama bin Laden, and Syed Rizwan Farook are the names of monsters; not Muslims.
Islam is truly a religion of peace and unity. It is a beautiful religion that is being beaten down and twisted by the minority of hate-spewers. Muslims believe in peace, modesty, philanthropy, and community building. The majority of Muslims only want to make the world better for everyone through peace, not through violence.
So please, America, when you see another Muslim's name flash on the news, take it with a grain of salt. We are not a religion of monsters. We do not want to destroy our beautiful Mother Earth and its diverse children. We want you to live freely. We love, we feel pain, we are humans. Please find a way in your heart to stop the discrimination. The only way to battle the hate is through love and unity.
