Came accross the op-eds of an American school-mate of mine, a young lady named Fatina Abdrabboh.
Her op-ed in the New York Times (from the Harvard KSG website):
http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/ksgnews/Features/opeds/062305_abdrabboh.htm
And in the Christian Science Monitor:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0728/p09s01-coop.html
She defines herself as being 'Truly Muslim, Fully American' as goes the title of one of her articles.
As I searched for the articles online, I was amazed by the amount of debate she managed to raise - well done, girl! ;) - but was saddened that the content of the debate was mostly hateful. Actually, it was not even a debate - rather a pile-up of misplaced criticism that is only nodded upon by the likes of the feather-brained authors.
In a shell, Tina, as she introduces herself with a beautiful smile, is a veiled American Muslim woman who suffers from the daily stares and the almost tangible hostility in the average American's behaviour, and is sometimes not deemed to be a full American because she's wearing a veil. From googly eyes in the gym to suspicious looks when she speaks, almost looking for confirmation that she isn't by default a 'bad guy' and that she condemns terrorism 'too', she's kinda had it with it. And her eloquence allowed her to get her thoughts out, and to a lot of people.
I would, though, frown a little bit about a couple of her lines - thanks to Harvard and MIT, the inhabitants of Cambridge, MA are now used to virtually all skin colours there is and the outfits that come with.
But I totally understand what daily discrimination is - it's about people not sitting next to you in the metro, it's about the smile on the salesman disappearing as soon as you reach his counter. Been there, done that. (but not in the US, though, that was in Paris, France. The cynical in me would say that I haven't been here long enough...) On another level, it's about the police arresting you on the street because you're carrying a lap-top bag - seems that, for the French police, Arabs and computers don't associate. I must have stolen it, they thought. A student ID from one of the fanciest colleges of the country (Sciences-Po rules!!! :) and a request to call my embassy to complain managed to let me off their hands, though.
Criticism (if I can use a word that implies some brain functions to the rubbish I've read) was mostly rotating around:
1- The quality of the articles. Hmmm. Do I hear some jealousy from disgruntled individuals whose op-eds only made it to the trash can of the editor of the Millville Daily, Millville, Delaware (population 206 :) ?. I think the articles are brilliant but hey, don't take my word for it - the NY Times and the Christian Science monitors published her and that means something, doesn't it?
2- 'She doesn't declare her love of her country enough'. Well, apart from sentences as explicit as 'reassured that I belong to America and that America belongs to me', why would she have to yell out that she loves her country? Don't we all do? (well, most of us :). The only reason why someone would write what she wrote is the frustration that she is not allowed to be what she is - as American as the other 295,734,134 Americans? (population est. July 2005). An underlying love for her country is present in every line of her articles - only a fool would miss it. If you did miss it, please call Dr. Melissa Miller, ophtalmologist. You need glasses.
3- 'What did she expect? If she dresses weirdly, she'll be stared at so she'd better get used to it'.
How incredibly chauvinistic and, worse, conformist that is. We're talking about a veil, here, which is basically a 50X50 (cm, of course, no inches on this blog!:o) that covers her hair. And for those of you who haven't met her, the young lady has an excellent taste in colours.
That's her, by the way!!
Her op-ed in the New York Times (from the Harvard KSG website):
http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/ksgnews/Features/opeds/062305_abdrabboh.htm
And in the Christian Science Monitor:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0728/p09s01-coop.html
She defines herself as being 'Truly Muslim, Fully American' as goes the title of one of her articles.
As I searched for the articles online, I was amazed by the amount of debate she managed to raise - well done, girl! ;) - but was saddened that the content of the debate was mostly hateful. Actually, it was not even a debate - rather a pile-up of misplaced criticism that is only nodded upon by the likes of the feather-brained authors.
In a shell, Tina, as she introduces herself with a beautiful smile, is a veiled American Muslim woman who suffers from the daily stares and the almost tangible hostility in the average American's behaviour, and is sometimes not deemed to be a full American because she's wearing a veil. From googly eyes in the gym to suspicious looks when she speaks, almost looking for confirmation that she isn't by default a 'bad guy' and that she condemns terrorism 'too', she's kinda had it with it. And her eloquence allowed her to get her thoughts out, and to a lot of people.
I would, though, frown a little bit about a couple of her lines - thanks to Harvard and MIT, the inhabitants of Cambridge, MA are now used to virtually all skin colours there is and the outfits that come with.
But I totally understand what daily discrimination is - it's about people not sitting next to you in the metro, it's about the smile on the salesman disappearing as soon as you reach his counter. Been there, done that. (but not in the US, though, that was in Paris, France. The cynical in me would say that I haven't been here long enough...) On another level, it's about the police arresting you on the street because you're carrying a lap-top bag - seems that, for the French police, Arabs and computers don't associate. I must have stolen it, they thought. A student ID from one of the fanciest colleges of the country (Sciences-Po rules!!! :) and a request to call my embassy to complain managed to let me off their hands, though.
Criticism (if I can use a word that implies some brain functions to the rubbish I've read) was mostly rotating around:
1- The quality of the articles. Hmmm. Do I hear some jealousy from disgruntled individuals whose op-eds only made it to the trash can of the editor of the Millville Daily, Millville, Delaware (population 206 :) ?. I think the articles are brilliant but hey, don't take my word for it - the NY Times and the Christian Science monitors published her and that means something, doesn't it?
2- 'She doesn't declare her love of her country enough'. Well, apart from sentences as explicit as 'reassured that I belong to America and that America belongs to me', why would she have to yell out that she loves her country? Don't we all do? (well, most of us :). The only reason why someone would write what she wrote is the frustration that she is not allowed to be what she is - as American as the other 295,734,134 Americans? (population est. July 2005). An underlying love for her country is present in every line of her articles - only a fool would miss it. If you did miss it, please call Dr. Melissa Miller, ophtalmologist. You need glasses.
3- 'What did she expect? If she dresses weirdly, she'll be stared at so she'd better get used to it'.How incredibly chauvinistic and, worse, conformist that is. We're talking about a veil, here, which is basically a 50X50 (cm, of course, no inches on this blog!:o) that covers her hair. And for those of you who haven't met her, the young lady has an excellent taste in colours.
That's her, by the way!!
We're not speaking about... well, some very odd alternative appearance of a rebellious teenager whose outfit, hair dye and choice of make up -- you know, pink hair and 14 piercings in each ear :) -- would probably provoke stares from their very parents! The outfit in question is a tasteful and indeed discreet accessory that shouldn't attract attention more than my red t-shirt or my friend Holger's fire-orange trousers. But a veil still does draw attention, this is a sad fact, and it also attracts hostility from feeble-minded persons whose two neurons only allow them to make super-short shortcuts and associations.
And now that we're at it, would you like to know what i believe to be the weirdest piece of attire ever? A necktie - a ridiculous colourful piece of cloth, that reminds more of a leash than anything else, hanging around men's necks that is supposed to make them look good. Now this is supposed to attract a few looks of amazement, isn't it? But it doesn't, because we got used to it. We embedded it in our cultural references, as 'necktie = well dressed'.
I will be waiting for the day that we would no longer associate 'veil' to 'weird' or to 'terrorist'; but rather we would associate 'veil' to 'Muslim' or, even better - to 'my-neighbour-accross -the-street'. And this will need just a little bit of effort from all of us.
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