Tamding Sherpa
Crazy sociopaths of different color and race have attacked America, in the past. American citizens sharing the same religion or color as the attackers did not have anything to worry about. Of course, just because the attacker is a Christian or an American African does not mean that all other Christians and American Africans are victims, as well. However, that changed after the September 11 attack. Muslims Americans have been tortured mentally and physically after the 9/11 attack, just because they shared the same religion as the attackers did.
I recently read an article in the New York Times, ‘Explaining 9/11 to a Muslim Child’ by Monia Noor, where she, a mother, dreads having to explain her son ‘the slaughter of innocent people in the name of a religion that she is trying to pass on to him’ (pg 5). And that too in an environment, where Muslim kids were being taunted, and names such as ‘terrorists’ were pointed towards them. It is not difficult to predict that a kid, who has to go through such racist torments at a young age will only grow up to be an angry Muslim seeking revenge. I also watched a movie based on the 9/11 attacks, where a Muslim woman wearing a Hijab, the material that covered her head, is assaulted and pushed violently by an American, causing her to not wear it anymore. Such assaults are not only degrading, but illegal as well, as it violates a person’s right to religion.
It is disturbing, how a nation, which was found merely on the belief that everyone should be treated equally, is practicing the complete opposite. Especially in the US, where diversity is celebrated, people discriminate and point fingers at each other for being different, instead of understanding, like Noor says, that ‘good and bad exists in all groups’.
