Dante Brodie

Cassandra Blandford
UWRITE 1103
9 November 2015
I walk into a room. I look around, and I notice that the room is full of
white people. 80% of the room is staring at me or starts whispering. Hard to
understand, right? Whats different? My culture, my beliefs, and most
importantly, my appearance. What many of us fail to realize is that the same
prejudices we might go through, or see others go through, is no different
than what we unconsciously put others through. One group of people that
caught my attention are Muslims. When a person walks in a room and fits the
general description of a Muslim, most of us will look twice. Whats even
worse is that they dont feel comfortable in our airports, churches, houses, or
even on some of our college campuses. I chose to talk about Islam so I could
possibly dispel some of the myths that exist in my own mind, even though I
hardly notice the myths until Ive been faced with them. Through my
research, Ive found a lot of new information about Islam and what it means
to those that practice it, as well as those that dont understand it. I fall into
`the latter category, and still dont really understand some things about
Islam. However, Ive learned that a lot of the things I know or have heard are
either exaggerated or not true. So far, Ive been using many factual accounts
about the religion. Also, Ive paid close attention to documentaries, letters,
and other personalized forms of literature. I dont personally know many

people that identify as Muslim, and it makes the accounts from Muslims more
enlightening because the basic principles of Islam are very different from my
own views with Christianity. Even though Islam always been a foreign topic
for me, it has recently been something that sparked my interest because its
becoming more and more prevalent around the country. In recent years, the
United States has become home to a trend of open-mindedness. From drugs,
to sexual orientation, to racism, America has made a recent habit of
attacking issues head-on and uniting to disband any kind of discrimination.
Even though it seems that Islam is sort of being left behind, Muslims have
definitely been serious about exploring Americas openness to change. Since
the 9/11 attacks, the United States have put a negative label on the religion
of Islam and their culture. I feel like the attacks were wrong and should not
be justified by something as simple as religion, but there is also an aspect to
their religious practices that we, as Americans, dont understand. Frankly, for
a long time, I didnt think about understanding them as people because I saw
them as terrorists automatically. This is still a problem amongst Americans
and Christians because there are many of us that still have the negative
mindset stemming from this one act of destruction. What many of us dont
realize is that terrorists are largely frowned upon by American Muslims.
According to an account by an American Muslim, this was a very confusing
time for the Muslim community. They all fell victim to widespread hate that
they didnt understand or deserve. This is still going on today, as people of
classic Islamic ethnicities (Middle Eastern, North African, South Asian, Indian,

etc.) have been labeled as terrorists. The unjustifiable segregation that

America still practices is a big part of my decision to research and write
about Islam.
Terrorism isnt the only aspect of Islam that was important in my
research and finding out about the culture. I definitely have gained an
understanding as to why the Islamic culture is becoming so popular here in
the United States. Recently, many classical principles of Islam have taken
their place amongst the appropriations of American culture. Most Muslims in
America fall under the same demographic: colored people. Because of their
similarities in the United States historically, many African Americans have
been influenced by the unity of Islam to convert. Famous powerful black
figures such as Muhammad Ali, Malcom X, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar have
seen Islamic practices as a better way to live than what was culturally
accepted as the norm in American history. Some of their personal accounts
and interviews theyve done are good examples of the religions growth in
the United States and have inspired todays Nation of Islam. Ive seen
many of these personal accounts of people that converted result from simply
being exposed to Islam. Throughout my research, Ive seen that it doesnt
take much for one to immerse themselves in this culture. One example of
how Islam can sweep large groups of people in and have a big impact is the
Nation of Islam. The Nation of Islam is the community of African American
Muslims in the United States. This movement was formed in 1930, and was
focused on the uplift and superiority of African Americans. Some of the

leaders are openly racist, standing firmly on their beliefs adopted from
Muslim culture. In my opinion, this movement had a large impact on Islam in
America. The Nation of Islam, led by the honorable minister Louis Farrakhan,
has been a staple amongst American Muslims of color. However, my research
on the Nation of Islam was slightly misleading. Many of the biographical
articles written about Minister Farrakhan and his movement emphasize how
discriminatory they are towards other people, while they still embody some
Islamic principles. Minister Farrakhan has said that Jewish people are wicked
deceivers of American people called white people potential humans that
havent evolved yet, and that Hezbollah are not terrorists, but freedom
fighters. (Sims, Cliff. http://yellowhammernews.com/faithandculture/top-10farrakhan-quotes-anticipation-return-alabama-weekend/)
Spanning further into the separation of people, immigrants are also
greatly effected by Islam. Islam has always seemed to be a way to
differentiate one race from another. Do people in these foreign countries take
their differences as serious as we do in the US? My research tells me no. But
immigration does have a part in the United States rising Islamic population,
seeing that there are more Muslims between the ages of 30-48.
(http://iraq.usembassy.gov/resources/information/current/american/statistical
.html) The immigrant population is still rising steadily, and was growing fast
starting around the 1990s, when these adults were either young children or
teenagers, coming to the United States with their parents. Many of these
children were unaware of their difference from others, but have grown up

into a cruel reality of their reputation as Muslims in America. As this crop of

immigrants has grown, their children have been born into Islam in the United
States, along with the growing population of Muslims. So by default, the
Muslim population is still rapidly growing, but its not being as widely
encouraged as statistics would suggest. Do these Muslim children really
believe in all their familys views? Or are they just going with what they see
around them? In my own case, Im a Christian because I grew up in a
Christian household. I have no problem with that, and I never questioned my
religion because I believe in that, even after I was able to form an opinion on
my own and think about religion on a larger scale in my life. However, there
are many different things that can either attract one to the culture of Islam. I
feel like being raised into a certain religion shapes you a certain way and
makes it harder to deny those beliefs.
As far as literature, the most important piece of literature in Muslim
culture is the Quran. However, in America, we dont see or hear about the
Quran outside of mosques. Our bible is equivalent, but in my opinion,
Christians dont take the bible as seriously as Muslims do the Quran. It is
extremely sacred in the Islamic culture, and all Muslims I know follow the
same practices with the Quran as is done in Middle Eastern places, where it
is more widely celebrated. In their culture, there isnt as much freedom to
learn on your own as there is here. Many Muslim families teach their children
things on an extremely strict basis and wont accept much, if any, deviation
from the classical teachings of their religion. Amongst Christians, the actual

literary part of religion is just a part of your life that you revisit from time to
time. Muslims live in their religion every single day and their literature
proves that.