Being a Muslim Woman in America// Tymie Jadagu 6th P// Blog #1

Link to Article: http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/18/us/muslim-women-self-defense-class/index.html

Summary: Following recent terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino connected to the terrorist group ISIS, Muslim women living in a small town near Tennessee have taken up self defense classes. One woman claims the most recent attack in California, which involved a women wearing a Hijab, has made the anti-Muslim sentiment worse. After these attacks, people spit, tease, and disrespect these women, all because of their faith. They don't feel safe, and their children have stopped wearing their Hijabs in order to combat potential attacks and bullying. The US hate database is a year behind, and shows Anti-Muslim crimes being second to Anti-Jew crimes. Lately, the destruction of mosques has increased three times. Aieesha Hablla knows that these people who target them don't truly understand Islam or what their modest dress means, these people are just taking out their frustrations. These classes may make her more prepared in case of an attack, but they do not change the statistics, and can not change the ignorant mindset of some Americans who choose to target people based on how they look.
Analysis: It's sickening to see that in 2016, people still find it okay to judge people on the way they appear. Stereotypes shouldn't be a basis for the way anybody judges anyone, especially in America, where we pride ourselves on being a melting pot of many different cultures and backgrounds. This negative and fearful attitude towards others of a different background relates back to the red scare, when the wave of new immigrants arrived, and many people linked labor strikes and the rise of communism to the new immigrants, which also inspired unfair verdicts like the one seen in the Sacco and Vanzzeti case. It's important that as citizens of a nation like ours, that we open our eyes and stop generalizing population and sticking them with negative stigmas. It's so easy to get educated on issues like this instead of playing to irrational fears like people tend to do and have done throughout history.