veiled4allah: Imagine the America you want to live in #1 veiled4allah: Imagine the America you want to live in #1All comments are copyright their authors
Here's who's pinging me:
(no pings yet)The following is a list of the ten most recent entries in veiled4allah as of Mar 02, 2006:
View a list of all entries in veiled4allah
This entry has been tagged as covering the following subjects: dialogue. The following is a list of the ten most recent entries in Al-Muhajabah's Islamic Blogs that share any of these tags:
A semantic analysis of this entry also suggests the following keywords to search for related content on: fairly well, treated fairly, been treated, imagine america, white male, people, america, America, think, treated, women, been, because, want, much, white, fairly, well, being, should, men, muslims, town, live, most
What links here: View a list of other entries in this blog (if any) that link to this entry
To read the rest of this series, see Imagine the America You Want to Live in.
Or look generally for informational pages on my website tagged with dialogue
A semantic search of Al-Muhajabah's Islamic Blogs suggests the following as the ten entries most closely related to this entry:
Check out other web pages (if any) that I've bookmarked via del.icio.us that share the same tags: dialogue
Explore reference materials from Answers.com about these subjects: dialogue
Read news stories at Common Times about these subjects: dialogue
View search results at gada.be metasearch service for these subjects: dialogue
Find books at Amazon.com on these subjects: dialogue
Check Waypath for blog entries generally related to this entry, or Technorati or Bloglines for blog entries that link to this entry.
Technorati tags: View blog entries, bookmarks and photos tagged by others with the same subjects as this entry: dialogue
For external resources on the topic of this entry, you can run a search for its title imagine the america you want to live in #1 (Google, DayPop, Feedster) or keyword(s) dialogue (Google, DayPop, Feedster). DayPop is a search engine similar to Google that focuses on searching news sources and blogs. Feedster searches blogs via RSS feeds.
Subject: Re: Imagine the America you want to live in #1
Overall, I feel that I'm treated fairly well. I have had very positive interactions with my instructors and fellow students at college and with my co-workers at my internship site. I've generally also been treated well at agencies, stores, banks, and other such establishments.However, I do sometimes recieve verbal harassment while out in public, such as walking down the street, or on a bus. I think that people are either unfamiliar with the way I dress, or they have a negative idea of what it stands for.
This is why I feel that dialogue is so important. When people get a chance to know me, they can make an informed judgment about what type of person I am and how much I'm actually like their initial impression of my based on my Islamic dress.
Subject: Re: Imagine the America you want to live in #1
I think I have been treated fairly well. I haven't had any negative experiences. Even my interviews by FBI and US Customs went fairly well. They were very polite and scheduled the interviews at my convenience.Subject: Re: Imagine the America you want to live in #1
Is this question intended only for Muslims? If not...There's a peculiar imbalance in the reality of how I am treated and how I perceive it. The older I get, the better people treat me (insofar as not discriminating against me), but I simultaneously have become more aware of any negative behavior.
I have grown out of denial about being treated differently. The denial was a sort of defense mechanism, as I didn't think that articulating and talking about the problem was going to help, but that ignoring it might make it go away.
For example, when I was in middle school some of the other students in class would call me "dot-head," because of the bindi that Hindus wear on their foreheads. I was upset by the name-calling, but my reaction was to stop wearing bindi rather than to tell someone about what was happening.
However, once I became older, and especially when I left the small East Texas town in which I had grown up for more diverse and educated communities, I felt comfortable with talking about what happened and recognizing that I had reacted incorrectly.
By acting like I was ashamed of my heritage instead of making the other kids feel ashamed of what they were doing, I vindicated their belief that it was acceptable to mock people of different backgrounds. In all likelihood, they know better now and would be embarrassed to behave like that again, but I still failed to stand up for myself and for the few other people in the community who were not Christian.
Subject: Re: Imagine the America you want to live in #1
I also don't have many complaints about how America has treated me; my ideal America would leave me alone to live my life as I see fit, and for the most part I've been able to do that. Most of the things I'd change if I had the power would concern how America treats others rather than how it treats me.Subject: Re: Imagine the America you want to live in #1
Zack, PG, Jonathan, thanks for sharing!This thread is for everybody; people who are not from America can share their experiences in their own country, if they would like.
I've got a list of questions that I'm working from and I think the next question (to be posted next Sunday, inshallah, after everybody's had a chance to see this one) will explain a bit more where we're going with this one.
Above all, I want this to be an opportunity for each of us including myself to learn about the experiences of other people.
Subject: Re: Imagine the America you want to live in #1
Being white and male, I can't complain too much. I would very much like access to affordable health care, but, as Jonathan said, most of my complaints come from others being harrassed.I'm usually not comfortable confronting people, so I rarely go after people for saying or doing discriminatory things...but luckily, I rarely encounter it, and usually when I do it's just some idiot talking at the bar I work at, and there isn't any actual act happening. Luckily, this town is fairly open minded...discrimination really isn't a big problem here (I'm sure there are probably aspects of it that are problematic...but I don't see or hear of them).
Subject: Re: Imagine the America you want to live in #1
I just discovered your blog and thought I'd chime in on this question (which is a great one!). First off, I'm your typical white male, so I've mostly been fairly treated, the system being stacked in my favor.The America I envision -- I love diversity. I think it makes us stronger. This is a better country than it was in the 1800s because we have more voices that at least have a chance to be heard. But we need more of that. But it should be an environment where people truly respect each other, and thus can argue with each other. Because it is in that honest exchange of ideas that we can be made stronger. I am not particularly religious, but I have a friend who is an Evangelical Christian. We have had some wonderful, sometimes fierce, arguments. ;-) But the arguments are conducted with love and respect, and I value his friendship deeply. So my America would be, I guess, friendly, a bit raucus. ;-) And from all of that debate and discussion and dialog new ideas would flow, allowing us the best chance to tackle the new problems that arise.
Subject: Re: Imagine the America you want to live in #1
As a white female I have been treated fairly well by America. I live in the South and I grew up in a very liberal town. As naive as this sounds,when I went to college, I realized how common racism was and is. I have not been discriminated against, but I have been "talked down to" because I am female. What I want is an America that embraces diversity. America wants diversity, but when faced with accepting diversity, America shys away.Subject: Re: Imagine the America you want to live in #1
Hello all. I'm your standard white/male/poli sci college student. Living in the less diverse but polite Utah, especially with the cheerful Mormon population, its hard for me to deferentiate between what would be overt racism and what is a natural awkwardness of coming from a non-diverse environment and meeting people from backgrounds.I don't mean to minimize any descrimination anyone may have had, but I think Americans are in general, accepting people. But there is always "bad eggs", and for that I'm sorry.
As for my ideal America, it would have more access in politics for diverse and rational voices. There are some powerful players in politics and I think we would be better of if the system were more open to
Also there should be less aggressive rhetoric. The whole Right-wing versus Left-wing babble can get really ridiculous with their blame game. Most people's beliefs are in the middle and that should be regocnized politically.
Subject: Re: Imagine the America you want to live in #1
Thanks JoeF, Gregory, Jessica, and HIVIV for sharing!Subject: Re: Imagine the America you want to live in #1
The America I imagine is the America we have, with certain refinements in perception. It would be so wonderful if women were not judged on their deviation from what is perceived by the media as beauty. I say women, specifically, because men are able to slide on this issue much more than women. As an example, have you ever noticed that there are many homely men reading and reporting on the news, but very few homely women? Very few even ordinary looking women; most of them are exceptionally pretty. And no, I don't think the veil is the answer, indeed I think it encourages a kind of prurience by suggesting that there is something so scorching hot and sexual under that veil that it absolutely must be covered up lest the menfolk are driven wild (poor, weak, undisciplined, hormone-ruled things.) Unless BOTH men and women adopt it, I don't see much point to it. But that would be very hot and uncomfortable and I think we should be able, all of us, men and women, to rise above the need to cover ourselves or our mates or children from view. If you want to, fine, as long as you're not creating a safety hazard. Knock yourself out. This is America; if you want to walk around with a fried egg on your forehead you are free to do so. People at the beach often display their bulgy bulgy thighs(women) or big yucky bellies (men) and even though I'm grossed out I don't have to be; I can look at something else.And that goes double for those thong bathing suits; very few people have the buns for those. But people still wear them, because, bless their hearts, they're trying to express themselves. Or find love. Or something. I don't know, I don't care. I wish them well and I go about my business. Because this is America. But I imagine an America where people accepted themselves and each other as the expression of Goddess, God, The Infinite, All That Is. And I wish that we felt good about that, without the need to display ourselves like meat in the grocery store, and also without the need to shroud ourselves from the eyes of our sisters and brothers. Blessed be, and have a groovy day.Subject: Re: Imagine the America you want to live in #1
I am from Australia not America so i can't comment on the US. Here i find a mix of different attitudes depending on where you are. I live in an area where there is a large mix of cultures so when i walk down the street in Hijab its nothing strange to the people so no one bats an eye. My parents live in a town where 99% of the population is white - if i walk around here i get people staring at me and sometimes making rude remarks, this is probally because they do not know much about Islam.There is a town in New South Wales that has a small growing muslim community. One member purchased some land and was going to build a masjid and function centre for the local muslims to use, there was a small building being used as a temporary masjid - the plan was rejected by the local council and the majority of the council believe they do not want 'that type of thing' in the area - or do not want to encourage more muslims into the area - the temporary maisjid has been vandalised and is now unusable.The issue is currently in court as the councils stance was completely racist, inshallah they will be able to build it soon.
Subject: Re: Imagine the America you want to live in #1
I'm a South African Muslim living in Australia and for me Australia now as a Muslim (under John Howard) is not too far from apartheid South Africa then, as a non-white. Its not the overt racism I'm talking about--rather the nuanced discrimination that one can experience in every-day life. I think it boils down to a lack of trust of them re:us. In the apartheid days all non-whites were baddies/terrorists. In Oz Muslims are in the general media perceived to be terrorists. The general Oz population seems to have little if any understanding of Islam/Muslims and I don't think they're really interested. Life's too good to bother. Add to this the shoddy, immoral treatment of refugees and the governments blind support of GB Jnr. Its a volatile mix.