Life Lesson #4: The Ignorant Tourist

Let me tell you something...

Life Lesson #26: There are Americans out there that have never seen a Muslim before outside the confines of their TV and will not hesitate to point their first-sighting out to whoever will listen.

When: Sophomore Year, Spring Semester
Where: In front of Wilson Library

What happened, monapoly?:
It was a beautiful spring day at UNC. The birds were chirping, the sun was out, and there was a cool breeze sifting through the otherwise infamous North Carolina humid air. All in all, it was what I like to call perfect weather for a hijabi.

So there I was walking past the lower quad filled with students enjoying the spring weather, when I saw a tour of incoming freshmen and their parents/guardians being lectured by my classmate on the use of Wilson Library. (I still don't know exactly what its use is but that's not the point of this post.)

As I passed by them that day, I smiled at the parents who had lost interest in the tour and were running mental background checks on the student body that their child (read: their little baby) would have to interact with during the upcoming four years at UNC. Little did I know I was one of those people being screened.

I caught one father's eye and smiled quickly at him en route to my next class. I wasn't ten feet from him when he rather loudly exclaimed to who I assume was his wife, "Hey look! They even have those people here!"

I whipped around going, 'Oh no he didn't!' (in my head, of course) and realized that actually, yes he did. He and the woman he was talking to were appraising me, not even embarrassed that one of "those people" heard them saying such a remark.

But, here's the catch. My anger at being objectified quickly melted into pity for them and their ignorance. They never actually met a Muslim or learned about Islam from the source, so to them, we would always be "those people." Those people that have always been seen on TV but never in their living room for a neighborly visit. Those people that were always fighting a war over there across the ocean somewhere, not the people making a monumental positive impact on their lives.

So, my anger was swallowed, and I realized that to fight ignorance about your own people, your own identity, it is you that has to change the stereotypes. Go out there, interact with the non-Muslim community and make their idea of "those people" into the self-identity, "my people".

My Conclusion?

As Mahatma Gandhi says on all the Indian peoples' Facebook Quotes:

Be the change you want to see in the world... even though its hard and you would rather stay at home and play Wii. Ok, that last part was made up. sheesh.