I don't get it. Reports of Muslims in the US being treated with hostility, suspicion and disrespect are all over the news yet many young Muslim Arabs still elect to study and work there.
The brilliant son of an Egyptian friend has been offered a full scholarship to a university in one of three destinations: France, Malaysia or the US. Yet despite being aware of the difficulties Muslims face in America — or so he says — for some unfathomable reason that’s where he’s opted to go.
He’s already had two interviews and passed with flying colors but that’s not enough. The selection board has to visit his home and interview his entire family before he’s allowed to board the plane to a mythical apple pie Nirvana.
He’s far from being alone in that quest. Wherever I go in the Arab world I invariably come across young people desperate for a visa to the States or Britain and they make it clear they’ll jump through paper hoops for that “privilege”.
Has the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq escaped them? Haven’t they heard of Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib or Haditha? Haven’t they heard of the expression “flying whilst Muslim”. Why are they willing to subject themselves to the humiliation of racial profiling or worse in pursuance of the tenuous American dream?
Is it the lure of a Hollywood lifestyle that triggers such passionate Green Card fervor? Do they believe greenbacks grow on trees or do they seriously equate the Land of the Free with...well...freedom?
Frankly, I haven’t a clue. Perhaps you can tell me. It’s certainly ironic in light of so much perceived anti-Americanism in this part of the world at least 50 percent of the people I meet can’t wait to get there.
I’m keen to know what happens once they arrive. Are their dreams realized or does disappointment quickly set in? Do they fit seamlessly into society or are they discriminated against?
According to a video documentary on both Google and YouTube titled “30 Days” it’s the latter. It’s a fascinating film that begins with asking: What is it like to be a Muslim in America? In answer it focuses on the experiences of Dave Stacey, an insurance salesman and practicing Christian from West Virginia who is injected into a Muslim family of Pakistani origin for a month. But first he is asked to grow a beard and wear Pakistani dress before flying off to Dearborn, Michigan — the heart of Muslim America — to meet his hosts, a doctor and his wife who is studying to be a lawyer.
En route he is stopped and thoroughly searched at the airport for the first time in his life and receives “a lot of stares” while “several people looked away”.
In the meantime, the show’s host asks passersby what they think of when they hear the word “Muslim”. Answers come back, “terrorist”, “Bin Laden”, and “scared”. He asks one man “If you got on a plane and a Muslim sits down next to you what do you think?” The response: “I’d think something is going to happen”.
Dave Stacey admits when he thinks of Muslims he imagines a veiled woman and a man with an AK47. He also finds it difficult to understand the concept that Muslims, Christians and Jews all pray to the same one God.
At first, Dave feels very much a fish out of water. He learns to take off his shoes when he enters the house and has to get used to different food and customs. Over time he begins to admire the Muslim community for its welcoming spirit and the self-discipline displayed by its members.
Dave also learns of the tensions in Michigan between Christians and Muslims over the Muslim call to prayer. Indeed, this has become a full-blown civil rights issue with hate mail and death threats. People are even threatening to shoot down the speakers and if they happen to hit someone on the head so be it.
During the 30 days Dave takes Arabic lessons and visits an Imam for religious instruction. But just when one might think he’s beginning to settle in and feel at home he puts his hosts on the defensive by asking “Do you think there may be a sleeper cell around here?” Dave says these are “fringe Muslims” and is quickly told “they are not fringe Muslims, they are fringe people”.
By Day 25 Dave feels very comfortable in his new persona, so he is given a task outside the Dearborn community. He is asked to garner signatures on a petition that calls for the end to the racial or religious profiling of Muslims. He doesn’t do very well getting white Christian Americans to sign on the dotted line. “I’ll pass,” says one woman. “I’m not interested in that,” says someone else. “No Christian ever destroyed the World Trade Center,” argues a third when Dave retorts “What about Oklahoma?”
There you have it. Dave is now defending Muslims against negative stereotypical comments. This is the same man who pictured all Muslim men carrying weapons just weeks before and who earlier believed Muslim Americans should apologize for Sept. 11. At the end of the month he goes home to West Virginia vowing to explain Islam to his family, friends and neighbors and his Qur’an is reverently placed on a bookshelf.
The film has a powerful message. Racism and bigotry are products of ignorance. When people really get to know one another misconceptions and preconceptions are busted. People, no matter what their race or religion, are human beings with shared wants, hopes and dreams.
But Dave was lucky. He was plucked from his environment by a TV crew and put down in an unfamiliar milieu. He will never be the same again. The problem is there are probably tens of millions of Americans whose anti-Islamic views are entrenched even though they’ve never even spoken with a Muslim, and it is the attitudes of these uninformed individuals that youth from the Middle East may have to contend with.
Many will be lucky enough not to be the butt of discrimination. Others will cope well but there will surely be the few who will be hurt to the core, perhaps even traumatized. I think parents should consider this when they send their offspring to the maybe not so welcoming arms of Lady Liberty. Why opt to be a second class citizen in a foreign land when you can aim to be the best there is in either your own or those where you are truly appreciated?
It’s time Arabs come up with their own dream and leave the Americans to theirs.
