Can Discrimination be Destroyed?
On November 28, 2016, Ohio State was involved in a mass stabbing and car attack that resulted in the injuries of eleven students before the attacker was killed by police officers. The suspect, Abdul Razak Ali Artan, was an eighteen-year-old student at Ohio State from Somalia. It was found that his motive was most likely caused by his fear in the increase of Islamophobia and discrimination towards Muslims around the world. On his Facebook page he posted that, as a Muslim, “I am sick and tired of seeing my fellow Muslim Brothers and Sisters being killed and tortured everywhere.” He also stated that he was afraid of praying outside due to “everything going on in the media.” Although his attacks at Ohio State are far from justified, his fear of society has been shared internationally by Muslims.
The fear of praying in public is just one of the many problems that Muslims are facing in society. After the results of this year’s election, women have been afraid of wearing their hijabs outside. For a while, we have seen on social media and joked to our friends about moving to a different country after the election. But CNN has reported that people are indeed preparing to move to Canada, mainly out of fear.
From such a young age, our family and schools have taught us to be accepting of people of all religions, races, and ethnicity. Yet we are currently hearing about incidents involving discrimination and hatred in the media almost every day and, sadly, many have occurred on school grounds. According to Mic, after the attacks of 9/11, anti-Islamic hate crimes rose by 1,600 percent and continue to get worse.
But beyond this hate, freedom of religion has been a Constitutional right for centuries and one thing the United States thrives on is diversity. The welcoming of people from different backgrounds within schools and workplaces has taught us about acceptance, collaboration, and cooperation. These ideals define the values we all share regardless of race or ethnicity.
Although it’s difficult to completely destroy the concept of prejudice, we need to aim at the roots of discrimination, specifically ignorance. When a person lacks information about certain subjects, it’s easy for them to get the wrong ideas about that topic. For instance, Islamophobes commonly tie Islam to terrorism, violence, and irrational values. Yet in reality, the origins of Islam revolved around peace and the fulfillment of compassion. Understanding one of the oldest and most popular religions in the world is essential if we want to truly reunite this world.
