Some food for thought
"I went to the mall, and a little girl called me a terrorist.
My name is Ela. I am seventeen years old. I am not Muslim, but my friend told m
e about her friend being discriminated against for wearing a hijab. So I decided to see the discrimination firsthand to get a better understanding of what Muslim women go through.
My friend and I pinned scarves around our heads, and then we went to the mall. Normally, vendors try to get us to buy things and ask us to sample a snack. Clerks usually ask us if we need help, tell us about sales, and smile at us. Not today. People, including vendors, clerks, and other shoppers, wouldn't look at us. They didn't talk to us. They acted like we didn’t exist. They didn't want to be caught staring at us, so they didn't look at all.
And then, in one store, a girl (who looked about four years old) asked her mom if my friend and I were terrorists. She wasn't trying to be mean or anything. I don’t even think she could have grasped the idea of prejudice. However, her mother’s response is one I can never forgive or forget. The mother hushed her child, glared at me, and then took her daughter by the hand and led her out of the store.
All that because I put a scarf on my head. Just like that, a mother taught her little girl that being Muslim was evil. It didn't matter that I was a nice person. All that mattered was that I looked different. That little girl may grow up and teach her children the same thing.
This experiment gave me a huge wake-up call. It lasted for only a few hours, so I can’t even begin to imagine how much prejudice Muslim girls go through every day. It reminded me of something that many people know but rarely remember: the women in hijabs are people, just like all those women out there who aren't Muslim."
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....although it would be a great subject for a college sociology term paper. Back when I was in college (about a hundred yrs ago), we were assigned something like this in our sociology class...where we went out to restaurants, public places and watched peoples behavior. Yeah... it would sure open some young peoples MINDS, wouldn't it?
Here's an instance of something like this: It was Halloween. We always got into Halloween big time when the kids were little. One year I made hubby a costume. I called him a Palestinian. He looked like he just walked straight out of Saudi Arabia. Anyway, he was a cab driver at that time. OK, it's Halloween on a Saturday night, big city, lots of calls. He zoomed down a ramp off the expressway going a little too fast and a cop stopped him. The cop actually thought he was an Arabian, especially since hubby had a beard and mustache at the time. He got a ticket and went on his way, but it did slow him down that night.
I could go on but I won't.. 
