Divorcing Islamophobia

It was raining.
I was struggling to carry my now thirteen pound son and his thirty pound car seat into the pediatric center. It was fast. She passed by me placidly. We shared smiles. She left. It came. Not purposely, intrusively. It was fierce, loud. My thoughts were visible and so were everyone else’s that she walked by. You could feel it. Even if I wasn’t thinking it, she thought I was. “Terrorist”. No one could blame her. She wore a hijab. It was black. Her eyes were dark. Her eyes were hard. What had she done? Nothing. What did our thoughts accuse her of? Everything.

It was raining.
I thought about her when I left the hospital. I thought about her smile, how sheepish it was. She dropped her gaze quickly and tightened her lips. She motioned for her son to get closer to her. How was it that this “terrorist” was afraid of me? Was it because I was white? Was it because I looked her in the face? Was I walking too close to her? What had I done? And then I realized, just as fast as my intrusive thoughts came, so did hers. “She’s looking at me.” “She sees my hijab.” “She thinks I’m a terrorist.” It was there, clear as day when the smile left her face. She was eager to get away from me.

It was raining.
I remembered something I learned in one of my psychology classes — schemas. Everyone on this Earth is born with a blank slate. Put a child in front of a white Southern mother, she will smile. Put a child in front of a black college professor, she will smile. Put a child in front of a Priest, she will smile. Put a child in front of a Muslim, and yes, the child will still smile. We are not born with irrational fears. We are not born with hatred in our bodies. We are born with acceptance, with overflowing abundance of love. We are born coexisting, peaceful human beings. We are born not only human, but humane. We lose it. We lose it as we age. We lose it as the media shows people of different ethnicities trying to kill us. We lose it as we see the word Muslim next to the word extremist and terrorist and murderers. We lose it when we see the word Muslim next to evil, next to towelheads, next to rapists, next to cold blooded killers. We lose it when we see the word Muslim.

It wasn’t raining anymore.
I couldn’t get this off of my mind. Why are Muslims so feared? Why are Muslims the most stereotyped of all religions? Why are these “attackers” constantly being attacked? It’s because we are afraid of the unknown. The media takes advantage of the uneducated, of the ignorant. The media knows it can prey on the minds of the weak and the easily influenced. The media knows if it can put terror into the hearts of a group of people, said group of people will slowly give up their civil liberties to ensure safety. These “terrorist” are merely distractions.