For my showcase on systemic Injustices, I would like to talk about racial profiling specifically agaist the Muslim community. Racial profiling and stereotyping has always been common in the United States, and the sad reality is that many minorities face harsher charges just due to their race.Minorities are typically profiled due to prejudices that are stemmed from stereotypes. For example, after 9/11 many Muslim, South Asian, and Arab (MASA) men were suspected of causing the attack and as a result many Musslim men are still perceived as a threat and profiled by the police. Recently I heard about a story that occurred in a middle school that truly broke my heart. A student was running late and forgot her lunch, so naturally she called her parents and asked if one of them could drop off her lunch for her. Her father was on his way to work and came to drop off her lunch at school but when he tried to enter the building, the woman at the front desk asked him to wait outside. Confused, the father asked if there was a reason he had to wait outside and was told that he is not allowed in with no further explanation. Shortly after being asked to wait outside, a white woman came to enter the building and the father told the woman that parents are not allowed into the building. The woman found this ridiculous and went to the front door anyways and was immediately let in. The only reason the father was not allowed in is because he had dark skin, big muscles, and appeared to be Muslim. The woman at the front desk profiled him as dangerous simply due to the negative stereotypes she had about Muslim men. The reason this story broke my heart is because he was just a parent attempting to give lunch to his daughter. He was immediately profiled as a threat to the building and even had the school resource officer come outside of the school to check him for any weapons and identification before he was allowed in. Instances like these tend to be considered isolated or local issues but they occur everywhere throughout the nation. Muslims in this nation, and throughout the world too, have been classified as “terrorists” or “criminals” and they are systematically oppressed and ignored for no apparent reason. In order to change this mindset people have about the Muslim community I think it is necessary for an increase in educating people about different cultures. For example I may not be Muslim, however, I have the basic decency to learn about their culture instead of automatically judging them based off of prejudices and stereotypes that are thrown at them for no reason.
Here is a link to read more about Racial Profiling since 9/11:
https://www.aclu.org/report/racial-profiling-911-report
References:
Moghul, Haroon. “The Unapologetic Racial Profiling of Muslims Has Become America’s New Normal.” Quartz, Quartz, qz.com/665317/the-unapologetic-racial-profiling-of-muslims-has-become-americas-new-normal/.
“Muslim Profiling.” Center for Constitutional Rights, 9 Oct. 2020, ccrjustice.org/home/what-we-do/issues/muslim-profiling.
Hi Parshvi,
I really enjoy reading your post because it is well-written with a great structure that I can easily follow through and understand the issue of stereotyping and prejudices based on skin color. The story you described the father who was not allowed to get into school and give his little girl her lunch broke my heart too. It reminded the scene in our reading “Story of my body” when the man from the store told Ortiz she looks dirty because of her skin color. I agree with you that we need to educate ourselves on people with different cultures so that we don’t judge them by their appearance and there so so many wonderful things that we can learn from other cultures besides the negative side.