Tuesday, August 01, 2017

Not your country

We’ve all been there. Quietly enjoying a cup of coffee at a coffee shop, studying or getting some work done while indulging in some delicious pumpkin bread. You see an older lady staring at you. She looks away. Weird, you think and continue to sip your coffee. She then approaches you. Oh, shit, you think, she’s going to ask me to leave the coffee shop because I’m making her feel uncomfortable. Then you try to think of a quick witty reply. You look up and she’s standing there smiling. “Hi there, I’m just wondering where you’re from,” she says and points to your hijab. Or even worse, she touches your hijab.
Infidel touch. Bad.
I am damn tired of having to answer about my heritage to random strangers at the grocery stores, or while I’m working out at the gym or at the park with my kids. I am done having to explain to people that yes, I am from here. No, I don’t have to tell you where I was born or where my parents are really from and that I am welcome here. Damn right, I am welcome here, this is my country.  Now I reply with, “I’m from here, where are you from?” Because these microaggressions that we faced on a daily basis are exhausting.
This is how poisonous relations are between people today. One can't be "appropriate" regardless of the behavior. For example, if a man opens a door for her date, then he's considered to be a misogynistic pig for thinking that women are "weak". If he doesn't open the door for her date, then he's an inconsiderate jerk.

It's the same here. If everyone ignores a Muslim woman in public, then this proves that people find that woman to be a leper; proof that society is racisss! If someone curious approaches a Muslim woman in public and asks an innocent question, then that's a horrible, terrible, no-good MICROaggression!

This Muslim woman wrote: "Damn right, I am welcome here, this is my country."

No, it isn't. My Indian-born father worked in Saudi Arabia for three decades. At the end, he was told to fuck off. Arabia is not his country. Similarly, America is not your country. Your malignant religion brings death and carnage to non-Muslims. Once significant numbers of people in the US comprehend this ugly truth, you'll be told to leave. You have fifty Muslim-majority countries to choose from. Spread your filth there.
What’s worse is when someone is asking these questions and they reply with stupid things like, “Wow, I know someone from Pakistan, do you know her?” or, “Wow, you’re English is so good,” thinking that’s a compliment. Damn right my English is good, my undergraduate degrees were in English and Communication and my master’s degree was in Education.
No one cares. Your only value is to be a baby factory for your Muslim-cousin-husband. Even then you can't be a perfect Muslim wife. Why? You are not six-years-old.
[...] accept the fact that Americans are from all walks of life, and we’re a giant bowl of salad and not a melting pot.
You have to go back.

(Originally posted at Isaac Schrödinger.)

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