You never forget the first time you're told to "go back to your country." It's like being punched in the heart and stomach simultaneously. The first time for me was during Desert Storm. I was 11, playing basketball on the playground. A boy who was notorious for talking back to teachers and eating glue had suddenly taken up a new cause: informing me that I didn't belong in the country of my birth, the country I loved, the country I could never imagine leaving. In short, my country. After I deftly blocked one of his shots, he told me to "get a life" and "go back to Iraq." When I told him that my family was from IraN, he retorted, "Iran, Iraq, same difference."
This was the memory that sprung to mind when I first heard about the death of Shaima Alawadi, as I wondered when she first heard the same vile refrain that assaulted me on the playground over 20 years ago. Ms. Alawadi, a 32-year-old Iraqi-American mother of five, was beaten nearly to death in her home in El Cajon, California last week. She has since passed away.
A note left next to her battered body read along the same lines as a letter left at her house just a week earlier read: "This is our country, not yours, you terrorists." In effect, "go back to your country." Ms. Alawadi didn't report the initial note, thinking it was just a prank by some neighborhood kids.
I wonder how many times she could have heard similar assertions to start taking them so lightly -- to start considering them harmless pranks, as opposed to legitimate threats.
I can confidently say that I've received over a hundred similar comments, and like Ms. Alawadi, I've never even thought to report them as "threats." Rather, I just consider them a normal part of life as an Iranian-American Muslim -- even a rite of passage. If I were to report every time someone called me a terrorist or sent me an email telling me to go back to "my country," I'd not only be wasting my time (given how little the authorities can do in such situations), but I'd also be wasting precious energy. Today, if I bother to respond at all to such statements, I generally just say that I am in my country, and maybe the bigots who tried to make me feel like I wasn't should consider going back to their country by learning more about it.
My heart goes out to Ms. Alawadi's family and to all the American families who have lost loved ones as a result of hate, bigotry and ignorance. I pray for the day when women in hijabs and black boys in hoodies can feel safe in their own homes, their own neighborhoods, their own country. Some may say this is asking too much, that I'm being naïve. I say, maybe they have a point, but I'd rather be naïve and wrong than hopeless and right.
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Jacques Berlinerblau: Is It Safe for a Muslim Woman to Wear the Hijab in America?
There are people in Iran who are persicuted for their beliefs - Baha'i and Christens etc. There is no perfect place to live or no perfect culture. There are wonderful wonderful people everywhere and there are also ignorant ones too. Our job is to educate ourselves and spread it to others that we can not tolorate prejudice in our world any longer. Thank you
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/18/shaida-alawadi-murder-new-perspective_n_1435096.html
You may want to choose yout examples more carefully.
There are many, many Muslims everywhere, and a hate group, or an individual chose this one woman to a. warn, and then b. kill?
This is almost certainly a hoax, but until you know it is a real case, I think it is shameful to join Muslim women to Trevyn Martin.
And, remember, each time you rush to outrage and fall for some fake story, you help the people who want to deny that there is ANY problem at all.
Not a good decision to write such an un-sourced article.
Bullies suck. The only way to get over being bullied is to understand deep in your heart that
A) they're not the sharpest tools in the shed
B) most people aren't like that
C) it's their issue, not yours
I know. I've been there.
Muhammad wasn't a peaceful man. He was a warlord. If you're Muslim, you should know about abrogation. The later, more violent verses (revealed after Muhammad became a political/military leader after the Hijra) superceded the earlier, more peaceful ones. The last chapter revealed is Chapter 9, which is very violent.
Islam was spread by violence, and controlled empires from Spain, across North Africa, into the Balkans, all the way to India. This wasn't accomplished through peace. It's a violent political ideology, and has been for its entire 1400 year history.
Christianity went through this phase, and came through the other side after the Enlightenment, Age of Reason, Scientific Revolution, and democratic movements. It's nature is different because it existed for 350 years before becoming political. Islam is different, which is why it can't change.
I would not even waste my time replying to this person. And I believe the point of your story is to show how racisim, sexism what ever type of isms can lead to destrution if not put in check. And I did not get that you were speaking of the entire United States.
You should have laughed in his face.
:-)
i live in the el cajon area. there are thousands of muslims and no history of problems. we're supposed to believe that someone broke through the sliding glass door at 11 in the morning, beat this woman with a tire iron while her daughter was only feet away, and then got away with no one hearing a thing? no way.
the daughter's interview with local news was weird and fake. the woman's cousin gave an interview with al-arabiya where he describes exactly how and where she was beaten--how would he know? a neighbor said that she saw the glass from the door broken from the inside out, with glass on the patio.
this sounds like an honor killing. that makes sense. most likely, the husband did it and the family is covering up (by writing the note). the FBI is getting involved and they took the husband's truck as evidence. furthermore, alawadi was 32 and her husband is 48. her oldest kid is 17. that means she had her when she was 15 and her husband was 31. they probably got married when she was 14 and he was 30.
people need to calm down until we figure out what really happened.
It is Ms. Moessi who will be embarrassed by grabbing the victim card, but who wants to bet she will never own up to writing a suspect essay about a deeply suspicious event?
So, in El Cajon, there is an anti-Muslim killer or killers, targeting a lone woman? That makes no sense, whether people yell at Muslims or not.
It's easy to say "be strong" but I very much mean it.