Monday, June 26, 2006
Drive By Racism
The kids and I went to the Islamic Center with my parents yesterday. It was graduation day for all the kids in the mosque's Sunday School and there was tons of yummy food to eat. I got to meet with alot of the old family friends I grew up with and the kids had a good time playing with other children their age. It would have been a perfect day except for the drive by racism we experienced as we were getting ready to go back home. It happened when I was standing outside in the parking lot with my Dad and the kids and some other people from the Center. Some rednecks in a beat-up red pick-up truck drove by on the road in front of us and yelled "SAND NIGGERS!" to us out their window. I don't need to explain how rude and insensitive this was, it's just a shame that this kind of racism still exists today. I'm just glad my son didn't hear what was said and didn't ask me "What did he say?". He was too busy talking with some other preschoolers. I'm naively hoping that by the time he's older, racism and racial slurs will be a thing of the past. I don't think I'll ever be ready to explain this kind of uncouth behaviour to my children.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
9 comments:
unfortunately i think this behavior will be there as long as we also do have wackys in our religion who are getting the highlights in the news. this behavior is unacceptable BUT i am sure its fueled from the recent killings of american soldiers in iraq and the homegrown american terrorists in florida. my parents even asked what is going on??? so i am sure the average american is in their islamic hate mode again. its hard to be accepted and not be the target of hatred when the bad seeds are having the biggest voices.
Ugh - these things make me so mad. Like sobia says, there are too many idiots in this world.
That is absolutely horrible.
I don't know how I would explain it either.
Don't mind the morons.
I'm so sorry to hear. Its one thing to hear it said to you. Another with parents and particularly children. Thank goodness he did not hear. And I also pray by the time he is older it will be behavior long gone. One can hope though its chances are slight.
You know Aisha, it wouldn't have been so bad if it was just directed at me, I'm a big girl, I've had my fair share of racism and I can take the heat. But, like exactly what you said, it's embarrasing when you're standing next to your father and your 4 year old son and your uncles and this happens. After those jerks drove by, one of my uncles asked me what he said, he didn't understand, and I just said, "I don't know." Some people don't realize most Muslims are good decent people who do alot of good for the communities they live in and just want to raise their families in a safe environment. All they see is the whackjob terrorists on TV building bombs. I hope people realize we're not all like that.
hmm. I can almost picture the scene happening. I agree, the worst is that your kids get exposed to this so early. That stuff hurts no matter how much you know the people saying it are idiots.
I'm sorry for that! We experienced some of that in Texas, it isn't fun. I experience that here every once in a while. It hurts.
Post a Comment