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Medill News Service - August 11, 2005
Young Muslim Americans work to combat stereotypes
By MEGAN DOUGHTY
WASHINGTON — When the first images of shattered glass and bloodied victims from the London train bombings hit the airwaves three weeks ago, college student Samad Pardesi was gripped by an all-too-familiar feeling.
"[We] have this gut reaction whenever these attacks happen," said Pardesi. "We think, 'Oh God, please don't let this be another Muslim attack.' "
The gut reaction described by Pardesi is felt by many young Muslims who have struggled in recent years with negative stereotypes that began to surface in American society following the September 11th attacks.
Student leaders like Pardesi, 20, who is the president of Georgetown University's Muslim Students' Association, have been working to raise awareness about Islam since the 2001 terrorist attacks. His mission becomes more and more challenging, Pardesi said, with each headline - like those from London - which chronicle young Muslims as perpetrators of terrorist acts.
"You work day in and day out to show that Muslims just live regular lives and really aren't violent at all," Pardesi said. "When this kind of stuff happens, it puts [our efforts] back years and kind of erases all of the stuff that we've been doing."
A few hours up Interstate 95, Sabra Bhat, a senior at Hackettstown (N.J.) High this year, described an experience she had following the London attacks which perfectly illustrates what Pardesi is talking about.
"My mom and I were working out at the gym, both wearing our headscarves," Bhat said, "and there were some people talking loud enough so that we could hear. They were saying that immigrants come into our country, steal our opportunities and then bomb us."
The gym comment was "the same kind of reaction" Bhat received in the weeks after Sept. 11, as a 13-year-old girl who had just started observing the hijab, or wearing her headscarf.
After these incidents, Bhat decided to take action. She invited other Muslim teenage girls in her town to form a "sisterhood," and began holding meetings at her home.
"That's when we started learning just how peaceful Islam can be," Bhat said.
Bhat said the "sisters" still get together to read from the Koran, learn about their religion and chat about their problems, and that they frequently collaborate with a male student group that was inspired by the sisterhood. She said she hopes that as she and the other girls become more and more knowledgeable about their religion, the rest of society will follow.
"People should understand that I am not the kind of person who would support terrorist attacks," Bhat said. "I'm an average teen. I might be more committed to God and my religion, but I'm just a normal high-school student."
Aside from forming the sisterhood, Bhat is also very involved with Amnesty International, her high school newspaper and will be student government president this year. She hopes to attend college in New York or Philadelphia, and pursue her interest in world religions and her commitment to combating stereotypes.
Pardesi is equally determined. He and his fellow group members will step up their activities this year, continuing to reach out to the Georgetown community. Among their planned highlights for the year will be "Islam 101" classes, an Islam awareness week and a communal Ramadan fast in October.
All of these activities are aimed at getting "real Islam" out in the public, instead of letting terrorist acts be the only representation that the American public sees of Islam. "I really discourage Muslims from hanging out in a bubble," Pardesi said. "The best thing people can do is to reach out and just be ambassadors of their faith in daily life."……
http://www.mtv.com/thinkmtv/features/discrimination/muslim_american_students/
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