Rechtiene, 1

Sherry Rechtiene
Danielle Owens
English 1001
February 12, 2015
Would You Stand Up?
There will always be a moment in everyones life were we are put to a test. There will be
a person sitting by themself, and you just carry on with your business. Then out of the blue,
another person would say something awful or whisper something about that person, would you
stand up for them? We face this problem everyday in many forms, name calling, social media
posts, laughing behind others backs, but most of the time those on the sidelines never stand up.
In 2008 an author by the name of Moustafa Bayoumi wrote the book How Does It Feel To Be A
Problem? : Being Young and Arab in America, this focused on a particular group of people
facing these very problems. After 9-11 Arab-American were faced with discrimination in every
form you could imagine, Moustafa decided to focus on a set group of young Arabs. He chose
seven, Rasha, Sami, Yasmin, Akram, Lina, Omar, and Rami, each of them with a different
perspective and story to paint. He interviewed each of these young Arab-Americans telling the
story of what they faced when the backlash came after 9-11 and how they dealt with it. Each
story had a purpose, but Yasmins story stood out to me in particular. Her story left an impact
about the strength that it takes to fight for what you want and the great amount of courage she
must have had, but how much do strength does it really take? So I went to one of my classmates,
Lauren Campbell, to find the very answer, Yasmins incredible determination to achieve what she
believed in.

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At first we werent sure how to start the interview, so I asked what she thought of
Yasmins chapter. She thought for a minute before looking at me and saying, I couldnt believe
the school got away with treating her like that for so long. In Yasmins chapter she was trying to
run for Secretary for an organization within her school. She did win the position but then was
forced to resign due to the event that she would had to attend conflicting with her religion. What
Lauren said made me agree, it was unfair for the school to make her give up her position due to a
small conflict. Lauren and I both agreed that Yasmin was a very determined person who was also
smart, on page 97 it says If no one would help her, she reasoned, she would have to do it by
herself. For months, she spent hours after school at the Brooklyn Public library on Seventy-thrid
street, checking out law books and guides (Bayoumi). After reading this we both agreed that she
was one dedicated person. Lauren did, however, say that she thought that she was a little selfish.
This puzzled me. Why would fight for what you want be selfish? I asked her what she meant by
that and she said, I think she took it a little too far, I wouldnt have fought over something so
small. Lauren believed that what Yasmin did was a little self-serving than what it seemed, that
instead of benefiting others it was more for getting what she wanted.
Yasmin had an amazing story but I wondered, why did Moustafa pick her? Lauren looked
down at her notebook before answering me, she thought it was an example of discrimination in
schools, that it showed how even the schools can be unfair. For example, in the book it says,
once when the dance landed on the night of a Jewish holiday, which would have prevented the
religious Jewish students from attending, and again when the event fell on the same night as the
sweet six-teen party of one of the girls in leadership. (Bayoumi, 97) Yasmin provided us insight
on the ways that schools can pick and choose and exclude others. Others were able to get away

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with being excused from the dance except Yasmin. They werent willing to change it until
Yasmin started fighting. She stood up.
To have that moment and be put in the position of whether to fight or run away can be
very difficult. No one wants to be placed in that spot but Yasmin was and she took action and did
what she thought was right. She inspired me to want to fight for what I want in life and to have
the strength to stand up for others. Yasmin can be the best role model and thats why I believe
Moustafa chose to write about her in his book She had courage and in the end was a hero.

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Works Cited
Bayoumi, Moustafa. How Does It Feel To Be A Problem? : Being Young and Arab in America.
New York: Penguin, 2008. Print.
"Class Interview." Personal interview. 09 Feb. 2015.