We’re Not All Bad

“They’re horrible people.” “I hope there’s a second holocaust for them.” “All Muslims are
terrorists.” These were the types of comments I found when I went on social media. Hundreds and
thousands of people were saying the most cruel things about Muslims.

It was the morning of November 15, 2015, a day after the terrorist attacks in Paris. I had just
woken up, and I was sitting in bed wrapped up in my warm, cozy blankets. I decided to open up
Instagram, the bright light from my phone hitting my tired eyes. I started to scroll through my feed, most
of it being about what just happened in Paris. My heart broke hearing about the situation, and I just
couldn’t believe how people could be so inhumane. After a few minutes, I came across a post about the
men who carried out the attack. I then checked the comments, and my heart dropped.

“What is wrong with Muslims? Why do they all think they can go around killing people?” one
comment said.
“Their religion is so full of hate and violence,” said the next one.
The comments just kept going.
“Every single Muslim is a terrorist.”
“They deserve to die. They’re horrible people.”
“There needs to be another holocaust but for Muslims only. We need to get rid of them.”
I found my eyes filling with tears as I kept reading the comments, and I was overwhelmed with
fear. Why do they hate us so much? I thought. I couldn’t keep reading the horrible comments, so I
immediately turned off my phone. I looked at the white wall in front of me, my salty tears still streaming
down my face. We’re not all bad.

I was only 12 years old when this happened. At such a young age, I was terrified of people
finding out about my religion in fear that they might hurt me or say something insulting. For the next few
years, I avoided any conversations about religion, not wanting to bring up the fact that I’m Muslim.

I’ve never had to face any type of discrimination in person. My family and I aren’t very religious,
which is why I don’t wear a hijab or practice any Islamic traditions or beliefs; however, I’ve met several
Muslims who do wear a hijab, and they have to face so much discrimination. Hundreds of Muslims face
hate crimes every year, and the “highest yearly number of anti-Muslim incidents was 307 in 2016”
(Background Information Summaries, 2017, para. 11), just a year after the Paris attacks. These hate
crimes consist of Muslims getting beaten up, having their hijab pulled off, and even getting killed. Either
way, “everyone hurt or killed in these attacks were vulnerable to Islamophobia because they “look
Muslim’ - because of race” (Love, 2017, p. 1).

The comments I read as a younger child didn’t affect the way I saw Muslims, but they instead
made me fear that being Muslim myself would lead to others hating me.
 References

Anti-Muslim Violence in the US. (2017). Background Information Summaries, 1.

http://search.ebscohost.com.libprox1.slcc.edu:2048/login.aspx?direct=true&db=b6h&AN=10197
9066&site=eds-live.

Erik Love. (2017). Islamophobia and Racism in America. NYU Press.