which start to my diversity statement should i use? tips? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Malcolm X came to Islam because it offered a harbor from the racism of his day. Today, Muslims in America are doing the exact opposite by forsaking their faith to escape the racism of our day. I am proud to say that I am a Pakistani born American Muslim. Being a Muslim in America in today’s day and age is tough and in some places even dangerous. I wasn’t so reluctant at first to be as proud as I am today.
Growing up in public schools in South Florida as a Muslim, I did everything differently. I left early from school on Fridays to make it to my weekly prayers. I fasted all thirty days during the month of Ramadan, I starved and dehydrated myself while all my friends ate their meals during lunch time. I didn’t celebrate Christmas nor did I eat the same kind of meat as everyone else. Going against the grain and being different was a challenge.


or

“NO, I’m not related to Saddam Hussein”! If only I had a nickel for every time I uttered these words, I’d probably be up on the Forbes list. “No, I’m not a terrorist.” This was a common response to the nonsense questions that I was asked. Any American Muslim will admit it, life after 9/11 hasn’t particularly been an easy ride. I’ll be the first to say that being in grade school at the time where I was surrounded by immaturity and ignorance didn’t really help my situation.
9/11 occurred when I was just eight years old. I remembered all of the children in my classroom were all being picked up early to the point where it was just me and my teacher left. I had no clue what was going on until I got home. I knew a plane flew into a building, but I didn’t understand who was behind this. And little did I know, this was the event that was going to change the rest of my life. Weeks later we learned about terrorist, our teachers reassured us that we shouldn’t worry. I remember that at one point she pulled out a globe and showed us how far Baghdad was from South Florida. Around the same time, I started seeing police cars around my local mosque when I went to go with my father to pray on Fridays. It took myself and the children who were also my age a few weeks to realize that the people who were behind the attacks claimed to be “Muslim”, and that is when the trouble began.
By middle school, the word terrorist was thrown around to describe Muslim kids in school. It was all fun and games at the time

[rinkrat19]

I think the second one needs some re-writing to flow better, but it's pretty safe overall.

The first one makes a fairly huge generalization (American muslims are forsaking their faith because of racism) without acknowledging that there are probably also some other reasons that people leave the religion. Maybe they're becoming skeptical of a higher power, just like people of all religions do sometimes. Maybe they're leaving because they disagree with the conservative sects (or whatever) that deny women equal status. I'm sure there are more reasons. I don't think you can say that everyone who leaves the Muslim faith is doing it because they're tired of being called a terrorist. If you use the first intro, I think the generalization needs to be toned down.

[asundialwatch]

I would watch out for the cliche in the opening line of the 2nd. You can probably change it easily, but be careul.

[Anonymous User]

I would watch out for the cliche in the opening line of the 2nd. You can probably change it easily, but be careul.

actually, my last name is hussain, so I might keep it lol

[abc2013]

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[HtownVicious]

I tend to agree with everyone else. See, i AM a Pakistani American Muslim, though i was born here, and I can for sure tell you that manyyy people leave our religion because they just don't agree with it, not because of the label we're given. As a Muslim, I can say it's disheartening to watch people leave their faith in fear of being called terrorists, but that is in no way the primary reason they leave it. It's usually because some parts don't make sense, some people think it's too strict, and the most common one i've seen is: it's too hard to follow.


ETA: when i say i was born here, i meant the United States, woops.