DIVERSITY STATEMENT / PS DRAFT 2
Posted: Wed Aug 21, 2013 2:20 pm
Ok, I cleaned this up a bit. I also need your help deciding whether this can work as a PS instead of a DS. Please give me your advice.
My mother dropped me off to school that Tuesday morning after we picked up our order of coffee and hot chocolate from Dunkin Donuts. She then went off to her full-time job at a local smoothie joint and I would spend my day in school. Almost an hour into the school day, students were being picked up early. One by one, I saw the puzzled look on each of their faces as their names were called on the intercom to come to the front office to leave school early. We all glanced at each other and pondered about what was going on. Nobody had a clue and nobody told us anything. By noon, it was just my teacher and I left in the classroom, all the other kids had gone home. I was anxious and my stomach was churning at how uncomfortable the situation was for me. Little did I know, that day was going to be the day that changed the rest of my life.
I had always been different from all the other students. I left early from school on Fridays to go to my weekly prayers, I didn’t celebrate Christmas, I fasted during the month of Ramadan, and I kept a strict Islamic halal diet. But after that day, it became a hard to be different. Later, I understood why things had changed. I am a Pakistani born Muslim living in America. The terrorist who flew those planes into the buildings claimed to be ‘Muslim’. In the eyes of many Americans, I am associated with terror and killing only because I share the same religion as the one those terrorists are claiming to practice. I became defined by where I was from and the religion that I practiced rather than defined by who I was. This fact is what has caused me the most difficulty in my life.
Feeling isolated from many of other students simply because I was a Muslim made school difficult. The immaturity of many of the classmates didn’t help my situation; it only made me felt out of place. A few days couldn’t go by without a student blurting out a silly ‘terrorist’ joke. My last name is Hussain, and this was used as the punch line of almost every joke told. “_____, how is your uncle Saddam doing?” Kids would ask as they snickered. Although I knew that these were just immature jokes by children and they didn’t mean much by them except to be funny, there existed people with real hatred outside of school. As the years went by, many of my Muslim friends had forsaken their faith to fit in with the rest of society. Some Muslim girls abandoned their head scarves and conservative clothing. Some Muslim boys abandoned prayer in public to avoid drawing attention. The more I saw my friends change and become a product of the societal norm, the less I wanted to change and the more I wanted to embrace my faith. I wanted to spread awareness of my religion to show people that Islam is a religion of peace.
By the time I entered college I wanted to take advantage of the diversity on campus. It wasn’t a place where I had to feel isolated anymore because there were others who shared my faith and ethnicity. I joined and was voted onto the executive boards of the International Muslim Association at ____ (IMAN) and the Pakistani Student Association (PSA). With leadership roles in both organizations I was able to connect with other college students who felt the same type of hardships I felt as a Muslim in America. I aimed to attract as many non-Muslims as possible to IMAN events. This helped them learn the true peaceful nature of Islam that is actually the opposite of common belief. This created an understanding between non-Muslims and Muslims on campus and led to less Muslims abandoning their faith to fit in with other students on campus. After the success IMAN has had in accomplishing my goal, I wanted this type of relationship for more than just our campus. I connected with Muslim Student Associations at ___ College, ____ International University, and the University of ____ where they and IMAN worked together to educate the masses and defeat ignorance by attracting more non-Muslims to events such as the annual MSA Olympics. At these events non-Muslims had the chance to learn more about Islam and Muslims. This is the best way to stop discrimination and racism and promote tolerance and open-mindedness in these South Florida college campuses.
Being teased about my faith during grade school only made me want to embrace it. The more I saw my friends forsake their faith, the more I wanted non-Muslims to understand it. Facing adversity has made me the person I am today and made me prouder than ever to say that I am a Pakistani born American Muslim.
My mother dropped me off to school that Tuesday morning after we picked up our order of coffee and hot chocolate from Dunkin Donuts. She then went off to her full-time job at a local smoothie joint and I would spend my day in school. Almost an hour into the school day, students were being picked up early. One by one, I saw the puzzled look on each of their faces as their names were called on the intercom to come to the front office to leave school early. We all glanced at each other and pondered about what was going on. Nobody had a clue and nobody told us anything. By noon, it was just my teacher and I left in the classroom, all the other kids had gone home. I was anxious and my stomach was churning at how uncomfortable the situation was for me. Little did I know, that day was going to be the day that changed the rest of my life.
I had always been different from all the other students. I left early from school on Fridays to go to my weekly prayers, I didn’t celebrate Christmas, I fasted during the month of Ramadan, and I kept a strict Islamic halal diet. But after that day, it became a hard to be different. Later, I understood why things had changed. I am a Pakistani born Muslim living in America. The terrorist who flew those planes into the buildings claimed to be ‘Muslim’. In the eyes of many Americans, I am associated with terror and killing only because I share the same religion as the one those terrorists are claiming to practice. I became defined by where I was from and the religion that I practiced rather than defined by who I was. This fact is what has caused me the most difficulty in my life.
Feeling isolated from many of other students simply because I was a Muslim made school difficult. The immaturity of many of the classmates didn’t help my situation; it only made me felt out of place. A few days couldn’t go by without a student blurting out a silly ‘terrorist’ joke. My last name is Hussain, and this was used as the punch line of almost every joke told. “_____, how is your uncle Saddam doing?” Kids would ask as they snickered. Although I knew that these were just immature jokes by children and they didn’t mean much by them except to be funny, there existed people with real hatred outside of school. As the years went by, many of my Muslim friends had forsaken their faith to fit in with the rest of society. Some Muslim girls abandoned their head scarves and conservative clothing. Some Muslim boys abandoned prayer in public to avoid drawing attention. The more I saw my friends change and become a product of the societal norm, the less I wanted to change and the more I wanted to embrace my faith. I wanted to spread awareness of my religion to show people that Islam is a religion of peace.
By the time I entered college I wanted to take advantage of the diversity on campus. It wasn’t a place where I had to feel isolated anymore because there were others who shared my faith and ethnicity. I joined and was voted onto the executive boards of the International Muslim Association at ____ (IMAN) and the Pakistani Student Association (PSA). With leadership roles in both organizations I was able to connect with other college students who felt the same type of hardships I felt as a Muslim in America. I aimed to attract as many non-Muslims as possible to IMAN events. This helped them learn the true peaceful nature of Islam that is actually the opposite of common belief. This created an understanding between non-Muslims and Muslims on campus and led to less Muslims abandoning their faith to fit in with other students on campus. After the success IMAN has had in accomplishing my goal, I wanted this type of relationship for more than just our campus. I connected with Muslim Student Associations at ___ College, ____ International University, and the University of ____ where they and IMAN worked together to educate the masses and defeat ignorance by attracting more non-Muslims to events such as the annual MSA Olympics. At these events non-Muslims had the chance to learn more about Islam and Muslims. This is the best way to stop discrimination and racism and promote tolerance and open-mindedness in these South Florida college campuses.
Being teased about my faith during grade school only made me want to embrace it. The more I saw my friends forsake their faith, the more I wanted non-Muslims to understand it. Facing adversity has made me the person I am today and made me prouder than ever to say that I am a Pakistani born American Muslim.