Gender Reflection

Posted: January 4th, 2023

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Gender Reflection

Racism is a significant concern in the United States and other parts of the globe, where people from diverse racial backgrounds come together for different purposes. Seemingly, racism is a pervasive act in Americans’ lives that starts in childhood, but unfortunately, clinging to racial practices and thoughts compromise developmental trajectories and compromise wellbeing. The paper illustrates how Muslim women’s involvement in the fight against the prevalent racial practices in the U.S. indicates that segregation not only targets particular religions but also affects both genders.

I have encountered racism first hand, which makes me develop a negative perception of racial segregation. I left the United Arab Emirates (UAE) when I was 18 years old to study in the United States of America. Nonetheless, I have learned that some Americans still have racist thoughts making them seclude people from other races. Contrary to the UAE, where it is abnormal to talk about the different colors of people, the situation in the U.S. is quite different because seemingly Americans try to sort a person depending on their color, such as white, yellow, brown, or black person. Such variations make it difficult for people from other races to move around and to enjoy the rights and freedoms that white Americans enjoy. The racial conditioning in the U.S. pushes most people to be racist because the conversations about color differences are rampant. Such conditioning is dangerous because it supports racial thoughts, which usually derail peaceful coexistence. For example, the killing of George Floyd shows that racism is yet from over in America. Seeing the death of African Americans on social media raised fears about whether America focuses on suppressing racial feelings and acts, and whether the country is safe for non-white Americans. Racism affects everyone, males and females, and taking quick and effective measures to prevent fatal repercussions is necessary.

The evident racism in the U.S. seems to take a toll on Muslim women who feel that being a Muslim in the U.S. is almost not welcomed. Daulatzai and Rana give an example of an Islamic family in the U.S., where the youngest daughter in the household lacked sleep and battled nightmares when President Trump announced that he would introduce stiffer measures against people from Islamic states during his 2016 campaigns.[1] The fears the young girl has about racism in the U.S. reflect the views of women of color in the U.S. who think it is now time to stand up against the racial injustices, especially those attached to religion. Daulatzai and Rana describe how Muslim women have over the years battled the notion that Muslim is a racial-religious group in a bid to create a secure place for the Muslims in the American society.[2] Black Islamic women advocated for their religion in the U.S. as early as the 1920s when Black Muslim women protested during the Ahmadiyya Movement of the 1920s to fight for their rights. The evidence describes how Muslim women are at a higher risk of facing racism in America.

Furthermore, Muslim women, including those from South Asia, Arabs, Black Muslim women, and Latinx, have joined hands to resist the cultural and state harassment and violence in post-9/11 America. Smith et al. create a similar impression by describing how women of color have emerged since the 1970s to oppose the racial violence perpetrated by individuals and the state.[3] Women indulgence in fighting against the prevalent racism in the U.S. suggests that the issue does not affect men only, but also women who are already struggling with the gender imbalance that affects most societies.

Bibliography

Daulatzai, Sohail and Rana Junaid. With Stones in Our Hands: Writings on Muslims, Racism,

            and Empire. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2018.

Smith, Andrea et al. The Color of Violence: The Incite! Anthology. Durham: Duke University

            Press, 2016.

[1] Sohail Daulatzai and Junaid Rana. With Stones in Our Hands: Writings on Muslims, Racism, and Empire (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2018), 326.

[2] Ibid, 328.

[3] Andrea Smith et al. The Color of Violence: The Incite! Anthology. Durham: Duke University Press, 2016), 1.