Dear President of the United States,

I’m a student from Brooklyn International High School, originally from Bangladesh. After moving to Brooklyn, the lifestyle I was living was very amazing compared to how it was in Bangladesh. It seems like more opportunity is available here. However, an incident happened when I was about 16 years old. Three years ago on Eid, which is known as the biggest Muslim holiday, something happened. Eid is when people get together and wear their traditional clothing, a tunic along with a white hat, or “Tupi,” and also complete prayers in the morning. My friend and I were on our way to school after the morning prayer. We were in a rush, due to our exam we had to take that following morning. We were heading to the subway as a cop approached my friend and pulled him aside asking him to open his bag. The cop was scanning his bag for a weapon. Throughout the process, I was wondering, “Did the cop check his bag because he was Muslim?” That cop had only held up my friend and no one else, which was pretty unfair. Why was our culture getting questioned? The cop started inquiry checking for ID cards and all. I’m guessing since my friend did not have a chance to change his traditional outfit, maybe that’s why the cop held us back. We had an important exam to take this morning. We tried to explain to the cop that we had to go, we were running late. The cop refused to hear our story and kept both of us on the hold. My friend began to feel offended of his looks. I noticed the injustice that happened. Since I was younger back then I did not have a beard, which saved me from most of this hassle, but I felt awful for my poor friend who did not do any crime. The cop made it seem that we were about to blow up the subway. Everyone’s eyes were on us. Now, imagine being discriminated against due to your religion. We had just prayed, we were feeling holy and pure, but we were seen as terrorists. I’m not saying all police are rude or would behave the way they did with us.

Furthermore, this reminds me of the Texas event, where an only 14-year-old Muslim student used his creativity to invent a clock. He was so impressed, the following day he took this clock to show his teacher thinking they might be excited to see his invention. But the opposite happened, that teacher called the cops on that 14-year-old. She gave her reason as he brought a bomb to school. That little boy had to face serious consequences such as “The boy's family says Ahmed was punished. He was suspended and had to stay home from school for three days.” Now this all related to being racist. Many may think discrimination is just with slavery or the separation of people of color. I am seeing another side of discrimination, which is more against the Muslim religion. Just because of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, most of the people think Muslims are dangerous. Not all Muslims are like that. Terrorists use the Muslim culture and portray an incorrect image of our culture.

In addition, our most recent president seemed to respect our culture. According to the Texas event, “Obama called Ahmed's clock 'cool' on Twitter. He said that more kids should enjoy science like Ahmed. Obama said science makes America a great country.” Obama was spreading positive vibes to the nation. 

Islamophobia is a big issue that you should address because Muslim people don’t feel safe outside their house. Muslims face different types of issues. The majority of us should end discrimination and should show the world what real Muslims contain. The government should get involved, including with adding more Muslim workers to govern our society such as, suggest a Muslim leader, cabinet members, Supreme Court judges, also the presidency. I am hoping to see change around our region.

Sincerely ,

Forhad Sunny

References

https://newsela.com/articles/student-clock/id/12016/