Young And Muslim In America After Paris: ‘We Have To Constantly Prove… That We’re Not Terrorists’
At Dearborn’s Shatila Bakery, Waiqup sat with his back facing an array of intricately prepared Arabic and French desserts.
“[When there is a terrorist attack], every Muslim has to denounce the act,” the recent college graduate said. “It’s like we have to constantly prove ourselves that we’re not terrorists.”
Waiqup, 23, is a Muslim American resident of Dearborn, Michigan, home to the largest Arab American community in the United States. Located just outside Detroit, more than 40,000 Arab Americans live in the area, according to the American Immigration Council, and their presence is illustrated by the Middle Eastern restaurants, bakeries, and other businesses sitting comfortably alongside major fast food chains.
Dearborn has also been a vital hub for refugees coming to the United States. The city has the highest concentration of Iraqi refugees in the United States. The greater Detroit area is also home to the fourth-largest population of Syrian immigrants — about 3,000 people.
I was thinking about joining the FBI — my Arabic helps.
The city has become a favorite talking point among right-wing anti-Muslim activists, who claim the area harbors “no-go zones” where Muslim communities tightly control citizens and enact sharia law. Such accusations tend to gain momentum after terrorist attacks such as last week’s ISIS-supported killing in Paris, France, which has already triggered an uptick in Islamophobia in the United States.
Locals say that the Arab and Muslim population here is fully-assimilated into the American social fabric. Waiqup’s father emigrated to the U.S. from Yemen at age 15. For people like Waiqup who were born and raised here, Dearborn is the only home they’ve ever known.
“The only reason I’d ever want to leave this area is the weather,” he joked. With his life goals largely molded by American values and culture, Waiqup said he wants to enlist in the police force.
“I want to protect people,” he said. “I was thinking about joining the FBI — my Arabic helps. But I don’t know if it’s a sure thing, so I’ll just join the state police, and see where it goes from there.”
“I’m not saying there is no problem with extremism — there is. But I want to help,” he added, grinning.
Waiqup said the community has in many ways insulated him from Islamophobia. Most of his friends and family are either comfortable with Islam or are Muslim themselves. But he acknowledged that Islamophobia has a tendency to make its way into the town; he cited a recent wave of anti-Islam protests outside mosques across the country, where armed activists waved firearms while decrying Islam.
“Other people, like my sister, I fear for them,” he said. “If my sister had driven around town during those protests, I’d be afraid, because I wouldn’t know what could happen to her.”
It’s as if one life isn’t as valuable as the other life, right?
Waiqup expressed frustration with the American media, especially the wide discrepancy between the deluge of coverage surrounding the terrorist attacks in Paris as opposed to the minimal attention paid to a bombing in Beirut, Lebanon that killed 44 people the day before. He said that he — like many young Americans — gets most of his news from programs such as The Daily Show, but grew frustrated with the lack of concern about the Lebanon attack.
“I knew something happened in Beirut, but it was overshadowed,” he said. “It’s as if one life isn’t as valuable as the other life, right?”
He also voiced unease with the growing chorus of Republican and Democratic governors calling on the United States to refuse Syrian refugees, as well as politicians who argue the U.S. should only accept Christians fleeing persecution. He said he was grateful for the words of President Barack Obama, who berated the governors and other politicians during a speech at the G20 summit in Turkey, saying a “religious test” for refugees is un-American.
“Obama is good — he is on point. Especially on this Syrian refugee thing,” Waiqup said. “Like, how many civilians have died period in this conflict — over there!”
At a nearby window-side table in the rear of the bakery, two men bit into Arabic sweets. The elder is a car auctioneer, while his younger companion, a mechanic in Iraq, said he was considering driving a taxi here.
“I’ve lived here eight years and never had any issues,” said the older gentleman. Both men are from Iraq and asked that their names be withheld for privacy purposes. “Even if the war in Iraq ended tomorrow, I wouldn’t go back. Here, we have everything we need — water, electricity, security.”
Source: thinkprogress.org