Ahmed's Clock: A Result of Racism or Hypersensitivity?

By now I'm sure everyone has heard the tale of Ahmed Mohamed, the teenager who was put in handcuffs for bringing his homemade clock to school. This incident is a shameful example of predjudice getting out of hand, but has luckily turned out for the better for Ahmed in all the support he has found following his suspension. Since the story has spread, a lot of questions have been asked over the scenario. Did President Obama really need to get involved? Does the clock work? Does Sarah Palin really still believe that it's "more than a clock?" However, the one that I've read above any other is:

"Whould this have happebed if he was white?"

I read a pretty interesting article concerning this on The New York Post. 

While I don't agree with the claim of this whole story being a "False, convient tale of racism" I do think the author's questions pose for a compelling conversation. Is the issue bias? Or is it something else?

In my opinion, it is difficult to deny that Islamophobia had a minor (if not major) role in Amed's arrest and suspension. However, I have to admit, when I first heard the story, my mind immediately went to an event that happened in my own community this past Wednesday, when a portion of the freeway was shutdown for an hour because of a cooler on the side of the road.

The New York Post article also rattles off some examples of overeactions to certain, unthreatening behavors in schools. Some students mentioned are white, some are not.

We can all agree that the reactions are extreme, we can all agree that the way they were handeled completely wrong, but what about the source of the behavior? From what illness is this a sympotom of?

When I play this out as happening at my old high school, which was predominantly white, I can very easily see a student proudly showing off his clock, and security thinking nothing of it, but at the same time, I can't rule out the possibility of the situation getting out of hand in the same way as it did for Ahmed, because I know it happenes all the time.

So, would this have happened to one of Ahmed's white classmates had they brought in a clock?

It's hard to say, but I think the greatest issue that's floated to the top of this entire ordeal is society's knee-jerk reaction to look for something to roll our eyes at, rather than allowing it to motivate us to try for something better. It always has to be dilluded by some debate. What were the administrators who called the police thinking? What was the racist-to-non-racist ratio? Who knows? Who cares?
It was another line added to the sad song of discrimination that too many minorities hear thanks to society's branding of all non-whites as violent and that's should matter.

It should have stopped before Treyvon.

It should have stopped before Tamir.

It should stopped before Ahmed.

How many more children need to fall victim before we admit that yes, racism is a problem, racism is the problem? I fear for a country that keeps asking why white kids aren't getting free white house tours instead of why black kids are getting shot.

But that's just me. Like I said before, I think this topic provides for some really, really compelling discussion, so for anybody reading this, I am personally challanging you to get out of your comfort zone and to share your opinion. What was your reaction to the story when you first heard it? What connections did you make? What do you think is the greater issue? Please, contribute below!

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The Art of Reflection

Privilege. I have it. You have it. Now what?

I've come to realize that I've drilled the importance of self-reflection into this blog, but not once have I described what self-reflection is, or what it looks like in the context of privilege. I'm going to try to fix that as best as I can.

Self-reflection, in layman's terms, is "meditation or serious thought about one's character, actions, and motives." It's taking a moment in your life to pause and critically contemplate the nature of your life, your self, and your actions. In a culture where we are all about self-validation, all about instant gratification, and life is constantly on the go, go, go, we have reached a destitute poverty of self-reflectors. Its gotten to a point where we don't even know what it looks like anymore. We don't even know where to begin.

Is self-reflecting self questioning?

Is it investigating? Excavating?

How long does it take?

Ten minutes?

Ten years?

I think the answer varies from person to person, but reflection in the context of privilege, in my opinion, is mostly based on observations that lead to an irreversible sort of awareness. It's an everlasting process. With different experiences, you become aware of different kinds of privilege. For example, I'd never really thought of able-bodied privilege until I started writing for this blog.

The real challenge comes when we start to deny the privilege that we have discovered, when we blow off multiple observations we've made as irrelevant to the conversation of unconscious bias.

A great example of the self-reflection process can be read in this article from the Huffington Post.

Gloria Atanmo exemplifies what it is to critically dissect observed disparities and sort them into privileges she has, many of which (such as African-American Privilege) she'd never consider a privilege previously .

Self-reflection varies on the person of course. What is reflection to me, to Atanmo, or her editor, could be entirely different from somebody else's "aha!" moment in privilege.

So what is self-reflection to you? Have you had any big "aha" moments worth that completely shifted your understanding of privilege?

Feel free to share in the comments below!

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Supreme Court Strikes Down Abercrombie Argument for Religious Discrimination

Christian privilege is being able to practice your religion without any interference from society. This has been a long running issue for the Muslim community, however, it seems that one very small success has been made this past weekend. According to The Guardian the supreme court has overseen the case concerning Abercrombie and Fitch's firing of Muslim workers for wearing hijabs on the grounds of "breaking the dress code." The courts have ruled against Abercrombie in an 8-1 decision, under their the provision that her employer openly stated that she was not hired because of the religious accommodations the company would have to make for her, which is a direct violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. 

This is a victory not just for the Muslim community, but for our country as a whole. In an era of rampant Islamophobia in the United States, we need as many Muslim victories as we can possibly get. This supreme court case assures a single extra degree of equality for women in the workplace, and as small of a victory it is, I still feel that it is one to celebrate nonetheless.

See more information about the court case: here.

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The Basics of Christian Privilege

As the PEW research center finds, 87% of Christians, no matter country they live in, find themselves being a part of the majority religion in their society. Anybody whose willing to drive two blocks down their neighborhood could confirm that America is no different. 

Most Christians  don't think twice about how their Religion effects how people treat them -- that's because being a Christian is relatively normal in our society. Meanwhile, thousands of others are discriminated for their beliefs: the Jewish, the Muslim, even Atheists. Too often, having one of these faiths is seen as a cultural or moral blemish. The reality of the world that we live in a culture not of Christian persecution, but Christian privilege.

Last week, we witnessed the death of three innocent Chapel Hill students who were killed because they were Muslim. The news doesn't cover things like this often, but let it be known that -especially to Muslims- hate crimes like these are far from being rare occurrences. In fact, According to the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services Division's most recent report,  16.9%  of hate crimes are motivated by racial bias.

But bias isn't just defined by violence. It's the little things. 

Last month, Buzzfeed released a video of what happened when four women decided to wear a hijab for a day. 

None of these four women were attacked, but they did experience bias. People stared, some were excessively nice to them; one of the women wearing a hijab was even told that she "[didn't] have to wear that in America." Overall, they were treated differently. 

Granted, bias against Islam is a form of both religious and cultural bias, but that's not the point. The point is, as a Christian, I don't have to worry about my safety if I choose to wear a cross. I don't have to worry about being called a terrorist or old fashioned. As a Christian, I live in a world without fear of violence or ridicule, while people of other religions do every single day. 

Christian privilege is yet another form of privilege because most people bias against those of other religions, and here in America, there is an overwhelming majority of Christians who, like anybody else, are prone to inherently judge those of different faiths. Just like we can't persecute those of different races, genders, and abilities, we can't persecute people because of their race. Most of all, those who are a part of the majority, just like those who are able-bodied, male, or white, Christians need to openly admit the privilege that they have in this culture and help lessen the burden of fellow humans who are victimized because of their differences.

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