Post by hafeezanwar on Mar 5, 2008 7:56:38 GMT
Islamophobia.. Americans turn blind eye
What would an American do if she/he saw someone bullied and mocked at a bakery for no reason but being Muslim?
Giving the cold shoulder, giving the thumbs-up and rarely standing up and be counted to denounce Islamophobia were the reaction of customers caught on hidden cameras at ABC News primetime show "What Would You Do?" aired Tuesday night
.
At the show, one actress posed as a hijab-clad Muslim customer and an actor as a salesman at a bakery in Texas. Asking for an apple strudel, the woman was showered with anti-Muslim, anti-Arab slur from the salesman to see what kind of reaction this would provoke among other customers.
"Get back on the camel and go back to wherever you came from," the salesman told the supposedly Muslim customer. "You got that towel on your head. I don't know what's underneath your dress. Just take your business and go elsewhere with it."
"Sir, I am an American, I was born and raised here," the female actor told him.
Shockingly, the majority of the bystanders did or said absolutely nothing.
Desperate to have any support, the woman makes a direct appeal to one customer.
"Sir, would you mind ordering me an apple strudel? That's why I am here."
Unmoved by the visibly shaken woman, the man simply completes his purchase and walks out of the bakery.
Others were even more blunt.
One man thanked the salesman and gave him the thumbs-up twice for his discriminatory, Islamophobic behavior.
"If I was running the place I'd do the same thing," said the man. "She wasn't dressed right."
Appalled by the apparent discrimination, one man at last stood up for the victim, chastising the salesman and calling him a "bad American".
Outraged by the sales clerk's hateful words, two women walked out of the bakery in protest but after giving the salesman a lesson in tolerance.
"Sir, we are not buying our kolaches because you are really offensive and disgusting," one said.
Real life
Not so far from the bakery shop was Nohayia Javed watching the scenes from ABC's control van.
The Chicago-born woman painfully observed the actress, who was just playing Javed's real life experiences of racism from fellow Americans just because she is Muslim.
"They always start off with, 'you're a terrorist, Osama-lover, towel-head, camel jockey' on and on," Javed told.
"If I tell them I'm American, they're like, 'No you're not. Just because you were born here doesn't make you American.' And I'm like, 'What makes you American?'"
Javed is not alone to face deep-seated Islamophobia.
A USA Today/Gallup poll had showed that 39 percent of Americans feel prejudiced toward Muslims.
Anti-Muslim hate crimes in the US.. have soared dramatically in recent years.
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's recent figures, Islamophobic crimes more than quadrupled from 28 incidents in 2000 to 156 incidents in 2006.
Though she was pleased to finally see someone jumping to the actress's support, this was not the case in real life.
"In my lifetime, I've never ever had anybody stand up for me," Javed said.
"It's very touching to see that because that's the right thing to do, I believe as an American." -Agencies
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What would an American do if she/he saw someone bullied and mocked at a bakery for no reason but being Muslim?
Giving the cold shoulder, giving the thumbs-up and rarely standing up and be counted to denounce Islamophobia were the reaction of customers caught on hidden cameras at ABC News primetime show "What Would You Do?" aired Tuesday night
.
At the show, one actress posed as a hijab-clad Muslim customer and an actor as a salesman at a bakery in Texas. Asking for an apple strudel, the woman was showered with anti-Muslim, anti-Arab slur from the salesman to see what kind of reaction this would provoke among other customers.
"Get back on the camel and go back to wherever you came from," the salesman told the supposedly Muslim customer. "You got that towel on your head. I don't know what's underneath your dress. Just take your business and go elsewhere with it."
"Sir, I am an American, I was born and raised here," the female actor told him.
Shockingly, the majority of the bystanders did or said absolutely nothing.
Desperate to have any support, the woman makes a direct appeal to one customer.
"Sir, would you mind ordering me an apple strudel? That's why I am here."
Unmoved by the visibly shaken woman, the man simply completes his purchase and walks out of the bakery.
Others were even more blunt.
One man thanked the salesman and gave him the thumbs-up twice for his discriminatory, Islamophobic behavior.
"If I was running the place I'd do the same thing," said the man. "She wasn't dressed right."
Appalled by the apparent discrimination, one man at last stood up for the victim, chastising the salesman and calling him a "bad American".
Outraged by the sales clerk's hateful words, two women walked out of the bakery in protest but after giving the salesman a lesson in tolerance.
"Sir, we are not buying our kolaches because you are really offensive and disgusting," one said.
Real life
Not so far from the bakery shop was Nohayia Javed watching the scenes from ABC's control van.
The Chicago-born woman painfully observed the actress, who was just playing Javed's real life experiences of racism from fellow Americans just because she is Muslim.
"They always start off with, 'you're a terrorist, Osama-lover, towel-head, camel jockey' on and on," Javed told.
"If I tell them I'm American, they're like, 'No you're not. Just because you were born here doesn't make you American.' And I'm like, 'What makes you American?'"
Javed is not alone to face deep-seated Islamophobia.
A USA Today/Gallup poll had showed that 39 percent of Americans feel prejudiced toward Muslims.
Anti-Muslim hate crimes in the US.. have soared dramatically in recent years.
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's recent figures, Islamophobic crimes more than quadrupled from 28 incidents in 2000 to 156 incidents in 2006.
Though she was pleased to finally see someone jumping to the actress's support, this was not the case in real life.
"In my lifetime, I've never ever had anybody stand up for me," Javed said.
"It's very touching to see that because that's the right thing to do, I believe as an American." -Agencies
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