Tuesday, February 17, 2009
A shocking observation
After reading the book Habibi and discussing the different stereotypes that are often held about Arab Americans, I was on the look out to see some of these terrible stereotypes in play. Sure enough the next day I heard one. On a bus, I can't remember which number, a new driver was being trained. Upon picking up new passengers at a stop, a man that looked of Arabic decent entered the bus and swiped his card like everyone else. The bus driver watched him intently get on, pay, and walk to his seat before turning to the driver training him and saying "You never know since 9/11". I was shocked. I could not believe that kind of ignorance was still being fueled. September 11th was an attack by an extreme group of terrorist, not the entire Arabic ethnic group. I think that people need to take much more time to educate themselves on what is going on in the world, and with the people in it. I am embarrassed for others who would rather perpetuate hatred and harsh stereotyping of people that may be different from themselves, and wish that there were more people willing to gain knowledge on issues, and less people resisting to accept that people are people, and one person cannot define a nation, a ethnicity, or a race.
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Sarah, thank you for sharing your story. Unfortunately this story is not shocking to me, because it is still a common problem that is found in our everyday lives. I am extremely disappointed that the city would hire someone with such ignorance, but then again it is hard to truly judge character when interviewing someone for a job. I think that it would of been interesting to have gotten the bus number, and as a class we could of written letters to the city, or to CATA. This type of behavior is really unacceptable and horribly disappointing. The student should not have been put in the position to feel inferior, and the bus driver had absolutely no right to say what he did. I agree that more people need to educate themselves with sources other than the mass media. If people do not attempt to learn for themselves they will never truly learn the truth and facts. And until then, unfortunate circumstances will happen like the one you witnessed recently on the bus.
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