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Jeffrey Sheler And Michael Betzold: Being A Muslim In America

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Jeffrey Sheler And Michael Betzold: Being A Muslim In America
C. Newton

Essay one

Being a Muslim in America
By Jeffrey Sheler and Michael Betzold

In the article Muslim in America authors Jeffrey Sheler and Michael Betzold describe the hardships of being a Muslim in modern American society, they also give us in depth look at the normality of these American citizens and how they do not differ from any other ethnic group, how they yearn for acceptance, and how they're adapting to American life. "Muslims feel very much at home in Middle America"(655).
As a Muslim who has grown up in America I related to this article on so many levels. Even though racism exists and the world is full of ignorant people, you can't never truly grasp the idea until you're a victim of it. Around the time of the September 11 attacks, I went to the mall with my aunt who was wearing a hijab or a traditional Islamic covering. Every store we walked into the reactions were the same and the customer service horrible. Store clerks would just turn away instead of greeting or welcoming us to the store, you could see the discomfort and revulsion on their faces as they checked us out. This truly sadden me, and showedme how hateful and ignorant people were.
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Islam has been present in North America for a very long time; however it still remained an unfamiliar to most Americans. The attacks on the World Trade Centers on September 11 shed a gloomy light to this misunderstood and unknown religion. The tragic events of September 11 had a deep impact on most Americans. We mourn for the 3,000 innocent lives that were lost, we were shocked by the cruelty of mankind and most importantly we were surprised that religion was the justification for these heinous

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