Happy Home

writinggirl2writingwoman:

this made a lot of sense right up until it invoked how great the U.S. is and how this is the only country where muslims can dress however they want to go swimming. because that may have proven true for this particular family, but it is not true for so many others in this country.

That is why, with her faults and shortcomings notwithstanding, the United States of America is truly an amazing place. Here, I have never been harassed for wearing a shirt into the swimming pool. Not once. Neither have my wife, sisters, aunts, cousins, or the like. Here, if you want to go to the pool fully clothed, there is no problem at all. If we are asked, we say it is for religious reasons, and it is always allowed, and in some cases, even respected.

sorry, but i have heard of too many women across this country and in my local community, including myself, who have been told bluntly that we are not welcome in the local pools. even the local water parks have had some issues. apparently there was some training that had to go on with staff but there are still issues with other park goers causing problems for muslim women and park staff having been trained correctly but being uncomfortable to take the side of muslims when the issue comes up.

and could we stop with the whole “the U.S. is the best place to be a Muslim” claptrap that seems designed to be an over-eager obsequious “i’m a good american! really!” ickyness??? really. we aren’t bad americans, but we don’t have to kiss butt that hard.

Some of your writings bring remind me of my mother. In that the sense of, I -know- prejudice exists and I’m sure it’s a bitch to deal with. I don’t find myself on the receiving end of much of it…I’m a skinny little white girl. The harshest I’ll ever encounter is some southern baptist telling me Catholics go to hell. Maybe I just don’t want to believe these attitudes actually exist. But I do want to believe my generation’s different. A bit more open minded towards other religions, cultures, sexual orientations, etc. Or maybe that’s just me. I live in what one would call a moderately conservative part of Georgia…

W2WW, have you seen the movie Crash? Couple of years ago. It’s hard to explain, and the timeline skips around quite a bit. But the general premise is about overcoming racial/ethnic barriers to see that people are still people. :)