Manifesto: Niaz K. Siddique and Iman Abdul-Ali

Ana Muslima

I am a Muslim. It’s something I like to tell people up front so they know. I am proud of what I am and disappointed in how the media portrays us but there is no shame.

I don’t go around shoving my religion down people’s throats, religion is a way of life, it is a belief; something to guide me through life and it’s really no one else’s business.

America is famous for targeting minorities and alienating them, oppressing them until they break and Americanizing them, stripping them of their identities and now it’s the Muslims they are attacking. America has a huge influence on the entire world because they have their feet in everything.

The U.S. put Africans into slavery and after they were freed they were severely mistreated, there was hate of everything communist, Vietnam, Pearl Harbor and the isolation of the Japanese. It’s disgusting all the injustices this country has gotten away with while the KKK runs free. And why is it that the Holocaust is put on a high pedestal when the U.S. didn’t commit that crime and we’re all made to feel guilty about it and rarely address the actual crimes committed.

"A man who stands for nothing will fall for anything." - Malcolm X

I am a Muslim. I live in a post 9/11 society. I go through extra security to get on planes. My name is considered “scary”. I am considered “exotic”. Everyday at 9:11 (am or pm) I always look at the clock, always at that moment. Always having to reflect. Two months after September 11^th my family’s front door was egged. I am not guilty. I am a good person. I am proud of my culture and my people. I am not the Taliban. I am not Al-Qaeda. I am tired of turning on the television and being bombarded with hate. Stereotypes, propaganda. Fear Tactics. It is amazing to me how many untruths come through the television screen. How almost an entire nation can be so easily manipulated by a man in a suit. Or a radio personality. It is actually a little frightening to me. I almost find myself feeling like I can’t be both a patriotic American and route for my people who are being misrepresented and repressed. I am an American, but first and foremost I am a Muslim. I want to be able to wear both hats.