The Eye-Opener

As a student in a predominantly Caucasian, upper-middle-class, and Republican town, racism stands as a topic not often spoken, but one that lies on the cusp of everyone's lips when a stranger suddenly roles into the community. After reading Amy Waldman's novel, The Submission, my eyes have only widened at the amount of prejudice that many Americans face everyday. As an Asian-American, I every so often here jokes about the things that "my people" did to deserve the repercussions of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 or the bombing of Pearl Harbor. However, nothing compares to the daily stereotypes that Muslims face in the United States following the extremely sad and unfortunate events that occurred on the morning of September 11, 2001. Especially after I finished analyzing Waldman's work, I grew indignant to the constant racism that innocent individuals like Mohammad Khan (Mo) and many others face because of their religious and ethnic upbringing. The hypocrisy in the United States today astonishes me each and every time I walk into an airport and see security guards putting extra eyes on a man because he stands clad in a suit with a turban around his head. What happened to equality for all men? Yes, no laws specifically discriminate against any American citizen; however, the stereotypes and extra attention go unsaid when it comes to American Muslims. In one specific moment in The Submission, my mouth dropped at the ridiculous suggestion of treating every Muslim different because of the actions of a terrorist group in their native country: "separate security lines for Muslims" (45). Disgust and anger fill me as I page through the repeated stereotypes within this novel as I continuously hope that characters will one-by-one realize their folly mistake in taking Mo as a terrorist simply because of his genetics. In many moments, I agreed with Claire that the argument against Mo's submission "[is] a betrayal of... this country" (23). Therefore, I found myself justifiably disappointed when Mo gave up his right to build his memorial. I had hoped that he would stand and fight for his ability, as an American citizen, to claim his winning prize. Waldman's everlasting assertion throughout the novel that Americans remain unreasonably skeptical and prejudice toward American Muslims has truly given me great disgust in the liberty of our "great nation." I guess that I can only hope that one day we, as a whole and unified nation, will recognize our mistakes to pass judgment on innocent citizens of our once equal nation.