Many people may be shocked but I am not an Arab, I am a Hispanic Muslim. My father was born in the Dominican Republic and my mother was born in Brooklyn and is of Puerto Rican decent. I just turned twenty four years old and got married a month ago. I have been a Muslim for five years now. I have started growing my beard and once I have done that the stereotypes of the media came along. "You can't be a 'Muzlom', you are Spanish," my family will tell me. I am now known to them as Osama Jr, to my family. And another stereotype I have obtain is to be a women oppressing camel rider. I never have ever beaten my wife, nor would I ever will, if anything she beats me; secondly, I have never even ridden a camel. Unfortunately like the media affected good moral women, the media has also slandered and labeled most Muslims as terrorist. Smart people have to realize that there are good and bad apples in every tree, and that ones persons actions shouldn't affect the rest of the group. Because of the media giving the image that most Muslims are terrorist, it is sometimes difficult walking in the street wearing religious garments or doing religious acts. I hope to one day to help change the negative views of the media on the Muslim world. They constantly bombarded television watchers brains with terrible images. I am just a simple Hispanic American trying to live life equality and I shouldn't be judged by how I look or what I believe but by piety.
As I try to find an image which symbolizes myself all I find is beheading pictures, people with swords and bombs with big beards. This is what I mean when I say "the media has terrorized my life."
Read Gender, Race and Class in the Media by Dines and Hunez.
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