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Speaking out against STEREOTYPES
Since Sept. 11, Muslims in America have been burdened with negative perceptions. The Islamic Speakers Bureau of Atlanta is trying to change that.
What hurts most, says Soumaya Khalifa, is seeing her children face discrimination.
In the weeks after Sept. 11, 2001, her middle child was working as a pharmacy technician in Texas. As such, his first name -- Osama -- appeared on prescription receipts. An irate customer called the pharmacy, wanting to know if it was a prank, and demanded that Osama be fired. The pharmacy refused, but the incident left the American-born Muslim shaken.
Khalifa's oldest son, an Augusta ophthalmologist named Yousuf, has had his authority questioned during surgery simply because of his faith. When he used the term "wunderbar" one day to describe operating-room preparations, a nurse accused him of employing an al-Quaida code word. The nurse was fired.
During a business-class discussion about the best foreign languages to know, Khalifa's teenage daughter, Yosra, was stunned when classmates dismissed Arabic as a language spoken "only by terrorists."
Welcome to modern-day America, where even American-born Muslims receive stares, curses and worse on a regular basis. Trying to change perceptions about Muslims in this country is the reason that Khalifa -- a 49-year-old Peachtree City human resources consultant, Realtor, wife, mother and grandmother -- founded the Islamic Speakers Bureau of Atlanta in the months following Sept. 11.
"It's not about preaching," she said. "It's not about changing people's mind-sets. It's just to give knowledge and understanding of who the American Muslim is and what Islam really stands for."
The nonprofit Atlanta bureau is affiliated with the Islamic Networks Group in San Jose, Calif. The group's mission: to teach, not preach, about what being Islamic means. The bureau's 25 members take their message to whoever will listen, speaking weekly to students, police, hospital personnel, churches, community groups, businesses and the media. The group's goal, Khalifa said, is to educate, build relationships and eliminate stereotypes.
For example, the "t" word. The belief that all Muslims are terrorists is the biggest and most damaging assumption, said the soft-spoken Khalifa, who conveys quiet authority from her 5-foot frame.
MUSLIMS AT A GLANCE?
-- Kathy Janich |
She and her fellow speakers talk about the basics of Islam, the role of women in Islam, current trends, Islam in America and what Muslims have contributed to civilization.
"I wanted to go out," Khalifa said, "because every time you turn around, the TV or the newspaper or the radio, 99 percent of anything that was being said was very negative."
The idea of doing outreach began percolating within Khalifa nine years ago; Sept. 11 made it imperative, she said, calling aftermath of the attacks "a very scary time for Muslims."
What followed was plenty of interest in her bureau and a lot of fear. There were many last-minute cancellations in the beginning. The stares and suspicions haven't gone away, and she's no longer surprised to find wads of gum stuck to the windshield of her car.
Discrimination
Since Sept. 11, job discrimination against Muslims has increased by 400 percent, she said. A 2004 Cornell University study found that almost half of those surveyed believe the U.S. government should restrict the civil liberties of American Muslims; 27 percent support requiring all American Muslims to report where they live to the federal government; 22 percent favor racial profiling to identify possible terrorist threats; and 29 percent think undercover agents should infiltrate and keep tabs on Muslim civic and volunteer groups.
Khalifa and her fellow speakers remain undaunted.
"They don't dispute the stereotypes people have, and [they] do admit that some terrible things have been done in the name of Islam," said Elaine McGee, a retired Clayton County educator, who taught instructors of English as a second language.
She has heard the bureau's presentations more than once; seen its speakers calmly handle pointed queries about violence, terrorism and the treatment of Muslim women; and heard from students who called their encounter with Khalifa's group a "life-changing experience."
"I sometimes think Soumaya doesn't realize what she's done for Muslims here," said McGee, who founded the B'nai Israel synagogue in Fayette County. "I'm honored to call her a friend."
Members of the speaker's bureau come from a variety of occupations, including college professors, engineers, businesspeople, doctors and stay-at-home moms. They come from varied socio-economic levels and ethnic backgrounds that include Caucasians, Indians, Pakistanis, African-Americans and people from the Middle East, said Khalifa, who moved from Egypt to Texas when she was 12 and is an American citizen.
In its sixth year, the bureau is really just beginning.
"I think the key is to know people who are Muslim," Khalifa said. "Then the barriers start coming down."
ON THE WEB
For more information about the Islamic Speakers Bureau of Atlanta, see www.isbatlanta.org.
