It happened not so long ago, on a particularly hot Saturday afternoon in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. Red shopping carts hugged the newly paved road. Baby strollers and soccer moms passed by. I had just parked, and was walking up to Target to use up the $50 in gift cards I had gotten for my birthday a few days before.
A big man, dressed in construction clothes, with a scruffy look, was walking toward his 4x4. As I passed him, he glared at me and said, “I’m gonna take out my .22 and kill all them Arabs.”
I was confused and angry. Did he think I was Arab because I had blotched skin, a long goatee, black hair and brown eyes? I wanted to tell this jerk that my grandpa served in World War II and my cousin in Vietnam, that my mom is a professional volunteer who hosts the annual Memorial Day service and parade in Veterans Park in West Boca Raton. I wanted to tell him that I was in Junior ROTC in high school, that as a boy I wanted to join the military (until I read “Johnny Got His Gun” and “All Quiet on the Western Front”).
And then, I felt like the jerk. I shouldn’t want to tell him any of this. It shouldn’t matter. This is supposed to be America.
Then I suddenly saw all these Middle Eastern people — my brethren. I felt ashamed, and I sympathized with them. I wanted to crush that jerk. But his blatant racism shook me.
I am uniquely mixed. I’m Iranian from my dad’s side, who was raised Muslim, and I’m Jewish German and Russian from my mom’s side.
My older brother always says that we should serve as ambassadors for peace in the Middle East because if our family can function properly, then so can everyone else. Growing up, we went to temple. When members would ask if there’d ever be peace in the Middle East, Rabbi Merle Singer, the head rabbi would joke, “Not in my lifetime, but maybe in God’s.”
We’re not religious, but everyone in my family wears a necklace with a “Shema” charm engraved in Hebrew. The symbol means that we’re all one. It’s uniting. It’s only one sided, and has one edge.
My Mom was the first one to get it. She wanted non-Jewish people to look at it and make a comment so that she could tell them what it means. Corny, I know. She’s like that.
My little brother and older brother wear one, too. We never take it off. We’ll be buried with it on.
Sadly, I’ve tucked my symbol under my shirt before because I was ashamed of being Jewish. Like when someone said a Jewish stereotype.
My mom’s dad was in the garment industry, and my dad’s dad sold Persian carpets. Not that different, come to think of it.
My girlfriend is Turkish Muslim. She won’t eat white fish, but she loves matzo ball soup. My parents were rebels in their cultures after they got married. But they were young and in love and didn’t care. They had planned to go to Japan on their honeymoon, but my dad wasn’t allowed to enter because his passport was Iranian.
The night after running into that jerk at Target, I shaved off my goatee. My mom had been begging me to get rid of it for some time. Puberty had finally allowed me the chance to grow one, and I loved it. But now it was gone.
When she asked me why I shaved it off, I replied, “I was just tired of it.” If only she knew the real reason, she would have begged me to keep just to spite that racist. But I flaked out.
For that one day, I experienced what it is like to be an Arab in post-September 11 America — that is, what it is like to be racially profiled. It sucks. Daniel Vahab, a senior at Florida State University, is a senior staff writer of the Florida Flambeau campus newspaper.
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Daniel, One incident with an idiot is not an indication of anything other than you ran across an idiot. I hope if you plan on becoming a journalist you will check the facts before whining and projecting the wrong image of our wonderful country. There will always be racists but this is not a racist country. We live in a predominately decent country. And now for the facts: FBI reports show that in 2006, 66% of religiously motivated attacks were on Jews, while just 11% targeted Muslims, even though the Jewish and Muslim populations are similar in size. Catholics and Protestants, who together account for 9% of victims, are subject to almost as much abuse as Muslims in this country. (I think you will be safer if people assume your Muslim rather than Jewish so keep hiding your necklace.) 2006's FBI stats show that anti-Islamic hate crimes totaled 156. I understand that even one is too many but not bad for a country of over 300 million and the fact we were viciously attacked by 19 Muslims who murdered over 3,000 innocent people on our soil. But if you peel back those numbers further you find they're mostly victimless crimes. For instance listed as a "hate crime" was the following example: "A copy of the Quran was found in a toilet at the library of Pace University in New York." Or other so called atrocities, such as someone trampling on a "flower bed" at a mosque in Texas, or graffiti. In reality, Americans have been remarkably, and admirably, tolerant and respectful of Muslims and their institutions since 9/11. You should thank G-d everyday that you were not raised in your father's intolerant country with the most intolerant religion on the planet.
We must combat the age of ignorance. Keep up the good fight Daniel.
It's not 'hate', it's an intense dislike for a muslim ethnicity which is firmly in the grip of the most intolerant belief-system on the planet today. Consider yourself lucky to have grown up in the West and not your father's homeland.
It´s not "hate" ? "I’m gonna take out my .22 and kill all them Arabs." ?
You don't have to hate someone or something to want to kill it. That is a very naive and erroneous understanding of human nature. If you perceive someone or something as a threat to your country by virtue of their acts and statements, then it is perfectly normal to want to remove that threat.
A complaining arab looking guy on a jewish website is probably too much for most commentators. The fact that you feel threatend by arabs justifies "I’m gonna take out my .22 and kill all them Arabs." towards an unknnown guy in a store ? Ridiculous. Large parts of the world feel threatened by US americans and israeli jews. So they are allow to remove that threat, too ? Would you understand that too ?
Daniel is the future of this country, you can't stop us. What an amazing mix you have in your family! Probably the idiot at the Target store realized one day HE'S going to be the minority & that's why he felt so threatened. It must suck to be him. I know it's easier said than done -- a lot of us non-Arab-looking Jews hide our identity to escape being targeted as well -- but I think you should grow your goatee back & come clean to your Mom about why you shaved it in the first place. (She may be "corny" but she sounds like a very wise woman.) & don't let people with no life dictate how you live yours.
All Fear based. Fear is running most of this world and people coming from fear don't even know that fear creates more fear. I am a Jewess and very proud of it. I know Muslims here in South Africa and they are wonderful people. We are to be weary of grouping numbers of true haters with the mass group. Daniel I feel that you are wise and have a lot to offer. Now your children when married will be Muslims. How are you going to handle that?