Life, Loss and Other Important Things

I watched an awesome movie called Mooz-lum, By director Oasim Basir, and starring Danny Glover, Nia Long, Evan Ross, and Summer Bishil. It's the story of a young man named Tariq, who after being raised by a very strict Muslim father, never having experienced any kind of social life and having faced racism as a child, enters college confused about his beliefs and who he is.

Struggling with his faith because of things that happened to him when he was younger, he wants nothing to do with his family's faith.

The story takes place in the months before 911 and then right after the attacks hit the news. As I watched a scene that takes place directly after the attack - I remembered all the stories reported in the news about people, who out of ignorance went on the offensive and began attacking anyone who was Muslim or resembled someone who might be.

Horrible instances of people out of fear; and some just out of plain old fashioned racism and hatred; reacted with violence on others simply because of the color of their skin or their faith. Amid the tears of watching the scenes of New York that fateful day the movie also brought the anger I felt again to the surface, anger towards those who called themselves Americans and then acted no better than terrorists themselves.

I don't care what your faith is, what your skin color is or what your culture is - we all have the right given to us from God Almighty and our Constitution to believe what we choose, and feel safe in doing so. I may not agree with what someone else might choose to believe or how they live their lives, however,