2016. A new year in the technological era of the modern present. The year in which clicking a button can replicate the experience of virtual reality before your very eyes. Advanced tech, self-driven cars, robots with AIs sophisticated enough to mimic human expressions, etc. Just halfway through the year, we have been able to consummate more than our imagination ever desired. So, in more refined and crisp words, we have stepped into a new dimension of the modern era. The world, in a way, has progressed. But we have to ask ourselves this, have we actually succeeded? Looking more closely, we find out that although we may reign superior regarding the principles of modernization, there is one aspect of life where we have plummeted to the ground and have not been able to pick ourselves up from it. Humanity. Living in this world, we have come across the elements of superiority and quiet, unfortunately, we have started to use that element against our own kind.
Turn on the news channel and what’s the first thing that your eyes read through? Either a so-called “Muslim extremist” was somehow involved in a massacre or a black man getting pinned down to the ground because authorities “thought” he had a dangerous weapon nearby.
Is this what the world has come to? Was this what the future held for us? Abusing and ridiculing our own kind through racial and hate stereotypes?
Muslims have been given a hateful persona, and it’s as if the whole world believes it. People tend to focus more on the extremist element rather than getting up and learning a thing or two about the religion of Islam. It’s the arrogance that diffuses into their minds and corrupts their perspective on opinions regarding Muslims. We are people as well. We deserve to be treated accordingly. Labeling us as extremists, bombing our countries to “abolish” terrorism which ultimately results in the deaths of countless innocent men, women, and children. Is this humanity? Is this the world where we thought we would be safe? We are humans too. We have a voice.
Same is the case of racial profiling. There is a total of 18.5 percent of black men and women living in this world as of today. One act is not responsible for the blame of an entire race.
Recounting back a memory of when I watched a certain video regarding the evil of racism. Though I have forgotten the name of the video, the message was a vigorous one. During the said video, a seminar was being held and the person speaking was not named, however, her posture and the way she spoke rendered her influential. During the seminar, she stood up and uttered one statement. One statement only, and the whole room inclined into dead silence. She asked, very calmly, “raise your hands if you would like to be treated the same way an average African American is treated on a daily basis”. Not a single soul stirred during that intense scenario. It was at this stupefying moment I realized, that the people around us, they know the problem. They can comprehend the logic, but are too absorbed to find a solution.
“Some men just want to watch the world burn”
-Alfred J. Pennyworth
Racism and Islamophobia, though not the only worriment in the world, they are, however, the ones that need a separate and without a doubt, a more powerful medium of extensive contemplation. We have tried and failed to put this nuisance under restraint, but the absolute truth is, this will never go away until we let our voices be heard until we come together and cry a mighty roar of unity and faith. Because we deserve the riches of this world just as much as the next person and we have a right to live and die in peace and harmony.
