Unmasking the Enemy

By Calvin Harris / Fall 2020

“I can’t… they won’t accept me… they won’t understand me… they won’t believe me. How can I tell them I changed when they are closed off to the idea of me changing my religious beliefs? I am a Muslim, but since I’m white would they even suspect it?” These are only a few of the questions that are constantly ringing in my head, keeping me up at night. I am proud of my new set of beliefs, but I know to the majority of America, I have become one of the enemies. My choices and beliefs are personal, but they are often politicized by people who don’t understand or don’t take the time to understand. Islamophobia has taken up a stronghold in America’s mindset, creating a bubble or a new sphere of influence, teaching people to be afraid and even hate the entire Muslim community. We are shouted at to go back to our country that is full of war due to American interests, even though America is our country too. I was born here in America to a white middle-class family and reverted to Islam. Though I have not been a part of the Muslim community for long, my past gives me an insight in how we can become one nation under God.

The splitting of a nation with anti-Muslim policies is not new to the Trump Era as they were established by the Bush and Obama administrations long before. In 2011, the Countering Violent Extremism program was created under Obama and used for the surveillance of Mosques and Muslim Communities. Since Trump has been in office, Anti-Muslim rhetoric has flourished and brought to light the depth of the Islamophobic problems. In 2016, Trump called for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the country from Muslim countries (Obeidallah). In doing so, families have been split apart and disconnected, where even Muslim American citizens have uncertainties when returning to America. Even my girlfriend’s mother has not been able to return to Iraq to see her ailing mother, whom she has not seen in 9 years out fear and lack of guaranteed safety in that she will be allowed to come back. School has always taught me that here in America we have religious freedom, a term that nowhere else in the world truly has. As a result of the Islamophobic beliefs, that religious freedom is stripped away from me and millions of other Americans. As a child I never questioned it, but as I immersed myself in the knowledge of the world, my beliefs have changed from the majority in America.

Within the majority, a bubble of Islamophobic beliefs has been constructed by white elites, leading them all astray. Islamophobia gives people a negative view of an entire religion that they largely know nothing about. This is the easy way of thinking. The media fills our ears with lies and then that narrative gets infused in the thoughts of Americans, building hatred and making it easy to back up with fallacies. The comments from important people, like President Trump, help people solidify their prejudice and give people and a scapegoat for keeping the bias. It’s easier than going out and doing research on the topic being discussed because we are supposed to trust the media and what they tell us. However, the negative portrayal of Muslims, based on a radical group of terrorists, is what lives in the mind of the people. For instance, the beautiful Arabic phrase “Allahu Akbar” meaning “God is the greatest,” has been conditioned into American minds to be a hate phrase and something a terrorist says. The majority of the time, people don’t even know what the phrase means, other than the media feeds the bubble and labels it with negative connotation. With only being on the surface level of understanding, it’s easy for people to go with it if they are not Muslim and turn away from people who are, shunning them from society. This is what I grew up with in my hometown before I became a Muslim. I was bombarded with hatful rhetoric on Fox News and CNN, where they displayed gruesome photos of terrorist executing people and deemed all Muslims as evil. Even the movies contained aspects of portraying Muslims as terrorist in stereotypical dress and anger in their eyes towards Americans. These dark portrayals fuel Islamophobic beliefs, generating the bubbles and misconceptions people are trapped into thinking once the media is feed to them, having little prior knowledge. I would often listen to the hatred in the minds of people I once knew, who were otherwise loving friends, knowing this cannot be true of an entire group of people.

I grew up in a small, largely conservative, country town consisting of mostly white working and middle class people. Historically, Ramona was a farming and ranching town which often attracted those of the white working- and middle-class people looking for profit. I still see this demographic today, holding on to conservative thought, casting a bubble around the entire town; a bubble that I was able to break out of. These “Good Ole Boys” of Ramona were the kind who liked to drink beer and party on Friday night, sleep off the hangover Saturday, and go to church on Sunday. There’s no wrong in that if it doesn’t hurt other people, but often times, it would lead to this. I never felt like I truly belong with this crowd and would spend my days at basketball and volleyball practice, or at home studying by myself to keep my grades where I want them. However, the part that dragged me into the spotlight for these people to scrutinize is that the church I attended: the Mormon church. For me, it was nothing to be ashamed of and I often felt like I was in a better place due to the rules around not drinking or smoking or having premarital relationships. As a Mormon I considered myself Christian, but it wasn’t the kind of Christian that people really accepted. It was the outsider denomination. I was made fun of, left out, and bullied. Growing up I had no true friends, and even today I don’t keep in touch with anyone from my childhood. I was basically a loner. When I went away for college only an hour away from my hometown, my world was opened to more than just the conservative ways and racist slurs. I met new people and was enlightened by my expanded thought process, thinking for myself and not based on what others tell me I should believe. No one knew me at my college and the demographic was completely different. In Ramona we had mostly White kids, a good number of Mexicans, a few Asians, and about 10 Black students. When I got to Cuyamaca College and Grossmont, I was surrounded by culture from all parts of the world and even more diversity when I began to attend UCSD. I heard languages that I had never heard and was introduced to new ways of thinking of which I had never imagined. I finally felt like I fit in.

I had begun to explore my religious questions more and I was introduced to Islam. I, like many other, had a false sense of skepticism simply based on the name and what Islam was associated with. I couldn’t have been more wrong. The more I studied the religion and read the Qur’an, the more I fell in love with the teachings and decided to convert to Islam. After I said my Shahada, I couldn’t have been happier with my decision. However, in that moment, I was taken out of the Christian majority and I became one of the enemies. As a white American male, people often turn their head in scoff at me when I tell them I am a Muslim as if I have betrayed my country. I am met with questions of why I would do that and slurs about being a terrorist. In these moments, it becomes clear to me, that even though I love my fellow Americans, they have little love for me and my people. When we build divides amongst ourselves, relationships around the world crumble, stripping good people of their rights and their freedoms.

To the white majority in America, the dehumanization of people has become normalized within the bubble they have been kept in. This is an active process in which the media, political officials, and even the movie industry profit off, keeping people closed off from new ideas. Their mindset is conditioned to stay within the bubble that tells them people that are different from them are the enemy. They take the 1st Amendment as a guarantee and would fight anyone who tried to take their freedom away from them. However, at the same time, this is exactly what they are doing to other people. Prior to September 11th, 2001 Muslim refugees were safe here in American; however, after that date American Muslim lives changed forever. Like many others, Nadeem Saaed feared that Muslim American would be attacked and arrests, simply over their religion (Takaki 16). Now, openly talking about Islam is largely frowned upon here in America. When Islam is talked about, it is displayed in a negative light and portrayed as an issue or a disease that has been spreading in America. The media and our government officials, including the president, continually spread false narratives about Islam. On Fox News, CNN, CBN News, and others, Donald Trump said “There is a Muslim Problem in the world.” When questioned about whether he believed it was a problem with all 1.8 billion Muslims worldwide he replied “Well there is a Muslim problem, absolutely. You just have to turn on your television.” Am I a problem? To answer that, I am not. I love America and do not want to do harm to anyone, even a president who hates me. This supposed hate that Trump and many others talk about, is a surface level fearmongering that helps shape the bubble and spread hate against a loving religion, in order to gain voting popularity or another form of power.

When people do turn on their television set, they are met with all sorts of anti-Muslim banter and stories of how bad Muslims are. In order to feed this false information into the houses of millions of otherwise good people, groups like Cambridge Analytica will collect data from Facebook and internet searches to target conservative and moderate groups. Combined with absurd stories and negative wording, the false narrative keeps people in a bubble where Muslims are the enemy and should not be able to live peacefully. The wrongful bubble tells that all Muslims are terrorist and should not be trusted. When in reality, the radical Jihadists are not claimed by the Muslim community, as their acts of hatred are selfish acts of their own. Trump states that “They’re trying to take over our children and convince them how wonderful ISIS is, and how wonderful Islam is. And we don’t know what’s happening.” What is happening is that people are learning of the teaching of Islam and falling in love with them as I did. ISIS and Islam do not belong in the same sentence, as they are not part of the religion. Putting them together teaches hated towards Muslims and pushes false narratives.

To further the extent of the problem all Muslim American feel from the explicit biased misunderstanding people have against them, is the silence they must keep. Due to these surface level thoughts and feelings that people have towards Muslims, we often find it best to keep quiet about what we believe in and proclaiming ourselves to be Muslims. Since America is a Christian country, people largely don’t mind if there is a billboard talking about Christianity or spreading their beliefs about Jesus Christ (peace be upon him). However, if there was a sign talking about God from an Islamic standpoint, there is widespread backlash and comments like those of the president that we are trying to preach how “wonderful ISIS is.” In a country that is built upon the 1st amendment and freedom of religion and speech, Muslims are shut off from having a voice. There are Mormon missionaries all over the US and the world spreading their beliefs and even Jehovah Witnesses standing on Library Walk on UCSD campus that I would have to pass every day going to class. In speculation, if there was a Muslim standing there, spreading Islam and talking about the Qur’an, they would be forced to leave by students who felt uncomfortable with them being there. These are only the small feats that take away every Muslim’s rights to being able to openly talk about their religion and being hurt if they do.

Throughout the history of America, it has been a commonplace practice to treat people who are different than the majority as an undesirable “other.” From the Irish, to the Chinese, to the Africans, whenever any new group would migrate to the United States, they weren’t greeted with welcoming arms. If you weren’t white and Christian, you were cast to look like savage beasts, so it was easier for the white elitist to control the poorer white population and keep them from teaming up with the minority. From then on, racism and prejudices were born and engraved into the ideology of America. When we juxtapose racism with the attacks on religious liberty, we can see the deeper roots are built from long standing traditions of putting down the minority groups and disallowing them the freedoms America promises. For example, after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, American ideology once again shifted towards making the minority group an enemy. Asian Americans on the west coast were rounded up, solely due to their ethnic heritage and forced to live in concentration camps and be under surveillance. In 1944, the Supreme Court case Korematsu vs. the United States upheld the constitutionality of baring Asian Americans from joining the military because they were still seen as the unpredictable enemy. They were no longer American citizen in the eyes of the people, they were the enemy. This is the rhyme of history that glooms over all minority groups in one way throughout their life.

This country was built off the backs of the immigrants and the minorities, yet they get the least benefit of being American. Based on created fear, the people in power can easily sway the masses and control their thinking, through the various forms of media. As a scapegoat, the powerful depict the other as a monster and the masses will follow the lead. Similar to the concept of “The Other America” discussed beautifully by Dr. King, there has been an atomization of people into different bubbles, with the predominant one having an anti-Muslim outlook. There are multiple Americas; one for the white Christian population, and others for everyone else. This other America is ugly and should not exist, yet the biases and hatred spread from one side, leaves the others to continue to exist. This is why it is so dangerous for the president to use harsh language about entire groups of people and stereotype them as a whole. As we have seen with racism, building deep political biases about groups of people have lasting effects that will go untouched for years to come. This is where the deeper problems set in. We have seen it before with the KKK going after every black man for the color of his skin. Once it becomes commonplace to hate a particular group of people, it gives the kindest of individuals an easy out for their implicit biases. Not only does this in turn take away American minority’s freedoms, but it also opens the door for more wrongdoing. America is a melting pot of people with different religions; however, the term American has become associated with Christian, and all other religions are seen as non-American. The precedent of creating an enemy of the people is the deepest form of attack on the Muslim community and has to be confronted, just as racism and systemic violence against certain groups of people must be confronted, before we have a truly equal and free country, where the 1st Amendment applies to everyone the same.

If someone were to ask me about what religion I am, it pains me that I must think about telling the truth or not out of fear of the repercussions. Many Muslims around the world have to make this decision every day, as it could mean life or death for them. For an unknown period of time, Muslims in China have had to keep a close watch on who know they are Muslim. In 2017 a story broke about detention camps in Xinjiang in which Uighur Muslims were forced into them to try to “re-educate” them and strip them of their faith. Within the camps, inmates that have been informally taken, based solely on their religion, are forced to eat pork, divorce their wife/husband, and the females are forced to be sterilized and abort any pregnancy (Forrest). All resistance to this oppression is termed radical and a terrorist attack, allowing for the “largest-scale detention of ethnic and religious minorities since World War II” (Moore). By terming it a terrorist attack, it gives people an excuse to look the other way and allow this to continue. This is exactly what we have seen in the past through German’s internment of Jews and America’s internment of the Japanese. Overall, the world leaders have been quiet on the topic and only now in 2020 has a human rights activist group created a call for help. It’s this style of systemic targeting around the world that shows the deeper roots of the issues here in America.

People are not uneducated, they are trapped in a bubble of miseducation, being fed anti-Muslim propaganda that portrays all Muslim with hate in their eyes towards Americans. This is a detrimental fixed mindset that the elites and corporations have pushed onto the people. When President Trump speaks during interviews and says, “I think Islam hates us,” it continues to teach and spread Islamophobia. Rhetoric like this fuel’s peoples resolve. Terrorist cry out under Islam, yet terrorists are not even Muslim. Following the attacks on the World Trade Centers, most Muslim Americans spoke out against the attacks and condemned their actions. Dr. Mohammad Qayoumi, president of CSU, East Bay, talks about how Muslim Americans do not support terrorism. The truth behind the issue is that America “questioned whether Muslims like me could be true to their religion and be patriotic Americans as well” (Takaki, 348). The rhetoric must change, and people must be taught the truth behind the religion. By all means not everyone has to become a Muslim, but if people were actually taught the truth, a lot of people would have a change in heart about their Muslim brothers and sisters. We are tied together. Whether it be by race or religion, we all need each other. But what do I know? I’m simply another white guy you would pass on the street and think nothing of. It is only if you found out that I am Muslim that the negative feelings would rush in towards me. Coming from the white majority, I have burst out of the bubble of hatred and transformed my mindset that the rest of America needs to go through to erase Islamophobia.

We look to our leaders and our news for fair and honest reporting, however what is portrayed is fabricated. Before I researched what Islam teaches, it was easy to go with the stereotypes and the people who call Muslims names. Now that I have educated myself, I am Muslim. Coming from the side of little understanding, I know the thought process of the majority of people who hold an implicit bias about Muslims. These people are good people but what is holding everyone back is the misguidance they have been given about Muslims. In America we are one nation under God, no matter what God you believe in and what you call Him. We are all on this earth together, but we are kept apart by policies and fake news. Policies that ban all Muslims coming into the United States do no work to solve any issues with terrorism; all they do is neglect and diminish the Muslim community, solidifying the false narratives. Once the label of enemy is placed on a group of people, it is used as an excuse for the hatred people display towards that group, when, in reality, that label was not true to begin with.

There is truth in history’s rhymes and how we can come back from this. It starts by teaching the true history of the world, not simply the lies told by the white elites. In order to attack the deeper roots in the prejudice against my Muslim brothers and sisters, we must first tell of the histories from across the ocean. In doing so, we can teach about black disempowerment, culture abroad, and even world traditions. It is important to talk about the ugly truths so we can truly learn from our past and pursue a more equal future. The ideology of there being an “other” in the United States must be washed out of the minds. We are all human beings and America is our home together. Educating our youth and learning with them, we will raise a more inclusive, unbiased generation of people who love one another, regardless of religion, race, or nationality.

Institutions from K-12, college, and further have the hardest job because overcoming the inequalities begins with educating the masses. Classes like DOC100 and Twohig’s WCWP100 need to be taught throughout our youth’s entire education. The chain of repression against Muslims and other minority groups must be broken and equality restored to its intended glory. Many American have been pushed to the side and the American Anomie has been born. The problem we are facing is not the disease itself, rather a symptom of the abuses. Power has been politicized and Christianized to the point where people see it as normal to attack others for their differing beliefs (Hedges). This is not what America is about. Aside from educational institutions, activist groups must come together to peacefully defend the 1st amendment for all.

As seen with the juxtaposition of race inequality and religion inequality, interfaith movements and civil rights movements work hand in hand to unmask the enemy and show they too are Americans. During the civil rights era, Dr. King work with many different religious groups in order to bring people together. In his article titled Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community he wrote “When I speak of love, I am speaking of that force which all the great religions have seen as the supreme unifying principle of life.” King believed that out of the love we have for one another, there could be an ultimate unifying act, creating a beloved community of Muslims, Christians, Jews, and Buddhists (Buttry). Religion is a gateway for all people to come together out of the love they share for their Creator, not a cause for division. King and other leaders of the interfaith movements, with the fight for racial equality, worked together to bring justice for all. It’s not a dream of a single man, but a vision of America in which all people can be taken out of the bubbles and be free from bias acts and hate speech.

Since my family still lives in Ramona, they are still surrounded by the hatful rhetoric that they once believed as well. When I was able to break free from the bubble, I was able to help bring my family into understanding of who Muslims truly are. This deeper sense of understanding and love for a larger group of people have brought together families and friends who may have never crossed paths. Through publicly calling people together and leading movements against oppression, we could force the correct narratives about who Muslims are and what we stand for. Since the media is one of the largest enemies of Islam, it is important that the interfaith movements are covered, and the true intentions are made. News stations could feature Islamic scholars and talk about the hardships within the community. This would allow people to break out of their false narratives and be better informed about the different parts of the world. America was not meant to be an all-white nation of Europeans and Germans who only believe in Christianity. The framers of the constitution put Freedom of Religion into the First Amendment to protect everyone, no matter what they believe. People have taken that and created biases and stereotypes against people who are not of the majority religion and it is the governments job, the medias job, and the educational systems job to educate the masses about the truths and not leave people blinded by falsehoods that lead to people getting killed for no reason.

In 2020, society as a whole is becoming less religious and more of the world. During this world pandemic, strip clubs have been allowed to remain open, yet places of worship have been forced to close their doors. We are living in a democracy that has lost its soul. Every step taken against a minority religion threatens the cohesive structure that Dr. King has stressed. People come to America and hope for the American Dream of Freedom of Religion and a lot of people who come here for a better life are met with new hardships and the devaluing of their beliefs. It takes a community united to bring about true change in a destructive mindset. The United States is built off the promise of equality and equal protection under the law. We already know throughout history that these rights have been largely held away from Blacks in America and that “otherness” has been put on immigrants and now other religions. Once one argument is used on one group of people it’s easier to use it more on others. This is not a contained simple issue of Muslims being barred from believing how they believe or trying to practice their faith by praying five times a day; it branches out to other groups and takes away the freedom of religion and the promise of equality for all. Helping to metaphorically fight back against creating an enemy of the people and the destruction of true religious freedom can have massive impacts on equality.

Works Cited

Buttry, Daniel. Martin Luther King, Jr. Interfaith Peacemakers, Read the Spirit, 2020.

Forrest, Adam. "Who are the Uighur people and why do they face oppression by China?" Independent, 23 July 2020.

Hedges, Chris. "American Anomie." TruthDig, 24 Sept. 2018.

Islamophobia at Its Peak. Instagram file, sunnah_path, 2019.

Moore, Mark. "China Reportedly Secretly Built Hundreds of Prison Camps to Hold Minority Muslims." New York Post, 27 Aug. 2020.

Obeidallah, Dean. "Anti-Muslim policies forged under Obama flourished under Trump. What will happen under Biden?" MSNBC, 12 Dec. 2020.

The Other America. Performance by Martin Luther King, Jr., YouTube file, reelblack.

Takaki, Ronald T. A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America. New York, Back Bay Books/Little, Brown, 2008.