Racism against Muslims needs to end

Ever since Sept. 11 we have been extremely racist toward Arabian-Americans and people of the Muslim faith. For some reason, America always struggles with discrimination and racism.

When many people think of the Muslim religion or Arabians they think of terrorism. But anyone could be a terrorist, not just these people. Yes, there are terrorists who are Muslim and Arabian, but it certainly doesn’t mean all of those people are.

For some reason, people love it when a group can be pigeonholed. Like in high school, there are the jocks, the preps, the artists, the nerds, etc. The TV and media just love to do this, too.

For some reason, all Arabian men have to be rich and terrorists, and all women are belly dancers and sex toys. They are not like that at all. It’s like saying all Americans are obese and love McDonalds. Is everyone in America obese and in love with McDonald’s? No. Is every British person kind and polite? No.

So why must we do this to these people? They were either born here or came to America for a better life. Why do we have to make it so hard for them? They are people just like us, and they can be kind, or angry, just like every single person on earth.

I found a story on the Huffington Post about how a Muslim woman went to the movie theater with her kids and got called a terrorist even though she did absolutely nothing but be polite. It began when her kids started eating popcorn, apparently loudly. Another woman who was sitting near them then yelled “YOU ARE SO ANNOYING,” which is so uncalled for. The mother, who wrote the Huffington Post article, said nothing to the woman but smiled to her boys and asked them to quiet down.

The woman who complained then used her phone for the next 20 minutes, and the mother asked if she could please put it away because it was distracting. The woman then started using profanity at her and her group, saying that the writer was racist and her kids needed to learn manners. When she continued to use profanity, the mother went and got the manager.

When she returned with the manager, the woman kept on using profanity for “ratting her out.” The woman’s husband yelled at the movie theater manager, saying that his wife did nothing wrong, and this *itch was causing all the trouble. The manager then asked the couple, who had their 3-year-old daughter with them, to leave the theater. The husband kept repeatedly calling the writer a terrorist. When they finally left, she felt herself shake in fear.

She says she wrote about this because she is tired of walking on eggshells, and this shouldn’t happen to people.

No person should have to go through this. That woman was incredibly rude to the writer and her kids. It’s so depressing that our world and our communities still behave like this. Only humans can help humans — we can’t always rely on a miracle to save us.

Please stop the racism.

Peyton Baker is an eighth-grader at North Middle School and a member of the Tribune’s Teen Panel.