Discrimination: The Causes Of Muslim Oppression

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In today’s society, we are accustomed to think that if an individual is different in appearance or religion, he or she has a negative impact on society. We start to treat people differently and even resort to violence in some cases, which leads to the entire group being oppressed. One group that is being oppressed in society currently is Muslims. Although this oppression had started back in 2001 when 9/11 occurred, I feel like it has become even more apparent and live since the recent terrorists’ attacks in Europe. Many people are in disbelief that Muslims face oppression, and I think as a society, we all need to understand that oppression against Muslims does exist and it is taking away their rights as individuals. To begin with, Muslim …show more content…

Earlier I talked about individuals oppressing Muslim individuals because they are different both appearance wise and religiously. But, this oppression takes place in institutions too. Society has become very diverse. Children of all races go to school, adults of different religions and appearances have well established jobs, and individuals are even willing to explore different cultural events. But, there are some institutions that are not as diverse as we may think. According to Diane Goodman in her book, Promoting Diversity and Social Justice: Educating People from Privileged Groups, “Working toward social justice requires changing unjust institutional structures, policies, and practices, and challenging the dominant ideology” (Goodman, 4). This book was published in 2011 and can still speak to us in 2016. To be more specific, there are still institutions out there that discriminate and oppress certain groups because they are different in society and because they do not fit in with the institution’s image. Muslims are one of the groups that are highly oppressed by these types of institutions. For example, a Muslim woman was denied a job at Abercrombie & Fitch because of her head scarf. According to the New York Times, the company did not hire her because her appearance clashed with its image of a “classic East Coast collegiate style” (Liptak). This is exactly what Goodman was trying to explain in her book about social justice and the need for society to move on from the dominant ideology. This girl was denied a job because she had a different appearance from all the employees who worked in the store and this was an oppression towards her religious beliefs. She even went to court for justice and won because making a hiring decision based off an individual’s appearance goes against the

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