Samia Serageldin It's Not About That Analysis

The events of September 11th are remembered by all Americans. Our popular memory of this event was that it was an attack on our country and its citizens, and was the start of the war on terror. But looking at the aftermath makes one wonder: who exactly is considered a citizen in the United States? Is it everyone, regardless of color or religion, or is it only those who are viewed by society as “safe”? In Samia Serageldin’s “It’s Not About That”, she explains her experience sheds light on how Muslims today are treated in the USA.
The first thing that stood out to me was how her significant other treated her, simply because she was different from him. He called her his “Arab pasionaria” when they would get into arguments over what was occurring

in the Middle East (Serageldin page 280). He did not treat her opinion, as someone who had lived through the beginning of the Middle Eastern turmoil, as relevant or even worth taking into account. This made me think of how we treat Muslim or Arab looking people in America today. We stereotype them into being “unsafe” simply because of the actions of a few. We do not treat Arab-Americans the same as white Americans because we view them as different, and we view them as something to be feared. On top of this, rather than addressing the issue of Islamophobia in the United States and listen to the opinions of the people who have experienced it, we sweep it under the rug and deem it as unimportant or as something that is nonexistent. The way Serageldin’s boyfriend treated her outlook on the Middle East is the same way Americans treat the opinions of Muslims on Islamophobia: not pertinent because they are not a majority.
The second thing that drew my attention was how her children were treated even before the events of 9/11. In the USA, we place emphasis on the safety of our children in terms of bullying. However, when Operation Desert Storm began, her children “all of the sudden, became ‘Arabs’ at school” and this shows the beginning of a loss of innocence (Serageldin page 280). Because of their heritage, they were stripped of their childhood. They were no longer allowed to simply be kids. They were looked at as “other”, and they were most likely treated as such. When an American looks at a Muslim, especially today, there is always a degree of anxiety associated with it. A child causing fear in their friends, simply because they worship a different god and read from a different holy book, strips them of their purity. This is still present today as can be seen with the situation of when Ahmed Mohamed created a clock and was instantly branded as a terrorist because people thought it was a bomb. He was a kid who was seen as “other” because of his name and faith, and he was feared. If we believe that our children should be safe in our schools, then we should also be protecting them from prejudice and stereotypes, rather than perpetuating them.
Samia Serageldin’s story sheds a lot of light on the history of how we came to have the rampant Islamophobia in the United States today. It did not start with September 11th, and even after 14 years it has not ended. Arab people are treated differently in the United States and labelled as terrorists for no good reason. Their children are put into jeopardy because from a young age they are taught by society that they are something to be feared. However, our society refuses to acknowledge that this happens. In America, after 9/11, the only people considered citizens are those who are considered as “safe”. This needs to change, and will only change with people speaking out against it.