Lulua
04-02-2002, 10:16
COVERED HEADS MEET UNVEILED BIGOTRY
By Manijeh Daneshpour, The Star Tribune, 1/29/2002
http://www.startribune.com/stories/1519/1116263.html
I have worked very hard to be at the place I am today. During my years of
training, I always needed to start with a provocative, almost shocking
conversation to let my professors, supervisors and mentors know about who I
am and what some of my beliefs are, including the idea that my hijab
represents my hard-core feminist ideology that women should be respected
for the intelligence and skills they possess, not for their body image. I
tried hard to convince these concerned professionals that maybe my people
skills could go beyond my Middle East accent and my appearance, and that
maybe it was possible for a walking, talking stereotype to be more than
just that. In fact, I might just be a very capable professional, even if
some people thought I looked like a slave of Ali Baba.
I had become comfortable using my people skills, and had come to think that
I might just have gotten through to a few people who otherwise would have
seen me for what they wanted me to be, when Sept. 11 happened.
The very next day, a struggling contract worker for my in-laws left me a
message about her discovery that I was the terrorist involved. She very
kindly informed me that her next phone call would be to the FBI. It seemed
she wanted to take advantage of a horrific and mind-boggling tragedy to
somehow squeeze some extra bucks out of us...
Maybe we can use our cultural sensitivity to push us one step further, to a
world where open-mindedness is just another term for honesty, just another
way to make us understand each other in depths that we never imagined we
could. I believe when coming into contact with people from diverse
backgrounds we cannot afford to cling to our stereotypes.
So do we have the capacity to use cultural sensitivity as the ultimate tool
to make this world a diversity-loving, stereotype-free place? Or are we
just pretending to be open-minded?
By Manijeh Daneshpour, The Star Tribune, 1/29/2002
http://www.startribune.com/stories/1519/1116263.html
I have worked very hard to be at the place I am today. During my years of
training, I always needed to start with a provocative, almost shocking
conversation to let my professors, supervisors and mentors know about who I
am and what some of my beliefs are, including the idea that my hijab
represents my hard-core feminist ideology that women should be respected
for the intelligence and skills they possess, not for their body image. I
tried hard to convince these concerned professionals that maybe my people
skills could go beyond my Middle East accent and my appearance, and that
maybe it was possible for a walking, talking stereotype to be more than
just that. In fact, I might just be a very capable professional, even if
some people thought I looked like a slave of Ali Baba.
I had become comfortable using my people skills, and had come to think that
I might just have gotten through to a few people who otherwise would have
seen me for what they wanted me to be, when Sept. 11 happened.
The very next day, a struggling contract worker for my in-laws left me a
message about her discovery that I was the terrorist involved. She very
kindly informed me that her next phone call would be to the FBI. It seemed
she wanted to take advantage of a horrific and mind-boggling tragedy to
somehow squeeze some extra bucks out of us...
Maybe we can use our cultural sensitivity to push us one step further, to a
world where open-mindedness is just another term for honesty, just another
way to make us understand each other in depths that we never imagined we
could. I believe when coming into contact with people from diverse
backgrounds we cannot afford to cling to our stereotypes.
So do we have the capacity to use cultural sensitivity as the ultimate tool
to make this world a diversity-loving, stereotype-free place? Or are we
just pretending to be open-minded?