In the spring of 2003 I was enrolled in a Brownfields course and an Environmental Design course. These courses required a little bit of field research by way of visiting locations and taking photographs. For Brownfields I focused on the Tinicum Marsh and the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge - I learned quite a bit about Superfund sites and the impact of industrial land uses. For Environmental Design, I embrace Sucher's City Comforts because it was so sensible and intuitive.
As the semester was winding down I was in the "field" quite a bit, taking photos and making observations. I was foolishly moving about as if I were a legitimate citizen. Oh wait, I do hold a blue passport, but liberty and justice is unevenly distributed and has been since the founding of this country.
One afternoon, as I was preparing my PowerPoint for class, there was a knock at the front door. They identified themselves as the police and when I questioned them about their car, they clarified and said they were the FBI and wanted to ask me a few questions. I eagerly obliged, because as Town Watch president I am always willing to assist law enforcement. There was one guy that was clearly the muscle and one guy that looked like an intern - the muscle was the FBI agent and the younger fella was with Homeland Security.
Imagine my surprise when they asked about MY whereabouts earlier that day. I naively explained that the Fish & Wildlife Service was well aware of what I was doing and that I could get someone on the phone to clear it all up. They seemed shocked that there was a Wildlife Refuge in the area. They wanted to know about the pictures I had been taking at the oil refinery.
That's when I realized I had been profiled.
I was shocked and my attitude shifted from eager to defensive yet cooperative. I explained to them that their geography was incorrect - the oil refinery was in South Philadelphia and I was in Tinicum and that the only thing remotely similar was a tank storage plant in Folcroft and the Sunoco pipelines that ran through the refuge and had caused previous damage. I voluntarily showed them my photos and they casually looked around and asked some probing questions in a conversational form. I also took the opportunity to practice my presentation.
Then they asked for the name of my Professor, my identification, and my social security number.
I said, aren't you the FBI, you should already have all of that information. I then asked them what was my name when they ran my license plate.
After we sorted that out, they commented that I was knowledgeable about the environment and asked if I ever considered working for the EPA...I said not with this outfit. That's when I asked if they had come by because I am Muslim...they assured me that had absolutely nothing to do with it. I found that odd, considering we had just invaded Iraq.
When I shared this information with my professors they were livid. They were more concerned than I because apparently they knew a lot more about the Patriot Act than I did. They were afraid that I would be picked up so I was instructed to provide my family with their contact information so that they could act immediately if that happened.
For awhile things were quiet and the FBI incident was just a funny story. Then the London Bombings of 2005 happened and I suppose Homeland Security decided to round up the usual suspects.
I came home for a lunch break and saw two guys with khaki pants and white shirts on the porch. I assumed they were Mormons in summer attire. I would occasionally let them (and Jehovah's Witnesses) in to chat. I walked up on the porch and said "hey guys". They responded that they were looking for my husband and I asked for identification and then told them that they were actually looking for me. The feigned surprise. I invited them in (it was extremely hot outside) and informed them that I would be eating my lunch and drinking fresh squeeze lemonade and would not be offering them anything as they were not my guests.
That's when they started their ridiculous line of questioning.
What mosque do you attend? Who are you closest associates? What charities do you support? Do you have any plans to overthrow the US government?
I said, if this is your counter-terrorist strategy then we're in a heap of trouble. And responded that I love the US government because the NSF was paying for my masters degree.
Have you always been a Muslim?
I told my story of how I converted from Christianity (Episcopalian) and the older agent was quite interested in having a theological dialogue.
I told them I needed to get back to work and their final question was: does your husband still work for SEPTA? I said oh, so you've been investigating us. That's nice to know.
Haven't seen them since, but I'm sure they're watching.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Monday, May 2, 2011
Hijab
I was a nontraditional student. Not only because I was older and returning to college after a 10 year hiatus, as a mother. But because of my major - urban studies. I was not a young, privileged idealist that was going to do some good in the hood. I was a black, urban, Muslim female. I stood out like a sore thumb, but I wore all of my marginal identities proudly. I was also a budding sociologist. I liked qualitative research and to this day almost all of my observations are clouded with sociology.
I decided to wear hijab because I couldn't find a loophole. I read every Quranic passage I could trying to find a way out of the veil and jilbab...but there was none...it was cut and dry. And over time it has come to embody my identity...it is a protection from men becoming too familiar, from would be urban male assailants, from my tendency to overreact...it is a reminder of who I'm striving to be and the blessing that I hope to achieve.
Unfortunately I projected my own rationale onto others. I did not account for free will, nor did I consider that there's a host of factors that shape women's decision to veil or not. As a sociologist in training, I went into the field to learn more about what veiling means to women. I interviewed a Palestinian, Turk, Egyptian, and woman of mixed race. They each wore hijab in different variations and for different reasons. I realized then that hijab was more than clothes - it's modesty in thought and action and other than being regular in prayer or making up fasting days...it's probably the biggest jihad women will face.
Although I still remind friends and acquaintances about the hijab, I do not judge.
Many consider the Post 9/11 landscape difficult to navigate in hijab. While it does present some challenges, ultimately Allah is the giver of bounty.
I decided to wear hijab because I couldn't find a loophole. I read every Quranic passage I could trying to find a way out of the veil and jilbab...but there was none...it was cut and dry. And over time it has come to embody my identity...it is a protection from men becoming too familiar, from would be urban male assailants, from my tendency to overreact...it is a reminder of who I'm striving to be and the blessing that I hope to achieve.
Unfortunately I projected my own rationale onto others. I did not account for free will, nor did I consider that there's a host of factors that shape women's decision to veil or not. As a sociologist in training, I went into the field to learn more about what veiling means to women. I interviewed a Palestinian, Turk, Egyptian, and woman of mixed race. They each wore hijab in different variations and for different reasons. I realized then that hijab was more than clothes - it's modesty in thought and action and other than being regular in prayer or making up fasting days...it's probably the biggest jihad women will face.
Although I still remind friends and acquaintances about the hijab, I do not judge.
Many consider the Post 9/11 landscape difficult to navigate in hijab. While it does present some challenges, ultimately Allah is the giver of bounty.
Air traffic
Recently, there has been a great deal of media attention to air traffic controllers. They have been messing up - sleeping, watching movies, etc. Now everybody knows that it's someone's job to make sure planes stay on course.
I knew this because as a child, my uncle was an air traffic controller for the airforce. I always thought of his job as guiding planes to a safe landing. So imagine my surprise when I heard a plane hit the WTC. I immediately thought, some air traffic controller is in a heap of trouble. As we were putting the baby in the car, a neighbor drove by and said they hit the WTC with a plane. I told him it was likely the air traffic controller. Then another plane hit. That's when I thought about The Blackout Effect, a TV movie I had seen about an air traffic controller with a faulty monitor. I thought the FAA is going to go ballistic about this.
I walked into the doctor's office for my 6-week postpartum visit and the waiting area was solemn. The TV was on and everyone looked at me as if I had 2 heads. I said good morning to the doctor and he said "it really isn't a good morning, is it" - I agreed that it was sad but chalked it up to human and technical error.
For the next several days, images of the planes crashing into the falling towers saturated the air waves. And no one was blaming the air traffic controllers...they were blaming Muslims, calling them terrorists.
I thought this was odd because I was certain that someone could have intervened if they had been paying attention. Also, I thought of terrorism in the context of the Reign of Terror or the People's Retribution. Now, rather than a leader massively destroying revolters, it has taken on a different connotation - attacking civilians to provoke a government action or inaction.
That marked the beginning of the Post 9/11 era. A time when people no longer cared that big brother may be watching...in fact they welcomed big brother in the form of the Patriot Act and Homeland Security...they supported the overthrow of evil dictators...they championed democracy for all...it was about preserving the freedom to pursue our unalienable rights. Rights that were threatened by terrorists. Spearheaded by OBL. Hiding in plain sight.
We never spoke about 9/11/01...we were almost afraid to listen to the various theories about the crash...no one in my extended family mentioned it...my 12 year old daughter only recently learned what happened on that date and who was blamed.
We knew our lives had been changed.
I knew this because as a child, my uncle was an air traffic controller for the airforce. I always thought of his job as guiding planes to a safe landing. So imagine my surprise when I heard a plane hit the WTC. I immediately thought, some air traffic controller is in a heap of trouble. As we were putting the baby in the car, a neighbor drove by and said they hit the WTC with a plane. I told him it was likely the air traffic controller. Then another plane hit. That's when I thought about The Blackout Effect, a TV movie I had seen about an air traffic controller with a faulty monitor. I thought the FAA is going to go ballistic about this.
I walked into the doctor's office for my 6-week postpartum visit and the waiting area was solemn. The TV was on and everyone looked at me as if I had 2 heads. I said good morning to the doctor and he said "it really isn't a good morning, is it" - I agreed that it was sad but chalked it up to human and technical error.
For the next several days, images of the planes crashing into the falling towers saturated the air waves. And no one was blaming the air traffic controllers...they were blaming Muslims, calling them terrorists.
I thought this was odd because I was certain that someone could have intervened if they had been paying attention. Also, I thought of terrorism in the context of the Reign of Terror or the People's Retribution. Now, rather than a leader massively destroying revolters, it has taken on a different connotation - attacking civilians to provoke a government action or inaction.
That marked the beginning of the Post 9/11 era. A time when people no longer cared that big brother may be watching...in fact they welcomed big brother in the form of the Patriot Act and Homeland Security...they supported the overthrow of evil dictators...they championed democracy for all...it was about preserving the freedom to pursue our unalienable rights. Rights that were threatened by terrorists. Spearheaded by OBL. Hiding in plain sight.
We never spoke about 9/11/01...we were almost afraid to listen to the various theories about the crash...no one in my extended family mentioned it...my 12 year old daughter only recently learned what happened on that date and who was blamed.
We knew our lives had been changed.
No more boogey man
It was with disbelief that I watched the President announce that OBL had been killed. I asked my husband, is this true...he said yes, they took his DNA. It seemed so unbelievable but also irrelevant. To me, OBL does not represent the charasmatic leader of global terror. In many ways I think he is an intellectual that pointed out absurdities and catalyzed the revolt of the peasant. However, the revolt he started has morphed into somehting more, something that has been taken up by people of varying socioeconomic status and levels of education. People that in many ways benefit from the unevenness that he intially spoke out against.
I call him an intellectual because he was a bit of a poltical ecologist, reflecting on the subjugation of states with geologic resources by captialists. I do not plan to walk down that path because there has been a plethora of research about that topic (ie Kinzer's Overthrow) and his life.
I'm just trying to collect my thoughts...provide a bird's eye view of the uneasy relationship between Islam and the West during the past decade.
I call him an intellectual because he was a bit of a poltical ecologist, reflecting on the subjugation of states with geologic resources by captialists. I do not plan to walk down that path because there has been a plethora of research about that topic (ie Kinzer's Overthrow) and his life.
I'm just trying to collect my thoughts...provide a bird's eye view of the uneasy relationship between Islam and the West during the past decade.
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