My son on 9/11 was told lies by his white teacher & for years, when flying solo between my home in TX & his father’s in NY, was terrified of Arab terrorists.
Now, he knows better.
He knows better because he was selected randomly for a screening at the age of seven.
He knows better because his uncle was almost deported & sat in jail for months.
He knows better because in his lifetime, wars have begun & kids who look like him have died in Iraq, in Gaza, in Lebanon, in Afghanistan, & in Yemen, in Pakistan, soon, in Syria.
He knows better because he hasn’t told any of his friends he’s Arab.
To be Arab-American is to be reminded every single day, including today, of one’s unbelonging, of how where one is “from” is where war is always heading.
