W
hen I walk Down the streets
of this
College-town I see
Hands smashing beer bottles
Friends only of one-another
Screaming chants alien
To my covered ears
I began my freshman year at the
University of Michigan bright-eyed
and ready to learn. As the years went
on, however, I started to realize how
diversity, equity and inclusion are just
empty words in a University campaign
slogan. This was also the first time
I really felt unsafe as a Muslim in
America, with incidents of hate only
getting closer to home, when walking
home late at night posed real dangers.
I watched as students, professors and
administrators dismissed acts of hate
toward Muslims and other minorities on
campus, instead of holding one another
to a higher standard.
I have learned
To be wary
Strain to see
Three streets ahead of me
To see if I feel anyone Is a danger to me
My head covered In a scarf
That tells you I don’t belong here
I
now
anticipate
discriminatory
actions and hate crimes as if they are
inevitable. Unfortunately, in my four
years on campus, I have yet to be proven
wrong. I quickly learned that students
of color at the University have to work
together to create a collective voice for
there to be any change. I watched as
students and faculty around me ignored
the repercussions of such hate. I first
realized this when major news outlets
blamed Muslim students for trying to
“infringe on freedom of speech” over
the movie “American Sniper” and the
University failed to protect its students.
I then began to realize that the story of
being unheard was interlinked among
all underrepresented communities on
campus, and sought to change this.
Posters plastered with DIVERSITY
EQUITY and INCLUSION ALL FOR YOU
Empty slogans I have yet to see
become a part of this city.
Though students at the University
are required to take a class that fulfills
the Race and Ethnicity requirement,
the courses are often broad and loosely
related to race and ethnicity.
I noticed that, although I tried to
share my own stories as well as the
experiences of other students of color
on campus in The Michigan Daily,
it simply was not enough to create a
change in the student body.
It is too easy to stay self-segregated
by race, class and ideology on a campus
this large. It is much too late to be
teaching students about diversity if
they have never learned about it in
a meaningful way in earlier their
education.
Every incident of hate may have
brought me down, but it also taught
me to self-advocate as a Muslim
student and as a reporter and writer
of others’ stories. As I saw these
incidents unravel around me, I started
to develop an eye for cases of inequity
everywhere I went — in and outside of
Ann Arbor. I started to write, which
gave me the ability to be articulate
in writing, especially when voicing
my opinions was difficult for me. I
cannot stop talking about inequity,
and because I believe that issues of
diversity and equity should be taught
much earlier, I decided to enter the
School of Education for secondary
teaching.
What I found in education, however,
was even more shocking. As I interned
in different middle and high schools,
I saw the stark contrast between
resources in low-income areas and
the other schools in my rotation.
Education, regardless of what level,
is not equitable across America, and
without an equitable allocation of
resources, teaching about these issues
can feel hypocritical.
As a student-teacher, I live a double-
life, trying to balance teaching with
learning at the University, and I can
see how the education system is flawed
in ways that creates inequalities
in education, often heavily based
on demographics. The more I learn
about students and their perspectives
on the world, the more important I
realize it is to both teach and practice
equity across America. And the first
step in doing this is to stop being
afraid to try to make changes for a
better future.
As I move on to becoming a teacher
and leaving the University, I am
grateful for what I have learned from
others because I chose to seek people
who
have
different
perspectives
than me, and I hope that I can make
change, one class at a time.
And I am getting worn from speaking
into a void, while trying to hold myself
together in this peculiar world.
But I am trying to ignite that fire inside
of me.
I am trying to ignite that fire inside of
me.
2B
Managing Statement Editor:
Brian Kuang
Deputy Editors:
Colin Beresford
Jennifer Meer
Rebecca Tarnopol
Photo Editor:
Amelia Cacchione
Editor in Chief:
Alexa St. John
Managing Editor:
Dayton Hare
Copy Editors:
Elise Laarman
Finntan Storer
Cover Illustrator:
Betsy Stubbs
Wednesday, March 21, 2018// The Statement
Let’s Talk About It: One class at a time
statement
THE MICHIGAN DAILY | MARCH 21, 2018
BY RABAB JAFRI, COLUMNIST
ILLUSTRATION BY RABAB JAFRI