Day & Night in Tunisia

Day & Night in Tunisia

So, Im still sick, but I aint no punk. Had some free breakfast at 8:00 this morning and then proceeded to workshop with some MA students who are studying urban culture in the United States. Since we had a scheduled show for 5:00 PM this afternoon, I told myself and everyone involved that I would not talk, but it was impossible to stay quite. We were having true dialog about both our cultures and the challanges thqt come with them. The most profound moment for me came when I asked the class the question, how do they as young Muslims from Tunisia percieve the way U.S citizens respond to their own tragidies such as, Hurricane and 911. One of the students responding by saying, that because the way that Muslims are misrepresented, that many people in the U.S. may think that the majority of Muslims support and celebrate such tragidies. He further stated that the truth is because inoccent human lives are taken and destroyed the only repsonse can be a human response. A response which includes sorrow, sympathy and compassion, just to name a few of those human emotions we are all so burdened with. I have been in Tunisia only two days, and there is one movie channel that seems to show movies late at night the show only the worst portrayal of Black people. Right before you exit the airport there is a airport resturaunt to your left that a statue of a very happy Black Sambo. That's right a life sized....Shit! A bigger than life sized Black Sambo. My point is, at one point or another we have all been guilty of excepting or laughing at negative images and sterotypes of each other, and I guess sometimes these things are actually funny. But when we start believing in the stereotypes and treating people based off of those warped believes, there lies a problem. Quite honestly, people are just people. Fathers and Mothers want to pay their bills and feed their famitlies, no matter where they are from. I know this isn't necessarily new and astonishing information, but somehow I think it can't hurt to be reminded. We all respond to life the only way we possibly can, as the human beings we are designed to be.

Signed,
One person to another
Peace draft 2:45:00 PM by Gamal's Blog Delete