With all the stories on the Internet it can be difficult to always stay in the know. To help, we’ve searched the web for interesting pieces of news, videos and tips to help you start off your week on the right foot.
1. Allies Form A Circle Of Protection Around Muslim Students Praying In Michigan
Muslim students at the University of Michigan pray the Ishaa prayer on campus. Photo/Benji Bear
According to Huffington Post Religion associate editor
Hundreds of students and faculty, after learning that a female student had reported that someone threatened to set her on fire simply because she was Muslim, showed up to stand guard and protect classmates who had gathered in a main square to pray.
“Hundreds and hundreds of people came out for both prayer and showing their support,” wrote the university’s Muslim Student Association president Farhan Ali, in an email to Huffington Post. [tweetthis]“The amount of support was overwhelming and absolutely wonderful, and it brought some ease to the Muslim students [and] showed that we have other individuals who are willing to stand with us.”[/tweetthis]
2. What I Should Have Said to My Students as Their Muslim American Teacher
A Muslim woman walks in Queens on August 29, 2016, in New York City. Photo/Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Vice contributor Zaina Arafat writes a letter to her students as their Muslim American teacher:
“For four years, you taught a class in the Midwest, in a swing state. You loved and respected your students, and they loved and respected you—they worked hard for you and for one another, they valued your feedback, they hugged you before Thanksgiving and Christmas, they came to you after breakups and family deaths and roommate quarrels. On the third to last class each semester—far enough in so they couldn’t drop, but still two classes away from course evaluations—you’d tell them that you’re Muslim. Many of them were surprised. You don’t look Muslim. What does a Muslim look like? you’d ask. They weren’t exactly sure, they’d say, but not like you. They’d admit that when they first saw your name in the course directory, they weren’t sure what to expect. They thought you’d have an indecipherable accent (they imply that they’re happy you don’t). They thought you’d be wearing a headscarf.”
3. People Are Trolling Mike Pence By Making Up Musicals About Him
On Friday, Mike Pence attended the Broadway musical Hamilton and was booed by the audience. After the show, during final bows, one of the cast members called out to Pence as he was leaving and delivered a message from the cast:
“We, sir — we are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us,” said actor Brandon Victor Dixon, who plays Aaron Burr in the show. “We truly hope this show has inspired you to uphold our American values and to work on behalf of all of us. This is one American story told by a diverse group of men and women of different colors, creeds, and orientations.”
According to BuzzFeed News, “The show’s pro-immigrant and pro-diversity themes may seem an odd choice of entertainment for the conservative politician, so people on Twitter are making up their own Pence-inspired musicals using the hashtag #NameAPenceMusical.”
4. George Takei: They interned my family. Don’t let them do it to Muslims.
Children in the Manzanar internment camp in California. Photo/AP/National Park Service
George Takei an actor and activist writes about the current political discussion prompted by President-Elect Donald Trump’s proposed registration of all Muslim Americans.
“Stop and consider these words,” Takei writes. “The internment was a dark chapter of American history, in which 120,000 people, including me and my family, lost our homes, our livelihoods, and our freedoms because we happened to look like the people who bombed Pearl Harbor.”
…
“I was just a child of 5 when we were forced at gunpoint from our home and sent first to live in a horse stable at a local race track, a family of five crammed into a single smelly stall…We disembarked in the fetid swamps of Arkansas at the Rohwer Relocation Center. Really, it was a prison: Armed guards looked down upon us from sentry towers; their guns pointed inward at us; searchlights lit pathways at night. We understood. We were not to leave.”
5. Here Is What 10 Young Muslims Are Feeling Right Now
Andrew Richard / BuzzFeed
“During the 2016 campaign season, Donald Trump notably called for a total shutdown of the immigration of Muslims to the US, said he would “not rule out” the idea of a special ID to identify Muslims, and falsely accused New Jersey Arabs of “cheering” during 9/11. This week, following Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton in the presidential election on Nov. 9, we asked American Muslims to write about their experiences and feelings right now.”
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This list was curated by Kaitlin Montgomery, altM News Editor
