I am a Puerto Rican convert, born and raised in New York City. I was a Fitness Trainer/Speaker long before I became Muslim. Who are you? I am a Puerto Rican convert, born and raised in New York City. I was a Fitness Trainer/Speaker long before I became Muslim. I…
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My Specialties: Writer, Director, Producer. Also, Mom, Wife, and Wonder Woman. Who are you? A native of Baltimore, MD, I’m a former school teacher who has written professionally for nearly two decades including articles for national magazines, a published novel, short stories, blogs, two volumes of poetry, and several screenplays….
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I always felt different, like no matter what I did I was an outsider. Who are you? Where I come from is an interesting question. I had moved over 30 times in my life by the time I was 28 years old! My parents immigrated to the US…
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[I] consider myself 100 percent Iranian and 100 percent American. Who are you? I was born in Chicago in 1979. My parents, both Iranian, told me recently that they came to the US intentionally so that both my sister and I would be American citizens. Yes, I’m an anchor…
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Social Media: Websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking Activism: The policy or action of using vigorous campaigning to bring about political or social change. My husband is one of those individuals who have chosen a life of complete abstinence from…
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By now, you and everyone you know has demanded on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media to #BringBackOurGirls. The hashtag has spread virally, rightly sparking global outrage over the violence inflicted on the young Nigerian women by the militant group Boko Haram. But are there unintended consequences to this kind of hashtag activism?
June 1 marked one-and-a-half months to the day that more than 200 Nigerian girls were abducted from a secondary school in the north-eastern village of Chibokby a group of Islamist militants known as Boko Haram. An obscure news story for weeks, it suddenly became ubiquitous with the viral hashtag #BringBackOurGirls raising a global outcry.
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This week has seen an uptick in activism – social and on the ground – and awareness raising of the situation of nearly 300 school girls who were abducted by the Nigerian terrorist group Boko Haram last month. Protests have been planned in capitols around the world, a hashtag campaign #BringOurGirlsBack has trended on Twitter, and I’m beginning to see articles and photos in the mainstream press depicting the nature of this tragedy (though some of the framing has been problematic).
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The tweet is mightier than the sword.
Social media campaigns by members of minority communities are responding to racism and stereotyping in the media, and getting results.
For instance, last week, Asian American activists launched #CancelColbert in response to an offensive tweet posted by The Colbert Report’s Twitter account. They were hoping to achieve a similar outcome as American Muslims had with Alice in Arabia, an ABC pilot television programme that was cancelled following a Twitter offensive that highlighted the show’s stereotypes of Muslims.
Read MoreWith the anniversary of 9/11 fast approaching and the awareness that terrorism is still a real threat for the United States, we should consider what we might do differently to make our country a safer place.
Looking back on the last 10 years, one thing is clear: the violence of terrorism cannot be defeated with more violence. Afghanistan and Iraq are convincing proof of that; both countries remain ravaged by terrorism and al Qaeda forces seem much more resilient than the architect of the war on terror, George W. Bush, ever imagined.
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After a brief, identity-driven swell in the number of hijab wearers, there now appears to be a decline. Why did women who spent years, or decades, in hijab decide to dehijabize? What is it that women feel must be fulfilled in life without the hijab that is apparently missing while wearing it?
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