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[TEXT] Muslim American
Profiles
[TEXT] Israa:
Palestinian American
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[Israa Al-Sayyed speaking in Arabic.]
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[TEXT] As a Muslim, one should
be proud of their religion.
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[TEXT] Also, as an
American, one should be proud
of their country,
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[TEXT] And must
do things to change and improve
their country.
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[TEXT] Because
you are not only a Muslim, but
you are an American Muslim.
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[TEXT] I consider myself
American Muslim.
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I feel the biggest challenge
of being a Muslim American
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is the fact that
you are pre-judged.
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For example, you know my
roommates —
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this summer when I first moved
in,
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they even told me, like, I was like
completely not what they
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expected. It was my 21st
birthday coming up, and so now —
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wanting to celebrate my 21st
birthday — they were kind of
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iffy, like what should we do?
Where should we go? And stuff.
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But then, I kind of
suggested a
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couple things, and then they just
kind of started getting to know
me and
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realized, you know — we listen to
the same
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music, we watch the same movies,
we go out to the same places. And
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then they started realizing
that, you know, only because
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I am covered in public and in
front of guys does not mean that
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I am any different than them.
So when it’s just like us four
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girls just, you know, kicking it back in
the apartment, you know, I’m
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unveiled and they just kind of
realize that what’s really
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underneath and
it’s not really the
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stereotypical image
of, like, oppression or what people
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think Muslim women really are.
I’m just like every other
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American. I just have this
different set of beliefs on
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certain things.
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[TEXT]
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