WBIS 188
008C
October 31, 2011
Title
“Moments later, another passing soldier looked at Zeitoun and muttered ‘Taliban.’” Zeitoun (213.) The soldier that called Zeitoun this name knew nothing about him other then the fact that he was Muslim. The soldier simply accused him of something that he is not. It seems as though this is a constant battle for the Zeitoun Family. Zeitoun and his wife Kathy are often criticized and treated poorly because of the religion that they belong too. We do not have to read far into the book to get our first of example where Zeitoun is criticized for being Muslim. His wife Kathy does all of the office work for her and her husbands business, Zeitoun A. Painting Contractor. Every so often, would-be clients would call and ask where the name is from and also where is her husband from. Kathy would tell them that it is Syrian. Sometimes even that much was all it would take for the client to hang up. Kathy, an American converted Muslim, would also get negative reactions from people too. A teenage girl even went as far as trying to grab Kathy’s Hijab off of her head as she was walking in a parking lot. Kathy’s own mom would often make comments to Kathy that she can take that “thing” off of her head. Even though Kathy was white she was still subject to harassment because of her religion choice. Islamophbia is defined as: hatred or fear of Muslims or of their politics or culture. A study by Zogby International for The Arab American Institute shows an increase in discrimination among Arab-American men in the U.S. In 2004, 64% said that they had personally been discriminated and in 2007, 75% said the something. Zeitoun would be within these statistics that have been discriminated because of his background. With in five days of the attacks on September 11, 2001, there were 210 reported anti-Muslim attacks according to