Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Marking Period 1: Monday #3

In the picture above, Muslim children are shown gathering materials to go home from a normal-looking school.  Though the girls are wearing hujub (hijabs,) boys and girls can be seen wearing American-style t-shirts and sweatshirts, supporting the statement by American Islamic multimedia leader Abdul Malik Mujahid that "diversity is as American as apple pie."  These pure white headcoverings above conjure up conflicted feelings in the eyes of the modern American:  a garment we're taught is one of the enemy... on a child.  A cluster of girls in the back are chatting; as are some little boys in the front.  If they were wearing baseball caps instead of hujub we would think no differently.

As a north suburban father living here, Rashid Ghazi made his film "Fordson" about the lives of Muslim football players at a high school in Michigan fasting during Ramadan to make a point about the way Muslims combine their culture with American life just as any other group in the United States.  The children above, innocent yet prey to the ignorant prejudices of our society, should be considered as normal as Catholic school children with ever-present crosses around their necks or Orthodox Jewish children in kippot (skullcaps).  Staring directly into the camera is volunteer chairman of the MCC Full Time School in Morton Grove, where these children go to school and learn about the events that led to 9/11 and the way other minority groups (African-Americans, Jews, Roman Catholics) have made progress in terms of equality.  Appearing quiet and kindly, this man helps lead a school that in many ways teaches students more sensitivity than most other schools.

1 comment:

  1. Continue to look at language that matches textual and visual rhetoric. In this case, Hannah, consider how point of view and/or tone is created.

    Nice job.

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