Actress posing as Muslim harassed, ABC News show reveals
By IslamOnline.net
WA****NGTON — What would an American do if s/he saw someone bullied and
mocked at a bakery for
no reason but being Muslim?
Giving the cold shoulder, giving the thumbs-up and rarely standing up to
be counted to denounce
Islamophobia were some of the various reactions of customers caught on
hidden cameras by the
ABC News primetime show "What Would You Do?" that aired on Feb 26.
In the segment, one actress posed as a hijab-clad Muslim customer and an
actor as a salesman at
a bakery in Texas.
Asking for an apple strudel, the woman was showered with anti-Muslim,
anti-Arab slurs from the
salesman to see what kind of reaction this would provoke among other
customers.
"Get back on the camel and go back to wherever you came from," the
salesman told the supposedly
Muslim customer. "You got that towel on your head. I don’t know what’s
underneath your dress.
Just take your business and go elsewhere with it."
"Sir, I am an American, I was born and raised here," the actress told him.
Shockingly, the majority of the bystanders did or said absolutely nothing.
Desperate to have any sup****t, the woman makes a direct appeal to one
customer.
"Sir, would you mind ordering me an apple strudel? That’s why I am here."
Unmoved by the visibly shaken woman, the man simply completes his purchase
and walks out of the
bakery.
Others were even more blunt.
One man thanked the salesman and gave him the thumbs-up twice for his
discriminatory,
Islamophobic behavior.
"If I was running the place I’d do the same thing," said the man. "She
wasn’t dressed right."
Appalled by the apparent discrimination, one man at last stood up for the
victim, chastising
the salesman and calling him a "bad American."
Outraged by the sales clerk’s hateful words, two women walked out of the
bakery in protest but
after giving the salesman a lesson in tolerance. "Sir, we are not buying
our kolaches because
you are really offensive and disgusting," one said.
"We thank ABC for tackling this sensitive subject in a manner that both
demonstrates the
existence of Islamophobic attitudes in our society and at the same time
shows the kindness and
sense of justice exhibited by ordinary Americans of all faiths," said
Nihad Awad, Executive
Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Awad noted that CAIR assisted ABC during the research phase of the
project. He also called on
American Muslims and other people of conscience to contact the network to
express their
appreciation for the segment and to counterbalance the anti-Muslim bigots
who are attacking it
on Internet hate sites.
Anti-Muslim hate crimes in the US have soared dramatically in recent
years.
According to the FBI’s recent figures, Islamophobic crimes increased from
28 incidents in 2000
to 156 incidents in 2006.
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