By Umaymah Shahid
Midday, in the middle of the street, an officer shoots an unarmed young man. Twelve shots. The officer was not indicted and a segment of the community felt a blow of betrayal and a slap of injustice. This incident did not happen at the checkpoint in Palestine and it did not happen in Afghanistan by the Taliban. It happened on American soil to an American individual. What makes this story almost unbelievable is the fact that America has always claimed to be the land of the free and home of the brave. This motto is sung in the national anthem and in the pledge, where we pledge allegiance to a nation that supports liberty and justice for all. However, the America we live in today falls short of that ideal. Within the last half century, America has dealt with civil rights issues in the African American community, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) community, and now in the Muslim community. However, the tragedy is that Muslims will be found in every Palestinian rally and every Syrian rally, but only a sprinkle of Muslims will be found in domestic rallies about domestic issues. The Muslim body is one, and that is why one finds waves of Muslims in protests about foreign issues. However, the same Muslims that come out to protest against American support of Israel, are also citizens of the United States. However, they do not involve themselves in the issues plaguing their country, whether it be gun violence, terrorism, black lives matter, or even unjust local and national legislations. Yet, everyone knows a Muslim who says, “Man, how can Trump be President?! How could America allow this to happen?!” The reason why Muslims are put on the back shelf when it comes to legislation and even simple support of the people is because we seldom stir from our political Facebook statuses and reposts to the actual battleground.