A short slideshow for my College diversity class that I presented to a group of high school students to raise awareness about prejudice and how we can work to fight it.

1. Learning to Challenge Stereotypes
A Focus on Muslim Discrimination

2. -A brief look at historical examples of prejudice and
discrimination in the United States
-What Would You Do? A short film and discussion
-The vastness of the Middle Eastern world
-Islam and the common stereotypes associated with it
-What we can do to help move away from prejudice
tendencies

3.  Webster’s Dictionary defines prejudice as:
 1. an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or
without knowledge, thought, or reason.
 2. any unfavorable preconceived opinion or feeling.
 3. unreasonable feelings, opinions, or attitudes, especially of a
hostile nature, regarding a racial, religious, or national group.

4.  Historically, there have always been certain groups
within the United States that are subjected to
prejudice, discrimination, and even blatant racism.
 These bias tendencies still go on in our nation today,
hindering our path towards equality.
1

5.  Native Americans
 Pushed to Migrate
 Genocide? 2
 Reservation Conditions
 Portrayal in Sports
3

6.  African Americans
 Racism in the Past
 Slavery
 Segregation
4
 Bigotry
 Still Unequal Today
 Career and Loan Rejection
 Incarceration
 Poverty
5

7.  Asian Americans
 Cheap Labor Force
 Transcontinental Railroad
 Led to Anti-Chinese Movement
6
 Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)
 Japanese Internment (1942)
 Post Pearl Harbor fear of “Japs”
7

8.  Latin Americans
 Segregation
 Deportation of Families
8
 Cheap Labor
 Hiring of Illegal aliens while
forcing them to leave the country
 English Only Laws
9

9.  Muslim Americans, Arabs, Iranians, Sikhs, and Hindus
 Post 9/11 Fear & Islamophobia
 Persons or groups perceived
as terrorists
 Patriot Act
 Hate Crimes
 Many times against a person
not a part of the “target” group
10

10. What Would You Do?

11. What Would You Do?

12. -Extremely vast region that
encompasses over 15 countries,
on two different continents.
-Nearly every country speaks a
different language, many have a
variety of languages within the
region.
-Most common religion is Islam,
however one could find all of the
11 World religions within this area
as well as many other minority
practices.

13. • Lets say we interviewed three people from different
parts of the Middle East. We recorded where they were
from, their religion, and their primary language. Our
results could be as distinct as this:
Person Country Religion Language
1 Egypt Christianity Arabic
2 Oman Hindu English
3 Turkey Islam Turkish
• Even though these people are all “Middle Easterners”
they each have drastically different characteristics.

14.  What is Islam?
 Who are Muslims?
 What do they believe?
11
 How large is the following?
 Why do the women cover their heads?
12
 Others?

15.  Muslims are violent extremists…
 Muslims are intolerant of all other religions…
 Muslims worship a different God…
 Islam oppresses women…
 All Muslims are Arabs…
14

16.  Don’t believe everything you hear
 Challenge information
 Pursue credible sources
16
 Research for answers on your own
 Make contact and conversation with people unlike yourself, learn
their perspectives and experiences
 Read books written by people from different parts of the world
 Thousand Splendid Suns
 The Bottom Line: Tolerance
 You don’t have to accept what
others believe, but don’t think any
differently of them for it
15

17.  Adams, M. & Blumenfield W. J. (2010). Readings for Diversity and Social Justice (2nd ed.).
New York, New York: Routledge.
 Gerges, F. A. (1997). Islam and Muslims in the mind of America. Annals of the American
Academy of Political and Social Science, 26(2), 68-81. Retrieved from Academic
Search Complete, EBSCOhost.
 Heiss, M. (2006). Culture and U.S. Relations with the Middle East. OAH Magazine Of
History, 20(3), 19-22. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost.
 Ross, M. L. (2008). Oil, Islam, and Women. American Political Science Review, 102(1),
107-123. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost.
 Simmons, G. (2008). From Muslims in America to American Muslims. Journal Of Islamic
Law & Culture, 10(3), 254-282. doi:10.1080/15288170802481145

18.  Images Retrieved from:
 1.) www.technorati.com
 2.)www.wordpress.com
 3.)www.bigblackkids.com
 4.)www. phil7jreed.blogspot.com
 5.)www. madmikesamerica.com
 6.)www.history.howstuffworks.com
 7.) www.srleosalazar.wordpress.com
 8.)www.dosomething.org
 9.)www. beinglatino.wordpress.com
 10.) www.newstalkcleveland.com
 11.) www.rankdominator.com/fde-middle-east-regional-map.asp
 12.) www.superstock.com/resultsframe.asp?Tag=index
 13.) www.superstock.com/resultsframe.asp?Tag=index
 14.)www. telegraph.co.uk
 15.)www.everydaynodaysoff.com
 16.)www.library.thinkquest.org