Muslim students share their views at Davies Tech
– Adja-Marie Diop sees herself and her fellow Muslim students at William M. Davies, Jr. Career and Technical High School as not unlike her classmates. To her, she said, being Muslim is “like adding sprinkles on top of a cupcake.”
“We’re just like everybody else, we just have a little something extra to us … I believe this religion is very peaceful and we’re just like everybody else and I hope everyone can see that in a good light,” Diop, a junior at Davies Tech said.
But for her to impart that message on a group of about 155 freshmen earlier this year, it took a little bit of courage. That’s because Diop was one of seven Davies students who addressed the freshman class earlier this year about what it’s like growing up Muslim and how, while they may differ on religious viewpoints, they’re all the same and they all have the same goals in mind.
“At the beginning I was kind of nervous,” Diop said of the Feb. 27 panel discussion. “I’m loud but I don’t like presenting. I feel like as the day went on, I got used to everybody. At the end, I was very comfortable, the students were really nice about questions, it made me feel more relaxed.”
The fifth-annual panel discussion was led by social studies department coordinator and ninth-grade Western Civilization instructor Kristin Cassarino. She explained that her freshman-year class discusses topics of world religion – starting off with Judaism and then focusing on Christianity before entering a conversation about Islam.
“A student in class was kind of moved by the way I talked about Islam and made it seem similar to Christianity and Judaism,” she said. “We started facilitating every year and holding bigger and bigger panel discussions. It has morphed into biggest panel this year.”
The day prior to the Feb. 27 panel discussion, all of the freshmen learned how to craft “sensitive questions,” to be able to ask inquiries that were respectful, Cassarino said.
“When the group came in the following day, I was impressed with the students. They asked questions in a thoughtful way using examples from their own life,” she noted.
Among the goals of the discussion was to utilize the school’s diversity to foster an open dialogue in a safe environment; to provide culturally-diverse lessons through a student-led experience; to provide a forum where students could identify similar-
ities rather than differences; and to foster religious sensitivity, awareness, and empathy to reduce and eliminate intolerance and prejudice.
The topics covered included religious and cultural backgrounds, the meaning behind prayer rugs, Ramadan, the Five Pillars of Islam, suggestions for how to support Muslim peers, and their own personal experiences with discrimination.
Sophomore Mame Fatou Cissoko said she’s seen these classmates walk the halls, but sitting in a room in front of them was a nerve-wracking experience – particularly when discussing something as sensitive as religion.
That said, she felt a sense of relief in discussing the topic, as it “made me feel good in a sense, so they
would understand in a way what the media sometimes puts out there, it’s really not like that … Muslims are terrorists? We are not, we’re all about peace.”
“I mainly want people to understand that everything the media puts out there, those people who do those bad things and consider themselves Muslim, they’re not,” Cissoko later said. “It’s about peace. Why would people who fast in Ramadan, for people who are homeless preventing themselves from eating, want to hurt others? I just want to break the ice of understanding we’re not bad people.”
Echoing the sentiment was sophomore Umar Baig.
“We’re peaceful people, we don’t promote violence, we try to promote peace and
be good members of society and help the world,” Baig said. “I think things are becoming easier as time goes on. In the school specifically, it’s become easier to be who you are. Everyone’s accepting of the differences and the people we are in this planet.”
Baig, whose family is from Pakistan, said he was trying to set an example for the freshmen students that “people come from different backgrounds, we’re not always different … Religion doesn’t separate us that much. That was a big step in being comfortable.”
Ibraheem Almarawi, a sophomore, explained that his father is from Syria and his mother’s from Cape Verde. He emphasized that to break the stereotype that all Muslims are “straight from the Middle East.”
“I’m half and half,” he said. “I wanted to show how they can be diverse, we’re just normal people too.”
Almarawi also said he wanted to drive home the message that “not all Muslims are terrorists. People believe what they see online.” This notion of dispelling prejudice seen in media and on the Internet was a point that was emphasized by several of the students.
Among the freshmen who sat in on the panel discussion were Liliana Avelar and Luis Martinez.
Martinez called the conversation “a very enlightening experience, where you get to see what other people do. It’s not the same as yours but it’s very similar. It’s nice to have that knowledge … It was a good experience. How they spend their day, like how they pray five times a day, it’s new.”
Avelar, meanwhile, said it was comforting to be able to talk and ask questions.
“You hear members of my family talking trash about people they don’t know about, but with how respectful they are, how proud they are, it shows that stereotypes aren’t at all true,” Avelar said. “They’re all really respectful people and really friendly.”
“They’re very peaceful people and the stuff in the news isn’t an example of everyone,” Avelar added.
Cassarino said people initially were questioning whether students should be talking about world religions, but she said doubters don’t give today’s teenagers enough credit.
“They think they can’t handle sensitive topics, but I think they can handle more sensitive topics,” Cassarino said. “When they’re more compassionate and empathetic, magic happens. I loved doing this because they’re the ones who will grow up and spread the message that prejudice and hate and religious bullying is unacceptable.”