“How Does It Feel To Be a Problem? Being Young and Arab in America,” by Moustafa Bayoumi, was published in 2009, but is still incredibly relevant today.
It is written simply so that anyone can read and understand the content, but deals with complex situations that require an open mind.
Bayoumi sets up his book as a series of passages from the point of view of different Muslim and Arab-American citizens, many of whom include their experiences during and after the horrific Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The first story is about a girl named Rasha whose family was arrested and placed into a detention facility after 9/11.
Her story is particularly interesting as it deals with serious issues that are sometimes hard to believe exist.
Another story in this book that I found to be interesting is Sami. Sami is an Arab-American who served in the U.S. Marines during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He tells about how he used to shy away from his culture out of shame, but learned to embrace his roots when he met other Arabic people.
His story is sad due to the mistreatment he sometimes received from fellow Marines because of his heritage.
This book could potentially be hard to read for some people, as the topics discussed are very heavy and sometimes brutally honest.
Even I had a hard time reading certain stories and would have to put down the book to just recap what I read. That being said, nothing is exceptionally graphic or gory.
The horror lies mainly in the thought that dehumanization of groups of people happens on a daily basis with no foreseen ending.
I think that people should definitely read this book to get a better understanding of discrimination in the modern era.