To the Editor:
Today, for the first time, I am afraid because of the color of my skin. The Boston Marathon bombings and the zealous search for its perpetrators have made me realize that as much as the United States claims to be a progressive and all-inclusive nation, it really isn’t.
Since 9/11, I have seen evidence of racial profiling and the impact it can have on my life. I have seen it in the way my older brother must shave before going on a flight. Most alarmingly, I have seen it in the months my parents contemplated changing our last name because they feared it sounded too Muslim, despite the fact that we are Hindus.
Americans seem to have accepted this attitude as a way to keep our country safer. It is this attitude that made it seem okay to tackle an injured Saudi Arabian man running away Monday and allowed a man to feel justified in punching a Palestinian woman in Medford, Mass. This tendency led to erroneous reports that missing student Sunil Tripathi was responsible for the bombing, reports that put his family and friends in even greater emotional turmoil.
It is wrong to associate those who appear to be members of Islam with terrorism. And it is an even greater crime to act on those associations. Despite the great strides the United States has made in racial equality, we still have a long way to go. Today, I realized that racism is alive and well in all of the United States.
Divya Sahajwalla ’15
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