Put Something Here 2.0

After finishing Put Something Here 1.2, I was inspired by the dialogue that was created in a public space about a topic that is very sensitive in today's world. I wanted to take this idea to the next level and go to the streets and engage people in direct conversation about Muslims in America and how their identities can come with negative stigmas attached. I interviewed several people of all backgrounds, including other Muslims, and the responses were very diverse. One student, who claimed to have many Muslim friends, could not identify a single difference between Muslims and Arabs other than "One can have many wives right?" Another student went as far to say that there isn't too much of a Muslim presence on the College Avenue Campus because it primarily a caucasian campus.

Not everyone was dead wrong with their responses, as one student went a far to tell me less than 20% of the Muslim population in the world is of Arab descent. Out of disbelief, I looked it up and discovered it to be true that only 15-18 percent of all Muslims are Arab. I took my video camera and recorded all of the interviews, but for some reason the audio was not recorded, making the video useless.

I will be returning to the same setting and asking a new set of people similar questions with more direction and create a video discussion between different students on campus about what Muslim identity is about and how it is dangerous to believe false facts about a large diverse group of people.