Jillian Turner Blog #10: What is my name?

As I look back on the semester I am truly impressed by the cultivation of our community. Although I am only a freshman, I never imagined that I could get so close with my classmates, many of whom I probably never would have otherwise crossed paths with. I enjoyed learning from each others as much as I learned from the films we watched. I will admit, few films in particular stole my heart!

I am very glad we finished the semester on My Name is Khan. This film in particular addressed something that we had not yet discussed: mental disabilities. I was struck by Khan's character and his relationships with his family members. His younger brother seemed jealous of the attention Khan received from their mother and tried to distance them as much as possible. I also thought it was interesting that he disowned Khan for marrying his wife based on her religion.

I remember where I was on 9/11 as I'm sure many people do. As a second grader, I didn't grasp the gravity of the situation nor was I aware of the aftermath. I couldn't help but be frustrated with our country while watching My Name is Khan. I knew that Middle Eastern people were targeted as possible "terrorists"after the attacks of 9/11 but I had no idea how extensive the affects were.

The film sparked my thinking about how different this country would be if 9/11 had never happened. Would people still be strip-searched by TSA? Would we have never searched for "weapons of mass destruction?" My liberal self believes we would live in a very different world than we do today.

In the recent attacks at the Boston Marathon, the first thing that people asked was if the attacks were part of a terrorist plot. We live in such a paranoid time in the United States due to 9/11. Entire ethnicities are labeled as "other" based on the actions of the few.

I recently was trolling twitter and saw a post written by a Muslim woman who said "Muslims view "Islamic" terrorists the same way Christians view the Westboro Baptist Church." http://www.gaulitics.com/2013/04/yasira-jaan-yasirajaan-viral-tweet.html

So often in America we are quick to forget and quick to generalize. Early writers such as Frederick Douglass criticized American society in American Jeremiadic tradition. Works such as "What to a Slave is the Fourth of July?" critique society but provide a sense of hope in order to spark social change and cohesion.

Today, we don't have that. American society is divided politically and often socially. It is often only after a tragedy that we see true "Americanism" in the way that people come together. What a wonder it is that it takes something so bad to bring such good to our country..