My Almost Old School
I’m finally graduating from college on the 19th of this month, and my grandparents already got me a watch, counting their chickens before they’ve hatched. I am going to be, perhaps oddly, very relieved to not have to write a paper ever again. I can, begrudgingly, admit I will miss school, and at points I’m sure I’ll feel its absence deeply. I will miss my beautiful room with its wooden floors, the makerspace aptly located in an old home, the trees budding against the sky, my friends right down the hall. Maybe I’ll even miss my peers.
I think if I could take it back, I wouldn’t have gone to college. I’m not sure I understand the point. Certainly, I would not have picked Sociology as a major.
That being said, I’m taking a course this semester called the Racialization of Muslims (essentially an examination of how the words “Arab,” “Muslim” and “terrorist” became synonymous), and this week we talked about Giogio Agamben’s theory the homo sacer, which I found pretty fascinating. He pulls the term from ancient Roman law, where it meant a person who is excluded from the protections of the law while still being subject to its power. He extended this concept to explore the intersection of politics, law and life.
Concurrently, we discussed the post-9/11 criminalization of Muslims, and the unconstitutional policing of Muslims, particularly in New York City. Sameer M. Ashar, a lawyer, academic and activist, discusses one of his client’s plights following a roundup of Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern men in November 2001 in his article, “Immigration Enforcement and Subordination: The Consequences of Racial Profiling After September 11.” His client, like at least 1,200 other men arrested in those months, was held indefinitely, in poor conditions, soley on the basis of his Arabic-sounding name, Arabic appearance, and presence at a mosque. At one point, the client, despite having no history of violence, despite his only crime being overstaying his visa, was shackled hand and foot and subject to a 23-hour lights-on policy.
Ashar notes the poor treatment his client received from not only police and prison officials, but also from judges. “When making her point about the danger he presents,” Ashar wrote of a judge referring to his client, “she indicated that her child would be waiting for her at school, just as she had been waiting on September 11. She gave us a meaningful glare when she mentioned the separation from her child on that day, as if our client was to blame for her child’s suffering.”
Against this background, it’s been remarkable to see the different takes of different communities regarding the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Here at Smith, students occupied the administrative building for almost two weeks to protest the college’s indirect investments in weapons manufacturers through its endowment.
Meanwhile, on my way back from Cambodia, I stopped briefly in Scotland, where my otherwise incredibly lovely B&B host criticized pro-Palestinian and pro-peace protests happening in London, calling them “jihad in the streets,” saying, “You don’t see the Muslim women out, only the men.” The course I’ve been taking helped me realize how much similarly ignorant, misogynist and racist messaging we passively receive through media.
While I certainly can’t wholeheartedly endorse college, or sociology, I do believe everyone ought to take an Introduction to Sociology course. Those with the most social or political power should be required to do so.
I spoke with a teammate this week who transferred to Smith from a school in Florida because that state passed a law effectively banning race and gender studies at publicly funded universities. She is, not to be dramatic, an ideological refugee. This country seems to be becoming more and more theocratic, and education will always be one of the best ways to combat that.
