Class started with us talking about the Ernst reading. We started by going around in a circle talking about our opinions on the reading. Christian started the discussion on how it wasn’t surprising to him that he was finding/reading more racial bias. I also think Marina made an interesting point in bringing up that everyday she learns about how more and more traditions are rooted in racism. I thought this was really interesting, because sometimes when I learn about the true history of traditions I’ve known my whole life I am completely shocked. We continued discussing this concept of how deeply rooted our lives are in racist traditions, and how the colonizers made our lives borderline dependent on our biases. During this discussion, Steven said, “Our messiah vs. their messiah.” The class then proceeded to discuss why that phrase is problematic, and what Ernst would have thought of that phrase. We talked about how othering that statement is. Someone also brought up how in the writing Ernst talked about how the Muslims don’t actually consider Muhammad the messiah. Ernst actually refers to people calling Muhammad the messiah as mislabeling him. Discussing how Americans often misunderstand Islamic/Middle Eastern culture led to a large discussion about the American Education system. I few interesting phrases that were said were “white-washed”, “American propaganda”, and “appropriation.” One of my favorite quotes of this class discussion was when Jess said, “Ironic that we’re called the melting pot.” I think this quote really does highlight how hypocritical America is. We insist on being called the melting pot, that accepts everyone. Except, we don’t. Today’s class was a very heavy but meaningful discussion. I think that a lot of the phrases thrown about today will stick with me for awhile.
