Being Middle Eastern in the U.S.: Cultural Event

On Thursday May 1^st I went to an event called “Being Middle Eastern in the U.S.”. This took place during Chico State’s International Education Week. This event was located in Tehama Hall room 106 and went from 6:00-8:00 p.m. During this event they showed a stand up special from Comedy Central called The Axis of Evil Comedy Tour. This was a stand-up tour featuring Ahmed Ahmed, Aron Kader, Maz Jobrani, and Dean Obeidallah. And the other part of the time there were students talking about experiences and answering questions about being Middle Eastern.

The use of humor I felt was a good way to get their point across. There were a lot of jokes about stereotypical views of Middle Easterners and they talk about situations they have gotten into because of these stereotypical views. Although they were making jokes about it you were able to tell how they felt about the stereotypes and the way they are singled out in certain places. They felt it was unfair to them and their people.

Once the movie was over it was the students turn to talk. They also raised issues of stereotypes and how they affect their lives. Places like airports or anywhere there is some sort of security they are sometimes pulled to the side and extra precautions are taken for them. We as Americans need to rid ourselves of these stereotypes of all races not just of the ones we have of Middle Easterners. It just leads to wrong ideas and wrong judgments about other people. We just end up judging the book by its cover.