A Voice that Needs to be Heard

I did learn a lot from Muslim Girl. And it made me feel that same collective guilt that Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian and Holocaust stories, due to my German heritage and Sarny. What horrific stories Amani Al-Khatahtbeh relates in her memoir.
It also made me see the need for more women Muslim voices and the importance of the work she has been doing.
The thing is, I listened to the book and it was read by the author and when I heard W.E.B. DuBois pronounced like "Joyce" I could no longer excuse the bragging in the book with the youth of the Al-Khatahtbeh.
When she read the ignorant words, "Do ya'll speak English?" with a mocking southern accent and then followed up with, "I probably knew English better than him.," well, I knew I couldn't let that slide. The accent wouldn't have bothered me if she was just doing accents for all of the hateful people she encountered- like the British twit on the subway for example or the rude woman with the European accent, but to single out a stereotype of all southerners as being as horrible as this man and then follow it up with "read better than him?," I thought that her editors did a great disservice to her.
Which is a real shame because this book needs to be read, and heeded.
There is no excuse for the blatant discrimination and hateful prejudice that Muslims encounter. And it is unique. I'm not going to be a pansy and say, "like all religious minorities" because Muslims have it especially horrible and hard. Now especially with our President Elect.
It is my hope that Khatahtbeh will grow and keep speaking and writing and that her editors will, too. Her's is an important voice. Like everyone's. And her's is especially important now. And has been for some time.
She is very bright, and her responses to the pain and hate she has encountered have been so brave and in the case of the obnoxious British woman- so funny!
I look forward to checking out Muslimgirl.com.