Racism has had a major impact on the Middle East ever since 9/11. Especially in my family, basically, everyone has experienced racism, other than my younger siblings. My mom moved to America around 2000, right before 9/11. She was just getting used to the new environment while having a younger brother in high school, around 15 years old. Soon after she arrived, she got a job working for her uncle in a pizza shop. She would work Monday through Saturday, and on Sunday, have a nice dinner with her family. Then, shortly after repeating this cycle a couple of times, 9/11 occurred. My mom and her younger brother’s lives completely changed. Her brother, who was still going to high school, was impacted the most, and things the other kids said were, “Go back to your country,” and some other non-school-appropriate things that I can’t say. My mom, on the other hand, wasn’t affected as much as her brother. She still went to work like everything was normal but received a couple of messages on Facebook.

Although not everyone is racist, I was always taught to be careful around cops. Not too long ago, my brother was on the freeway and speeding. It was super late, so it was an empty road. Little did he know there was a cop car right behind him. Once he saw it, he slammed on the brakes and threw me his phone in shock. The cop’s lights then turned on and told us to exit the freeway. I told my brother to put his hands on the steering wheel and stop playing around. It was my first time being pulled over, and I was super nervous. Social media makes it look like every cop is bad or racist. But when he was talking to my brother, he knew he was super young. The cop was super considerate of everything and could’ve given us a $500 ticket, but instead, he decided to let my brother off without anything.