From a twenty-year old author...
You can only imagine the full plight of other people. You'll never truly be them, you're always you. Some people choose to respect others for who they are inside. Some people choose to stereotype others because of what little they've seen.
But what an individual person does...depending on their race, they have obligations, keeping widespread ignorance in mind. They have to gauge their own actions, measuring them across the Big Picture. If not, any semblance of equality becomes the Big Lie.
But when you're young, this isn't an issue. You're thinking about experiencing life. Doing what's best for you. Doing whatever you want. Doing what the influential people around you participate in. This can be positive in people forming opinions about your ethnicity. Or detrimental.
There's always sharp boundaries drawn across different races. This story is how one young man mires himself in the negative stereotype of his race, discovers the futility of the circumstances surrounding his actions, and ultimately transcends the stereotype which his elders and peers have created. The stereotype that he began to carve out for himself when he was growing up of the violent Arab.
But it's never easy. This young Arabic man grows up in the West and deals with all the negative influences in his life, both blatant and shadowed. It showcases his positive influences, and how he adopts them with a burning passion all of us can strongly feel.
Overwhelming the odds takes more strength than any of us believe we have. Everyone faces indescribable circumstances and tasks. Abolishing stereotypes in the West is just one. Love, caring, acceptance and joy are the goals. A neverending downward spiral into violence and soulless emptiness hold these goals back, taunting you with failure.
Gabriel Yusuf takes it all on.
