Husna Chaudhry: We’re Muslim, and America is our home

The horrible shootings in San Bernardino occurred on my birthday in December and became the catalyst for me to write.

I start by hoping everyone had a peaceful holiday season and I send my love. I would also like to extend my heartfelt prayers and best wishes to all of the victims and their families in San Bernardino, Paris and in Merced.

I am a Muslim of Pakistani descent. Until very recently I was very proud of being both. Now it is becoming harder for me to explain to others why being a Muslim and a Pakistani does not equate to terrorism.

The Islam I was raised in was and is one of tolerance, kindness and compassion. I was brought up to believe only God has the right to judge us, no one else. We cannot, and should not, impose our values and beliefs on anyone else.

My husband and I have lived and worked in Merced together since 1995 when I married and moved here from England. My sons were both born in Merced, and they know no other home.

When my husband left to complete his education out of state, we moved with him. However, we had to move back home to Merced as our younger son’s behavior (he is severely autistic) started deteriorating so much that we had no other option but to come back to the place where he would be the most comfortable and happy. Within a week he was back on track.

I believe it was less than a month after we moved back home that he spoke his first full words, spontaneously and appropriately, at the age of 6. He was sitting in the backyard and I was sitting with him, drinking tea, when he pointed to my tea, asking, “I tea?”

So, Merced is home for us. America is home for us.

However, with the presidential election later this year, and with the hateful political rhetoric being spouted by one GOP candidate in particular, I fear it is starting to feel less and less like that. The growing support for him that I see scares me immensely. There was a similar incident, not so long ago, where a man had targeted a group of people by espousing the same kind of hate speech and fear.

He was thought to be a fool and a joke by many at the time, until he gained enough support and power and showed the world what one “fool” could do.

Having just watched “The Man In The High Castle” – a TV series that shows what the world would have been like if Germany and Japan had won World War II – I feel that such a reality could very well be possible. I do not want to live in an America where I am a second-class citizen or segregated because of my race and religion. So, I have decided to become proactive.

First, I am not going to apologize for being a Muslim or a Pakistani. I am going to continue being who I am, live as I have lived and treat others as I would like to be treated.

Second, I am going to take advantage of my opportunity to become an American citizen. My father immigrated to England in the mid-1960s. He faced a lot of hardship, hate and racism in order to give his family a better life, for which I am eternally grateful. I wanted to hold onto that legacy for as long as I could, especially as he is no longer with us.

However, given the current climate, I feel I have to do what is best for my family now. I want to have a voice in the country I have lived in for over 20 years and that I call my home.

Merced has given me and my family so much. I have made wonderful friends here, found such compassionate and caring people who have helped me, especially with my younger son, to build a wonderful life. I would hate for anyone to think that all Americans are like a few scaremongers, just as I would hate to have people believe that all Muslims and all Pakistanis are like ISIS and the Taliban.

After the Paris attacks, I was heartbroken and sad. Searching online I came across a quote from Mother Teresa: “If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.”

We need to understand that we are all part of the human race. Peace, love and happiness to all.

This story was originally published January 14, 2016 at 2:11 PM with the headline "Husna Chaudhry: We’re Muslim, and America is our home."