Newsweek article "American Dreamers" made the Bangladeshi a terrorist

[Orpheus]

Full Article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19876834...wsweek/page/0/

Ferdous Sajedeen arrived here from Bangladesh in 1975 and built a successful pharmacy business in Queens. For years, Sajedeen imagined that he would eventually return to Bangladesh, but after visiting Dhaka several years ago, he realized how impossible that was; he didn't understand the jokes anymore, he didn't feel part of the culture. "I don't deny my roots," he says. "I am proud to be a Bangladeshi, but at the same time the reality is I am a Bangladeshi-American." September 11, he says, was "one of the saddest stories anywhere in the world."His son Autri, who at 21 is in his fourth year of pharmacy school and lives at home with his parents, does not feel his father's patriotism. "When we grew up, nobody ever looked at us like we were Americans," he says. On 9/11, "it sounds bad to say, but I remember thinking that I didn't care that it happened. A lot of my friends didn't care. I think it's because we're Muslim." For him, the bombing of Afghanistan that followed was much more tragic and painful. Fundamentalists are "crazy," he adds emphatically. He would never condone terrorism.

continues..blah blah blah

Kathy Ahmed, 37, refused to let her son, Jamil, now 20, join the soccer team; she didn't like the racist environment of the public high school or the league play. Asked if she's worried that the young men in her community are at risk of becoming terrorists, Ahmed says no: the Lackawanna Six were vulnerable boys seduced by a charismatic radical. "I'm not worried about [boys in Lackawanna] becoming terrorists. I worry that they'll lose their spirituality. There are so many things calling them. I see them as lost." Losing Jamil Ahmed and Autri Sajedeen would be the worst thing in the world—not just for them, but for all of us.

What a dumb comment by autri to begin with but he was 15 in 2001. When was the last time any teenager cared about anything.... Halar bangalee kothai ki koibo tao jaane na..... I mean if it's a middle eastern talking about palestine I understand or even a pakistani but feeling for Afganistan coming out from a Bangladeshi?? haha

[ialbd]

Originally Posted by Orpheus
......but feeling for Afganistan coming out from a Bangladeshi?? haha

apnar ei comment ta pore ektu confused hoye gelam Orpheus bhai..... did I miss the sarcasm?

[Orpheus]

Originally Posted by ialbd
apnar ei comment ta pore ektu confused hoye gelam Orpheus bhai..... did I miss the sarcasm?

ial bhai, eita ekta stupid thread. I don't know why I posted it....I guess I wanted to stir up someting from nothing. The article was poorly written and I didn't like the insinuation that these "isolated" muslims will become the next breed of terrorist if they are not fully integrated with everything else.

That comment was not sarcasm, I mean really does anyone care about Afganistan? LOL

I will try to be more prudent next time I open up a topic.

[Tehsin]

Just read this book called - The Kite Runner. Based on Afganistan through the eyes of a little boy ...., good read. Some of the stories from the boys childhood (in the book) reminded me of growing up back home. It's unfortunate (to put it lightly) what has happened in Afganistan over the last 3 decades, hope they'll get back on their feet (not likely but here's to HOPE) soon.

Is it me or did we not have much of a shia vs sunni mentality in BD?

[Puck]

Originally Posted by Orpheus
Halar bangalee kothai ki koibo tao jaane na..... I mean if it's a middle eastern talking about palestine I understand or even a pakistani but feeling for Afganistan coming out from a Bangladeshi?? haha

religion is so culturally ingrained in the hearts and minds of so many muslims living abroad, especially the economic migrant, that it is difficult to see it as an independent construct. there is much distrust of muslims in the us and so all muslims of whatever ethnic origin feel it easier to identify themselves as a core member of the muslim community and sympathise with all muslim issues abroad.