Dearborn's Muslim community reeling in Boston Marathon bombing's aftermath

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“It’s a long term process that needs to take place in cutting down social acceptability of these statements in the media and by politicians,” Walid said. “That’s not to say people won’t continue to make those comments under the veil of social media.

“Social media has desensitized people and they have gotten cyber space courage where many times in the general public, people wouldn’t say certain things but with the anonymity of cyber space, they can make outrageous comments.”

“Teachers who would bring in newspapers and ask me if I was related to any of the terrorists.”

Khadigah Alasry loves helping children understand the facets of Islam when she is not doing her day job. A middle school teacher and youth organizer with the Muslim American Society (MAS), Alasry was born and raised in Dearborn. Her father is a community organizer who helped build Dearborn’s then-burgeoning Arab community.

“He was one of the founders of Masjid Dearborn,” said Alasry, whose family emigrated to the U.S. from Yemen in 1983. “I have kind of an ‘establishment’ background as my father has been an organizer for a while.”

Alasry was 14 years old on Sept. 11, 2001. While she has never been physically attacked, she has dealt with her fair share of ignorant comments and insults regarding her Muslim faith – she wears a hijab like most Muslim women – from peers, complete strangers and even teachers.

“Even when I was in high school, teachers would make sarcastic comments about a person being Muslim and relating it to terrorism,” Alasry said. “I’ve had teachers who would bring in newspapers and ask me if I was related to any of the terrorists. I was 16 and 17. I didn’t really know how to handle it. We just kind of kept quiet.”

Alasry noted that as she got older, she has dealt with a multitude of rude remarks from people, including once walking into a store and being called a “motherf—ing camel jockey.” She wonders why people believe what they hear about Islam so easily and often don’t come to the defense of Muslims when misinformation is presented.

“I think there’s a fear of what is different that exists in parts of our society,” Alasry said, also noting that American tensions with the Middle East have not helped matters. “It’s fueled in a lot of ways by how the media portrays Muslims and Islam. People who aren’t proactive in exploring what Muslims are really like, you’re going to be influenced by what our media is putting out there and that’s a lot of misconceptions.”

Working with MAS, Alasry, now 26, helps local children gather a better understanding of Islam through retreats, fellowships, and helping kids “improve society through their faith.” She helped launch MAS’s Detroit Hearts and Minds program, which helps local youth get a greater understanding of Islam through mentoring.

“We used focus groups of different groups of youth and we asked them about the transformative experiences they’ve gone through,” Alasry said. “Some of them said mentors were transformative for them. Some of them said that they went through really traumatic experiences.

“We came to the conclusion that when you’re exposed to something you’re not used to, it transforms you and we created the exposure aspect of the program. The youth who are involved in this program are some of the most upstanding citizens in their communities. They’re involved in other organizations such as the Michigan Muslim Youth Council and other organizations that help the community in a positive way.”

“If even 1 percent of Muslims believed in terrorism, the whole world would be on fire.”

As the manhunt for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev neared a close last week, a commenter on my Facebook page said: “If Muslims are tired of being associated with terrorism, then they should consider leaving Islam.” A point that has been frequently brought up in the two weeks since the attacks is how a double-standard is applied to acts of terrorism in the U.S. in terms of race and ethnicity.

“The last major incident of domestic terrorism on U.S. soil was the Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin at the hands of a white supremacist,” Kaur said. “We did not hear experts on the media suggest that white should be profiled, or Christianity denigrated or see Christians living in fear.”

“When the perpetrator is white, our society diagnoses the problem as an individual issue,” she added. “When the perpetrator is Muslim or a person of color, people rush to assume the dangerousness of entire group of people.”

When Muslims speak about their faith being one of peace, they often refer to a verse in the Quran that states: “If someone kills another person — unless it is in retaliation for someone else or for causing corruption in the Earth — it is as if he had murdered all mankind.” The misconception of all Muslims being terrorists and Islam being a religion that encourages violence does not logically jibe with the numbers.

“The vast majority of Muslims eschew violence and terrorism like everyone else who follows a spiritual system,” Walid said. “There are 1.6 billion Muslims on Earth. If even 1 percent of these Muslims – which would be 160 million people – believed in terrorism, the whole world would be on fire.”

Walid, who is African-American, is also disheartened by the ease with which being Islamophobic is accepted in the United States, even among minorities. Of note, nearly 40 percent of Muslim Americans are black.

“Being Muslim or especially Arab is the new black in America,” Walid said. “What people used to say about black folks – but can’t say now – or about Jews, or the Irish, it’s socially acceptable to say those things about Muslims now. That’s just going to take time, education, and more interaction to weed those people out. But a lot of those people will never change.”

You can follow Jay Scott Smith on Twitter @JayScottSmith