Last updated on March 25, 2015
by Brittney Mace// Assistant Editor
Volunteer State Community College hosted Zohra Sarwari, international speaker, March 4, at 12:30 p.m., in the Carpeted Dining Room.
According to her website, Sarwari is the author of ten books, a life coach, a business coach and an entrepreneur. With her time at Vol State, she chose to discuss what it means to be a member of the Islam faith and how her fellow Muslims are targeted when discussing or referring to terrorism.
“I want you guys to think of terrorism globally, not just outside the U.S. All of us know at least one person in our life who has been terrorized through domestic violence and all these other cases,” said Sarwari.
Sarwari said that every religion has crazy people in it, but that she doesn’t believe all the members of that religion should have to pay for that one person and their mistake. She said this issue is especially common for the Muslim community.
“Why is it when a Muslim commits a crime, his religion is labeled for it, but for anybody else, they are just an evil person? . . . What [has] happened in the last few years is that our media keeps saying that ënot all Muslims are Terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslim’. It’s an oxymoron,” said Sarwari.
Sarwari said that she wants society to stop focusing the backlash of terrorism on a certain group of individuals.
“Terrorism is happening all around us. There is no race to terrorism, there is no religion, there’s no age, there’s no gender. It’s an individual, making bad decisions, and taking it out on whoever is unfortunately going to suffer from their hands. . . . I want you guys to think of terrorism in that sense; globally, because truly, that’s what it really is,” said Sarwari.
As for the Vol State community, Sarwari said it was very welcoming.
“Honestly, I didn’t feel like wasn’t welcomed. Some students did look a little like ‘oh, you look out of place’ but that’s okay and that’s sometimes what they need to see [in order] to actually want to be involved in it. . . . I didn’t see any hatred or anything and if people had it, they kept it to themselves, which I think is very respectful,” said Sarwari.
Tabitha Sherrell, coordinator of student activities, attended the event.
“She did an amazing job. I’m a very structured person, so I really liked her PowerPoint. She stayed on task really well, she made it fun and not so hard and tense of a topic,” said Sherell.
Sam Hunt, a Vol State student, was also in attendance.
“The ignorance that people have, not just for [Sarwari] but for anyone, burns my butt, because nobody educates themselves on how not everybody’s like that or not everybody does that, whether it’s African-American, White, whatever. Not all of us are that person. Education is where it’s at. That’s how you stomp out ignorance,” said Hunt.
For more information on Sawari and her services, visit ZohraSawari.com.
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