Think back to one of the most significant times in our nation's history: the 1950s and 60s. Our nation fought for peace, for acceptance, and for equality. Movements for civil rights and the inclusion of all Americans regardless of the color of their skin or beliefs surfaced. We were truly progressive as a nation: tearing down barriers and fighting to end ignorance and hate. Well, what happened to us?

Fast forward to 2015 and think about the term “Islamophobia". We, as a nation, have coined that term to describe the ongoing fear and rejection some have towards Islam. Fear and rejection of an entire population because of ignorance and fallacy? Sounds like our nation is time traveling back to the days where teaching hate towards a group of people because of differences in beliefs and lifestyles was okay.

If you have seen the news lately, there is no denying that “Islamophobia" is real and prevalent in our nation. Just this past week in Phoenix, a “draw Mohammed" protest was held outside of a mosque (the Muslim place of worship), where demonstrators gathered to express their hate for Islam, thinking the religion “promotes violence". The demonstrators were encouraged to bring weapons and wear shirts that read “F—k Islam". Again, keep in mind, this was outside of the Muslim place for worship, where prayer is held and spirituality is taught. Imagine if the roles were reversed and that happened outside of a church… the protestors would be labeled as extremists and terrorists.

In the same week, a Muslim women (who is a highly respected Chaplain at Northwestern University) was denied the service of an unopened canned beverage on a flight because the flight attendant feared that she would be able to use that as a weapon. However, she did serve the man next to her. In disbelief, the woman spoke to those around her to draw attention to the discrimination that just occurred, and instead of receiving support, a man in front of her yelled, “you Muslim, you need to shut the f—k up… yes, you would use it as a weapon!"

An innocent Muslim women who was traveling to DC to attend an Israeli-Palestinian peace conference was humiliated and discriminated against because of her beliefs. We are a country that promotes the freedom of religion and the pursuit of happiness, we should not be going back in history where people had to fear their lifestyles based on their beliefs and backgrounds.

As a nation we need to educate ourselves and restart promoting peace and acceptance. Just like any other religion or lifestyle, Islam does not promote violence. Individuals are the ones that promote violence. We cannot associate an entire population over the actions of a very tiny minority. Individuals from all backgrounds and religions have taken teachings to an extreme and imposed harm on others. That minority from each background does not represent the entire population. I encourage everyone to research and learn more about the teachings of Islam; it might amaze some to see that Islam is actually very similar to Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism, Hinduism, etc. We must work until "Islamophobia" is no longer a word used by the media.