I am Arab American, and proud of who I am. I grew up in the Syriac Orthodox Church and loved learning everything about my heritage. I loved the pastries and all of the food. The music made me feel like I was a little princess dancing to the heavy beats of the drums and of the synthesized effects to the music. I would sing in Aramaic day in and day out. I was proud of who I was and where I came from.

But then I encountered what the world defined me as because of my culture. I heard people say hateful things to me when I spoke the Arabic phrases I learned when I was younger. I heard what people were saying on the news about something they didn’t even know and I began to be afraid.

I stopped wearing my long dangly earrings, and my bangles from my great grandmother that she brought with her when she came to America. I began to forget the sound of the drums that were engrained in my head. I was beginning to suppress who I was to please society.

But I realized something, I have no reason to be ashamed of who I am based on others actions. I have no reason to shrink back from the things that make me who I am because a couple people of my race did something bad. I realized that by accepting the label of “terrorist” like people joked with me about, I could remain strong and proud of who I am.

What I learned is that when people get nervous they try to pinpoint the “evil” into a group, but that does not mean it’s true. There is really the side of the story that shows the strong people in Syria that are staying and FIGHTING ISIS. When we label, we are not seeing the poor children of the Middle East that have more stress than we could ever imagine. When we label, we forget that there is another side to the story.

When you joke with me about being a “terrorist” because of my heritage, you are forgetting who I am. You are forgetting the urge to fight for what I believe is the truth, that I saw in my grandparents. You are forgetting my passion for the art of Arabic music, you are forgetting that we all can trace our life back to the Middle East. You are forgetting that math was created there, that oil and gas come from there.

But most importantly you are forgetting that I am proud to be who I was created to be.