Ramadan & Soccer

I was very pleased today to hear on the Kojo Nnamdi Show today a section on Ifars and Ramadan. I need to go back and listen to it (I AM at work...), but it was just nice to hear people talking about their traditions and food and the season. It means a lot to me to hear about this because (for the most part) you don't get ANY recognition of the holidays in the U.S. (of course, there's not a majority population in most locations of the U.S.) and since it changes your life for such a good period of time, any discussion is certainly appreciated from me.

So, it reminds me a lot of the dramatic increase in soccer highlights in the U.S.! ;) I mean- about 10 years ago, we barley got ANY soccer coverage on tv; now we have MLS games, British Premiership games and even World Cup games - not JUST on ESPN and ESPN2, but also on ABC!!!! WOW!

I know that many people may feel threatened by this increase in coverage on main stream channels- of Ramadan and Muslim holidays, that is, not soccer- but I think it's a very good thing for 2 reasons:

1. Awareness is always a good thing. You don't have to change anything about your life (thank you U.S. for our religious freedoms!), but you know that some other people are celebrating a holiday in their religion and it's ok to say "Happy Ramadan!"

2. It brings Islam more and more into a part of mainstream U.S. culture. Again- this may be something people don't want, but it's not like Muslims have NOT been in the U.S. I think the 1840s was the first Muslim I know of in the U.S., although that was a while convert and so there might (probably) have been someone before him... I mean, Morocco was the first country to recognize the U.S. so we must have had some diplomats at least here, right?

Anyways- Muslims have pretty much always been part of the U.S. and our culture, but most people just didn't know much about the religion. Which seems to more or less to have be ok (except when they didn't know why we were fasting at random months! lol), but with the added pressure on the community to have more of a unified identity since 9/11, I get worried about young Muslims feeling like an outside or not being accepted as an American, when they really are. I think this small recognitions are nice and really help Muslims proudly say, "I am American and I am Muslim and this is my holiday where we fast and celebrate with our family... And it's good and ok and not a bad thing for anyone else."

So, Ramadan Kareem and enjoy the month, starting next week! (August 11th) I will try to upload pictures from our Ifars again this year- it'll probably be more exciting than last year because my mom-in-law and sister-in-law are in town and they are GREAT cooks! :)