"We Aren't Looking For 15 Minutes of Face, But A Lifetime of Equality." (Blog Post 1)

Observation: This last Wednesday, a friend of mines posted on Facebook a story about a Muslim women who was given a cup of tea with bacon inside the straw on her way out of the restaurant.
http://themuslimvoice.net/2013/10/02/bacon-put-into-straw-of-muslim-womens-drink-as-discrimination-in-tgi-fridays/

 I can't say I understand the feelings that some Muslims have had to unfortunately experience dealing with discrimination and hate crimes in the U.S, but I hope that I can say I have empathy for people that have to deal with the racist and discriminatory actions that people take on this population.  Islamaphobia- a hatred and irrational fear of Muslims,  has definitely spiked after 9/11 happened 12 years ago and the Wars in Afganistan and Iraq.

This story is disappointing to read about. I have been to this TGI Friday's before since Garland, Texas is about 30 minutes from where I live in Dallas. I read the article, and checked TGI Friday's facebook page to see what was happening there. To summarize the story, Nicole Queen and a friend went to have a casual lunch at TGI Friday's.  She ordered a salad and it had bacon in it. She asked the waiter if she could have it removed, and he was put off by the request. Another waitress had finished her check and asked if she wanted a to-go cup of her drink and she said sure. She got the cup back with everything there and a straw already in it with the partial wrapper. She took a sip and tasted bacon and immediately took it back to the restaurant. The manager denied what had happened and said no one would have done that on purpose, etc.

Nicole Queen got in touch with someone from the blog TheMuslimVoice and this story has circulated around now reaching various parts of the world; from the U.S. to Austraila. The Facebook page of TGI Friday has been active with people writing on their timeline expressing their thoughts on the matter and it is awesome to see how people are mobilzing through TheMuslimVoice blog and facebook to bring to light the injustice this woman had to face at this Dallas TGI Fridays. Many are pledging to stop eating at TGI Fridays from different states and even in other countries after this story has circulated.

Some notes about Nicole Queen. She converted to Islam 6 years ago from her Christianity. Although she has the right and a very strong case to sue TGI Fridays on this event, she wants TGI Fridays to have their staff take sensitivity training and have an on camera apology be made to her and Muslims. Some comments she made were "We are not looking for 15 minutes of face, but a lifetime of equality" and "I have never been more offended in my life and I cant beieve that the biggest offense of my life is happening at a TGI Fridays." "They made me feel like a minority yanno? And Ive never known what that feels like"

Reading the TGI Friday Facebook pages comments, I have read many comments from other people saying a number of things:
"Bacon should be made a standard on all menu items now"
I dont see what the deal is here. The Muslims just want attention, again.
"Hope she enjoyed the bacon, obviously a publicity stunt and staged."
"I am disgusted that so many people are choosing to believe in such a fabricated story"

This story has made it to the local news channel in Dallas and TGI Fridays released statements on their Facebook and to the news channel. This is just another incident you see a Muslim facing discrimination from others in our country. I cant say what exactly it is that this says about our society, but I definitely believe there is a lack of understanding, acceptance, religious tolerance, respect towards others, and a definite fear of difference. I am not Muslim, but I feel like I can relate just a little bit of what people like Nicole go through because of the racist comments and actions I have had to deal with just for having brown skin. It so awesome to see how she did not just accept what happened and move on with the status quo of treatment that we see Muslims face as second class American citizens. She did something about it. 

I personally will not be supporting or eating at TGI Fridays till I see some reasonable actions taken against whats happened. 
Being the minority and usually only hearing about the disappointing stories about race and treatment of others, I thought I would share this link to end. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hHUQ0Lp6v4
"Not at the moment, right now I'm ordering a sandwich"