Transportation

I am sitting here on the way home from my parents and I am contemplating methods of transportation. I have traveled in the most common ways; air, car, bus, train, and even by boat. All methods have their benefits and drawbacks. Since becoming a Muslim, and wearing Muslim attire in a post-Sept 11th world, these benefits and drawbacks have evolved.
I have had some interesting experiences on all methods of transportation, dealing with the recent searches have been no exception. Although these things seem to be coming to a boiling point recently because of the TSA protests, and different political campaigns trying to discourage invasive searches, Muslims, and minorities in general have been facing adversity using public transportation for years.
I feel as though I am caught in a whirlwind of attention to these "new" regulations allowing searches, and "invasion of privacy", and my personal experiences have only started recently due to my "wardrobe change". Minorities have been dealing with problems getting from here to there for a lot longer than within this last decade, as news reports would like to advertise. Although this "Post 911" era has drawn attention to certain religious descrimination, prejudice is not a new item on the menu. I am not just talking about famous events such as the Rosa Parks story. Rosa Parks has a fabulous story, however it is one that has been told. There are many "untold" discriminations in this country that the powers at be would like to pretend do not happen
. Before becoming a Muslim, I experienced the "DWB" phenomenon, or "Driving While Black". A friend of mine, a young black male, were driving back from a movie, a cop pulled us over. My headlight happened to be out and the following events, although shocking to me, were not to him, as he later explained to me that things like this happened to him all the time. The police officers interrogated me because they thought because I was in the car with a black male, I could only be either a drug addict, or a prostitute. They also proceeded to explain that I could not own a vehicle this "nice", so they were convinced I was renting it. Considering the amount of trash (estaghferallah) I keep in my backseat, the possibility of my car being a rental car was indeed humourous. I proceeded to provided proof of ownership of the vehicle, explain that were just happened to be taking a shortcut through a bad neighborhood and I was neither a prostitute, nor a drug dealer. I was throughly shaken by the events. This 23 year old African American male was not. He then told me about the "DWB" scenario, and how often events like this were taking place all over the country.
I never understood what he felt like. I always felt, honestly, that he had to be exagerrating and that in no way could things like this be happening everyday in my suburban love bubble. But I was wrong, as I found out after becoming a Muslim. The same people whom had once looked me in the face and had nothing but good things to say were now ignorin me, and whispering behind my back over something as trivial as a head scarf. I can't imagine people judging me for my skin color, the way God made me. Everyday I learn how lucky I am and how many hardships God has made me free from, and how lucky I truly am. Many people are prejudiced against, and I feel a little guilty for complaining, and being so self conscious about wearing hijab. I feel that I need to just be stronger, and stop worrying so much about other people, because there are many more people who have it a lot tougher than me.