An emotional conversation with a Muslim cab driver in Manhattan made 23-year-old Alex Malloy speak out against Islamophobia on social media.
The first words Malloy heard when he got into a cab on Nov 13 — after the attacks in Paris — were ‘thank you’. What followed was ‘one of the most heartbreaking moments’ Malloy has ever experienced.
The cab driver, who was also in his early twenties, said that Malloy was his first customer in hours. The cabbie feared that people were avoiding his cab as they were scared and suspicious of his faith in wake of the attacks.
“Allah, my God, does not believe in this! People think I’m a part of this and I’m not. Nobody wants to drive with me because they feel unsafe. I can’t even do my job,” the cab driver told Malloy.
“He cried the whole way to my apartment and it made me cry, too,” Malloy wrote. “The fact this young man is feeling victimized because of extremists is so sad. Nobody needs to feel this way…The whole ride I told this man how I, as many other in this nation don’t view him that way. We are happy to have him here and will do anything to protect him,” he added.
Malloy slammed those who use the actions of extremists to tar all Muslims with the same brush.
“Please stop generalizing a society of people to an act of violence by extremists. These are not our enemies. These are our friends, neighbors, and allies. Please stop saying ‘Muslims’ are the problem because they are not and they are feeling more victimized and scared to the day.”
“These are our brothers and sisters as humankind, we are all humans underneath this skin. And they deserve nothing more than our respect and attention. They need our protection. Please stop viewing these beautiful human beings as enemies because they are not,” Malloy added.
This emotional message went viral overnight. It has been retweeted by almost 50,000 people so far.
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