Yoanna+S’s+2018+OpEd+Article

Persecution

Now when I say Egypt what's the first thing you think of? Do you think about the desert and the Nile? Do you think about pharaohs and pyramids? Maybe you assume that up to this day, 2018, it's a dry, sandy place with uncivilized naked people wandering around with camels. But believe it or not, it's a modern, democratic country with civilized individuals. Or so I thought.

“What’s your name?” he asked.

With my heart jumping in my chest, I refused to answer. I knew why he was asking. I wasn’t wearing hijab, and that could only mean one thing! I’m a Coptic Christian and my name would be a dead give away. Should I lie? I have to be brave. What should I say? What should I do?

He asked again, “what’s your name?”

I shook my head, “none of your business.”

“Her name is Yoanna”, answered the annoying kid next to me with a laugh knowing why the long bearded stranger was asking.

“Yoanna...ah I see. Well here is what is going to happen. I’m going to find you and kill you.”

This wasn’t something out of the ordinary; although it was the first time I was threatened verbally rather than glared at or followed. In a “democracy”, you would think that equality is a core value. That religious tolerance is a priority, yet in in the Islamic country, prejudice against Coptic Christians is considered normal. For those of you who don't know, Coptic Orthodox Christianity is the native Egyptian form of Christianity making up 10% of the county’s current population, as well as the smallest religious minority. Without logic or reasoning we are trampled and slaughtered simply due to our Christian faith.

I didn’t always live in fear but I had to learn pretty early on that the world is a dangerous place. One wrong step. One wrong move and you were gone. The scene above, happened at a gas station on my way to my English lesson with my driver and an older classmate in 2010. Although that conversation seems staged,and strange, it was a real threat that terrified me. Since then matters have escalated from threats to drastic actions by Muslim terrorists. I am in no way against Islam, in fact my best friends were muslims, however it is the few using Islam as an excuse to kill that I am against.

Every holiday, there is a new tragedy. A new death. A new masacre. Our priest stands on the pulpit giving us condolences rather than joy. It is purposeful that the attacks are done in that time. It is to make people afraid to go to church. The worst part is that it is working! Many lose their right to practice their religion thinking they will be safe in their homes when in reality they are not safe anywhere.

The most common newspaper headline: kidnaped, raped, and murdered. It is been published so many times that people are immune to it. The lives lost become names and the names become numbers, losing all humanity and bystanders losing all empathy because it has become a normality. Kids go to school and they don’t come back because they are taken and sold to Saudi Arabian parents. I can’t imagine, leaving to go school and not coming back. I can’t imagine what those parents go through as they drop their kids of for the last time not knowing it.

The government has made legislation but what is the point if it is not enforced? Time and time again, laws were made yet the general public made sure the inequality remained. This “normality” is not okay and something should be done about it. Not with violence but rationality and logic. Because nowhere in Islam, does it say that killing is okay. I don’t mean to paint the Coptics as victims and the terrorists as villains, however that’s what the situation has reached. People are collected and be headed. They are bombed in the middle of church services. They are shot while crossing the street. Seven years ago, I was shopping with my family when we heard gunshots and had to go hide in a store. I never want to feel what I felt that night nor do I want others to feel that way due to their beliefs.

I feel lucky to live here and have opportunities here because there I would fear for my life every minute of every hour of every day, but I fear for my family there and any one being bullied or persecuted. So no, I didn’t use to walk around naked with camels but where I come from, humanity is lost and needs to be brought back.