My woes began immediately after I found myself employed as a front office attendant in one of the restaurants. Chris Warhurst reveals how good-looking you must be regarding aesthetic labor at work to get a job. In our case, wearing HIJAB is a norm that the world recognizes. I never found myself on the wrong side of the dress code. My first days at work seemed memorable and enjoyable not until I misplaced a stapler I had borrowed from my colleague. I remember one of the white colleagues calling me a dirty Muslim and admitting that even if the stapler were found, he would not use it because it had passed through my dirty hands. The kind of discrimination directed at me lowered my self-esteem.
I reported the matter and the person who said the word was never punished. The worst part of the narrative was how I was grabbed by the collar, tossed in the air as oi breathed helplessly. The custodian of the stapler spat on me after a series of assaults that I believed amounted to racial abuse. Later on, I found the stapler and returned it wholeheartedly. However, the experiences left me feeling helpless at work all the time. I thought of changing my job, but it was hard to do so because I was a foreigner.
I decided to report the matter to the management and give them a glimpse of what I intended. I emphasized that I would have wished to be treated the way I treat others. I inquired whether reporting the issue to the relevant authorities would have consequences outside work. I was advised to brush through the matter under the carpet. The directives even worsened my stay at work. I made more enemies than friends at work. I am for the idea that workplaces need to stop this kind of harassment. Employers also need to crack the whip on any race and religious bullying without compromising on the repercussions it would have on the business reputation (Scheitle & Ecklund, 2016).
According to Schneider et al. (2022), racial and religious discrimination at workplaces seem to rise. Workplaces ought to be one of the most comfortable places an employee feels secure because of the daily interactions. However, employees perceive religious discrimination around the denial of religious holidays, physical aggressiveness, and social segregation. At the restaurant, I realized that most whites stereotype Muslims as a “threat” to others. I thought that the ideology of racial and religious segregation was abandoned in the twentieth century.
I learnt that human beings never reciprocate the favor and good accorded at any time. My narrative is a true testimony. My family immigrated to the United Kingdom roughly 70 years ago, and the group made a significant contribution to the British economy through the East India Company in 1957.The East India Company was an aggressive imperialistic invasion of the South Asian countries and regimes. The British Empire culminated the economic and natural resources of the nations, developed a political regime, and initiated several trading agreements with the mother state. For example, the United Kingdom (Vaughn et al., 2018).
My ancestors’ efforts never appear to provide a good deal at work. If I had been a white person, I would not have had to endure the difficulties I had as a brown Muslim and restaurant employee. Discrimination is illegal under the law. Employers must take the lead in this struggle by beginning constructive and courteous conversations, organizing employee resource groups, and providing harassment prevention training. My bosses, on the other hand, counseled me to downplay the situation and never disclose it since it would have implications outside the workplace.
Despite our capabilities well qualified by my ancestral contributions, the white perceive Bangladeshi Muslims as a threat to others and society. One of the few discussions that have been stealing the headlines is that if a person can prove that they suffered discrimination based on their race or religion, they have the legal right to file a claim with the authorities. I felt betrayed at the workplace and, most of the time, felt like resigning and seeking employment elsewhere.
Because my county, Kent, is predominantly Caucasian, one may anticipate instances of prejudice. I am the type of person that want to be treated in the same manner as I treat others. To put it another way, fairly and equitably. I am grateful that my family and I do not need home, land, education, food, or other basic requirements. Living in a different country with a new culture, temperature, and surroundings, on the other hand, was a difficult challenge for me. My ethnicity and skin color have been scrutinized at times. I often feel like the odd man out among white folks. Perhaps it is because Muslims have a skewed image across the world. Our group is frequently portrayed as a “threat” to others. As a brown Muslim, assimilating into a White-dominated society has been difficult but exciting.
References
Scheitle, C. and Ecklund, E., 2016. Examining the Effects of Exposure to Religion in the Workplace on Perceptions of Religious Discrimination. Review of Religious Research, 59(1), pp.1-20.
Schneider, R., Carroll Coleman, D., Howard Ecklund, E. and Daniels, D., 2022. How Religious Discrimination is Perceived in the Workplace: Expanding the View. Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World, 8, p.237802312110709.
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