By Unity Productions Foundation
Muslims are our fellow Americans, who today face threats to their civil rights and even their personal safety because of the fearful and often hateful rhetoric that would not be tolerated were it uttered about any other minority group.
This online film, My Fellow American, and social media project calls upon concerned Americans to pledge and spread a message that Muslims are our fellow Americans. It asks people of other backgrounds to pledge, and share a real life story about a Muslim friend, neighbor, or colleague that they admire.
My Fellow American was shot in Baltimore using some of the personnel who worked on the popular television series, The Wire. The voices heard in the film are actual excerpts found on youtube, and were a small sample of such comments from various public figures, including law makers, radio and television personalities, and leading religious leaders.
Using the power of social media, My Fellow American seeks to change the narrative – from Muslims as the other, to Muslims as our fellow Americans. Most Americans have never met an American Muslim. Many only know Muslims through the way they are portrayed in the media. American Muslims are so often vilified as “the other” that it is possible not to recognize that most were born in the U.S. or that those who immigrated here came seeking the same freedoms and opportunities that have always attracted people to America.
My Fellow American was produced by UPF in association with Gardner Films and was directed by the Oscar-nominated, multiple Emmy Award winning documentary filmmaker, Robert Gardner.
Thru its website, you can SUBMIT A VIDEO or SUBMIT A STORY
You can also take the Pledge: http://myfellowamerican.us/pledge
It is ironic listening to the amount of hatred and vitriol in the voices of those denouncing Islam as a religion of hatred and violence.
Yea, the hatred and vitriol made me actually, physically wince.