- Look at him the hair, the beard, the eyes.
He's Middle Eastern.
- No, I'm not.
(laughing)
- What are you?
- Black, White, and Native American.
- Can you believe that?
Black, White and Native American
makes a Middle Eastern, I guess.
- Nah, none of that.
None of that.
(quirky techno music)
- I'm Muhammad Farris.
I go by Farris.
I'm a Muslim.
- I'm Ikram and I'm a Muslim.
- My name is Fatima Mussad.
I'm from Kenya.
My parents are actually Somali.
- [Interviewer] Did anyone say anything
that surprised you today?
- Oh yeah, um Carlos.
- Are you American?
- His idea that like, religion equals race,
and demographics, and geography.
- You're not gonna see a red-head girl with blue eyes
being a Southern Baptist, being like
hallelujah, hallelujah!
- I've always kind of been raised to think
Islam just does not discriminate.
It can literally be anyone.
- So they want to throw me off
'cause he looks very Caucasian.
- I'm fully Syrian, from Syrian parents.
I've been in the US for around a year and four months?
- I think I hear an accent.
Is your family from Morocco?
- Once I got Brazilian, I got a latino.
- Sounds French.
(laughing)
- From my perspective, I respect any country,
any religion so if that's what I look, I don't care.
- You're hard because you don't look like
you're from the Middle East.
- A lot of people tied Islam with the Middle East,
and Arabs and so I think the undoing that needs to be done
is that religion is different from race.
- I don't think she's Muslim either.
I actually think she's African American.
- My everyday life, no one really just like,
off the bat, thinks that I am a Muslim.
- Can I see your nails?
(laughing)
- I'd say no.
- It's just a religion, it's a feeling.
It's not about the appearance because I don't think
there is a correct answer for what a Muslim person
looks like.
You, uh, guessed wrong.
- Oh, you tricked me.
- I think actually I get more of the surprised reaction
from Muslim women and so it kind of hurts
when other Muslim people are like, oh you're not religious
or you don't believe in God
or you're not a Muslim because you don't wear a head scarf
or you get your nails done or your hair done.
I mean, I feel like the hijab,
it's just something that women, you know,
choose to wear.
I wear it when I want to wear it.
It doesn't change how I feel about myself or my religion.
- A lot of people don't realize within the hijab
you know, it's not just about like,
you know, covering yourself.
It's about like using it to express yourself
and who you are.
- This is a hijabi style that you can recognize
if know what to look for.
- Do you think I wear it like this all the time?
- Nobody's gonna wear it all the time like that.
(laughs)
- [Interviewer] All right, express yourself.
Give me your best pose.
(laughs)
(background supportive noises)
(laughing)
- So I have to ask you a question.
What is the technical term for what's on your head?
'Cause to me it's just a doo-rag with a top knot.
(laughing)
- I'm surprised that a lot of people didn't know
that it was called a turban.
- I believe that he's from the Middle East
and, uh, he wears his turban as like a cultural turban.
- My religion is Sikhism.
It's a religion from India.
- [Interviewer] What age did you start wearing a turban?
- Uh, so from a young age, basically
whenever I can pull my hair up in a bun,
people refer to it as our crown almost.
It's like that symbol of just confidence basically, yeah.
- [Interviewer] People thought you were a Muslim today.
- Everyone thought I was Muslim.
- I'm gonna say yes.
- Muslim. - Muslim.
- I'm gonna automatically assume she's Muslim.
'Cause it's the head scarf.
- I am Christian but there are many
Christians who wear head wear.
- You know, at first, I thought it was a bad thing
you know, I was like mad that people,
oh you know, he's Indian, you know.
He's Pakistani.
- I'm gonna say that you are from the Middle East.
- It's not really a bad thing anymore.
I actually have fun with it when I say,
no, I'm actually this.
and they're like really surprised
and I'm just like yeah, I know.
This happens to everyone.
- What nationality are you?
- I'm Black, White, and Native American.
The only negative thing I can think about is
if I ever go to the airport and security locks me down,
and like you know, does an unreasonable search.
- Values?
- I value peace.
- This guy's Muslim.
- [Interviewer] Remember, they were talking about peace.
- Mm-hmm.
- [Interviewer] What happened at that moment?
- He was relating peace to Islam
but we are having a lot of problems nowadays.
I'm a Syrian and I'm Arab.
So how do you think Islam is like
mainly concentrated on peace?
Syria, back in the time, it was great.
Lots of nature,
all of a sudden, in just the blink of an eye,
it was like out.
Like, where is the peace in this?
- [Interviewer] How do you feel about the political climate
in the US right now?
- It's, uh, disappointing but it's necessary
because it's exposing a lot of things
that I think, in America, has been tucked away
for a really long time.
I mean, Trump is really straightforward
and now we can finally see what people think.
- It was good to see a lot of people support
the Muslim community with like the Muslim ban protest.
So, out of every bad thing, there's good I guess.
- [Interviewer] What would you like people to take away
from this video?
- I want them to not only, like non-Muslims,
but especially Muslims to see that there's
all kinds of Muslims.
- You can look any type of way
and be a Muslim, and you can get your nails done!
(laughs)