Good Afternoon My name is Lisa and on today’s daily reports I am pleased to say I was able to meet with a college student from the city college of new york, Moriom Ahmed. Ms. Moriom is a 20-year-old female, currently in her 2nd year of college. Ms.moriom originates from a country located in Asia called Bengali. Moriom identifies herself as part of the Bangladesh community located in Ozone Park Queens New York. As well as the Muslim Community. During our interview I was really able to see how much the Bengalish community impacted her because every time she spoke about her community and the people in it she would light up and her face would be rushed with happy emotions, When I asked Ms.Moriom how she felt after joining this community she said “I felt like I was back home in our home village Sylhet, Beanibazar. Our interview was conducted Via Facetime. Throughout the interview, I saw the passion Moriom had for the Bangladesh community and was intrigued to learn more about the Bangledesh community in ozone park, Queens. Throughout the interview, I grew to see what community meant to Moriom. A community to Moriom was “friendship between the same or different group of people living in one area and having most things in common.  As well where we can be open with one another about everything without being judged and being able to respect each other’s opinion, thoughts & Ideas and always supporting each other”. When Moriom told me this I was so impressed and fascinated because I felt the same way a community is all about support, respect, morals & similarities.  One person can be part of many communities, as each individual is different I asked Moriom why she chose to share about the Bangladesh community rather than the Muslim Community. Moriom chose to sit down today and talk to me about the Bangladesh community because simply this community in Queens is what helped Ms.Ahmed make her migration to the USA from Bengali easier. It gave Moriom a feeling of being back home in Bengali. There were fellow Bengali people around her. The Bangladesh community was planning & putting on events of their practice & traditions.  Being able to practice her culture and traditions every day as she would back home is part of why she enjoys living in the USA. Bengalis gather and share their culture, foods, dance, clothes & activities. The Bangladesh community is doing all the things that she would participate in back home in Bengali so this is what allowed Ms.Moriom to grow an attachment and importance for the Bangladesh Community In ozone park Queens.  I went ahead to just get the last idea of her idea of community by asking her what she believes makes a community strong.  Moriom tells me that having the same culture, religion, and residents who hold genuine & mutual respect for one another and have a strong commitment to genuinely wanting to help and support the ones in their community. Hearing this just allows me to see that many people from different communities have the same basic foundation of what makes a community strong. I always say a community is a group of people that will make sure not only the people in their house but also the people around them are always safe and healthy. A Community is what people make it to be is something I always tell people and Ms.Moriom explained exactly what I just stated. Seeing how most communities share the same ethical rules & morals is amazing.

We then moved on to deeper and more critical thinking and asked Moriom, If the Bangladesh community was marginalized from the American Mainstream.  When I asked the  Interviewer  Moriom Ahmed she went on to say that she believed that as a member of the Bangladesh community they haven’t been marginalized from the American mainstream. Moriom later goes on to share one of her experiences of the Bangladesh community’s religious practices, which shows their acceptance into the American mainstream. Moiorm shares that every Friday there’s a special prayer that Muslims participate in by going to a mosque ( Muslims Place of worship) and during the time of the prayer, Police officers come and stand guard around the mosques that are located in ozone park while the Muslim people prays”. I found this to be such a beautiful way for not only the NYPD but the American people to show their acceptance of different religions and cultures. There then rise the question well if the American mainstream is more open why all the protection this is for because there have been some attacks on the mosques targeting our Muslim people? There was an incident a few years ago where the prayer leader of a mosque was shot and died on the spot, unfortunately. As a community, we were glad to see that the proper steps of justice had taken place and the American mainstream still seeks to make sure our community is safe, recognized & welcomed into our mainstream.

Another Main Critical Thinking question I asked Moriom was How did her perspective about her community was shaped over time. Moriom actually briefly mentioned how her community changed over time and she was so joyful when telling me how when she first joined the Bangladesh community there wasn’t as full as it is today. Moriom goes on to say “the past few years a lot of immigrants from Bangladesh started moving and living here. Our Bengali culture and religion started to have more celebrations. I started to feel more open and secure about my culture and celebrated special holidays with them that made me feel like I am in Bangladesh and I can hold on to my culture. Slowly crime rates in ozone park have been decreasing because of the protection that’s been provided specifically for this community”. Not only did her community grow but it got safer as well.  Not only did her community change and benefit her and everyone else in her community but it helped her develop as a person.

As a person who is currently studying Psychology as a minor I was really curious about how Ms, Moriom would explain how the community had changed her as a person. When I asked Ms. Moriom she went on to explain to me that her ongoing caring strong intelligent and courageous characteristics were ones that the community was the ones who helped her strengthen and develop these traits. When I gave a list of Traits to Ms.Moriom I asked her to name ones she truly thought her community as a whole was helping her obtain and strengthen. Moriom told me her community has believed her to “dig deeper into humanity, to be more empathetic toward situations, learn what acceptance is, Kindness, faith,saftey, inspiration,generoristy, and how to build a strong work ethic”. This was truly inspiring and beautiful I feel like as a person learning about a brand new community hearing this makes me so happy to see that there are people in the world who care out for others and their own. While interviewing Ms.Moriom I was curious about all the different traditions that her culture partakes in and one tradition not only was it a beautiful and unique tradition but such a cool and fascinating tradition Is considered part of their Pre-wedding ritual this activity is known as adan paradan its where both the immediate family of the groom & Bride meet before anything else happens and give consent to their families joining and the bride and groom joining. I found this tradition so full and beautiful because when a marriage occurs most people fail to see not only did two beautiful people find their soulmates but two different families are now joining as well and the communication and acceptance between both families are beautiful.

Unfortunately, nothing is perfect like everything else in the world many people still have certain thoughts and ideas that are false pertaining to the bangelash community these are known as stereotypes some of these stereotypes Ms, Moriom has brought to our attention are “ Bengali people can’t talk proper English or fail to gain proper English accent” whereas it actually depends on that person because the ones who were educated in the USA will have a “proper English accent” whereas the ones who studied in Bengali where in Bangladesh students mostly studied in Bangladesh and Arabic, therefore when they migrate to the USA even though they learn the English language, they may still not have the proper accent as it is not their native language. Therefore no one should be basing someone’s skill based on their cultural background. One other stereotype Moiorm shared with me was that “all Bengalis like fish ”, Moirom goes on to say that fish was a big traditional dish in the Bangladesh community but it still goes back to just a personal preference. Ms.Moirom who was part of this community was not a personal fan of fish but it doesn’t make her any less Bengali. Stereotypes are statements that are consistently being said that are most of the time unfactual which is not okay. Toward the end of our interview, I mentioned that our communities share many cultural backgrounds and morals. For example, I had come to find out that our community shares similar traditions as their pre-wedding ritual due to the reasoning that both of our communities practice the religion known as Islam(Muslium). I used to believe that our communities were quite different but I go to see that we share more in common than I was aware. It was a pleasure learning about the Bangladesh community and I want to personally thank Moirom Ahmed for sharing about her beautiful country, traditions, and community.