Hi everyone,
I am not sure where to post this question in this website but decided to put it here because there seems to be a lot activity in this forum. I would like to get people's opinion on my situation. Any input will be appreciated.
I work for a company in the US as an H1 employee. We are a small company and the it's generally a good place to work. My boss is also a good person. But that is the end of the good story. Now the bad part:
About 95% of the company are all Americans. THere are Chinese and Indian. They are generally wonderful people and mostly fun to work with. I get along with them pretty well on the job but there are some personal issues at work. Just because they are repeated seeing an anti-Muslim and anti-Islam message on the TV/media, they equate all Muslims to be bad guys. I am a liberal Muslim from India and have some best friends from Hindu & Christian religions in India. I have done everything possible within limits to be a good friend of my co-workers and to adjust to their culture. Irrespective of that, they make fun of me and my religion and some times my country. They call me a terrorist, or a suicide bomber openly in public sometimes because I am a Muslim. Some have a very sterotypical image of India when they say we Indians are dirty or no nothing but producing babies. The word spreads around and soon other co-workers start sayinig the same thing - ie., whatever their mind thinks. Other times they say very offensive things against Islam such as wishing to blow up sacred places in my religion. One of them said that his solution to world's problems is to kill all Muslims.
I have never confronted any of them to defend myself as I do not want to mess up any relationships or ruin mine or my religion's image. I have been ignoring their "jokes" so far but they are not tolerable anymore. Most of the co-workers have never been outside of the US and are not exposed to foreigners. They learn about Islam / Muslims / India from CNN, MSNBC, FOX news.
My question is: What does the law say about a case like this? What are my options to set the record straight? This has started happenning since after 9/11 and is getting worse month after month.
Please advice.
I am not sure where to post this question in this website but decided to put it here because there seems to be a lot activity in this forum. I would like to get people's opinion on my situation. Any input will be appreciated.
I work for a company in the US as an H1 employee. We are a small company and the it's generally a good place to work. My boss is also a good person. But that is the end of the good story. Now the bad part:
About 95% of the company are all Americans. THere are Chinese and Indian. They are generally wonderful people and mostly fun to work with. I get along with them pretty well on the job but there are some personal issues at work. Just because they are repeated seeing an anti-Muslim and anti-Islam message on the TV/media, they equate all Muslims to be bad guys. I am a liberal Muslim from India and have some best friends from Hindu & Christian religions in India. I have done everything possible within limits to be a good friend of my co-workers and to adjust to their culture. Irrespective of that, they make fun of me and my religion and some times my country. They call me a terrorist, or a suicide bomber openly in public sometimes because I am a Muslim. Some have a very sterotypical image of India when they say we Indians are dirty or no nothing but producing babies. The word spreads around and soon other co-workers start sayinig the same thing - ie., whatever their mind thinks. Other times they say very offensive things against Islam such as wishing to blow up sacred places in my religion. One of them said that his solution to world's problems is to kill all Muslims.
I have never confronted any of them to defend myself as I do not want to mess up any relationships or ruin mine or my religion's image. I have been ignoring their "jokes" so far but they are not tolerable anymore. Most of the co-workers have never been outside of the US and are not exposed to foreigners. They learn about Islam / Muslims / India from CNN, MSNBC, FOX news.
My question is: What does the law say about a case like this? What are my options to set the record straight? This has started happenning since after 9/11 and is getting worse month after month.
Please advice.