Many Arabic names are usually on the watch list. If you’re on the watch list the staff and security at the airport may watch you a little more closely than the other people at the airport.

They want to make sure you’re not a terrorist. On April 5, 2009, my middle school class went to Washington, DC on a class trip to get an idea about colleges and to experience the world outside Ile Omode. While we were going there we seemed to have no problems, in fact we had an exciting flight. However, when we came back, unfortunately the ticket agents told me I was on the watch list.

At the age of 11 years old, as a young girl I was facing the accusation of being a terrorist. I never did anything wrong. I never hurt anyone. So why did they put me on the watch list? I found out it was because my last name was MUHAMMAD.

I thought, “So what if my last name is Muhammad?” Then the ticket agents started asking me these questions like where are you coming from? When’s your birthday? Things like that, but I really didn’t want to answer the questions.

I felt like an outsider at that point. Once we came into Philadelphia we missed our flight so we had to get on a different flight. At first when my teacher tried to fix every thing, the airline people tried to put me and my friend on a different plane by ourselves.