Are we really that different?

Six months ago I posted a video from Jordan's Queen Rania called Your Three Words. It was then that I first started to realize that people really are the same everywhere. The people of the Middle East are not very different from us Americans. They love and work and laugh and cry and have families who love them back. This is the exasperating problem with combating racism. Its akin to narcotic drug addiction, at its core is a completely irrational elitism that can only be changed by the individual themselves. Unfortunately, the current state of American media and politics only serves to further feed the addiction. For as long as I can remember Middle Eastern people, Muslims and most specifically Iranians have been demonized by our culture. This didn't begin on 9/11. I was 10 when the Iran Hostage Crisis began. That's my first memory of fearing the dark and mysterious people of Iran. In this way the Iranian people have been caricatures, like Keyser Söze, used to inspire fear and loathing in Americans by our politicians and the media. We are taught at a very young age to fear what is different, and in return, we are controlled by it. Something extraordinary is happening in Iran today and it has a voice and it sounds beautiful.