What I learned from Superman

Jan 9

Jan 9 What I learned from Superman

Originally, I directed this piece to be an ode to Eid Al-Fitr of the Spring Quarter, to be published as a celebration of Muslim identity and beauty.

Today, instead, I want to write about Superman.

Originally from the planet Krypton, Clark Kent spent most of his life hiding his alien origin and superpowers. Clark Kent fabricated his identity obscuring his true background.

Like Superman, for years I adopted the name “Mary”, pretended my parents were born in South Carolina, and ironed my curly hair to black strings. Growing up in the South, immigrants from Middle Eastern and Muslim cultures are openly ostracized from mass media and shamed for being villains and aliens to the US. I traded traditional clothing for Simply Southern t-shirts, ignored my mother’s attempts to teach me Arabic, and morphed into the identity of “Mary” I created.

“All I wanted was to be Mary from Greenville, South Carolina.
”

Yet, no matter how much money wasted, how many tears shed, how much time lost, I was never truly “Mary”.

And in reality, I can never be “Mary”.

And honestly, I never needed to be “Mary”.

As my love for the idea of “Mary” grew stronger, my resentment for “Maryam” followed. There was no escape, every small detail resurrected the remnants of Maryam I learned to hate.

Substitute teachers still called me Maryam on the roll, and the strangers in grocery stores still asked me, “Where are you really from?”, but

I believe Clark Kent teaches us all a lesson.

At his core, Clark Kent wants to reconnect with his roots, the same dilemma children of Muslim and Middle Eastern immigrants can relate to. With time, Superman and I grew to love our identity; he showcased his family crest worn at his old home, I learned to honor who I am and where I come from.