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Hi, I’m Mohamedali Mazouzi, and I was born in Casablanca, Morocco.

Almost everywhere you looked you would see a person, a homeless person, struggling to survive on the street. I counted my blessings, whether it was the roof over my head or the food on the table, I was always thankful. My parents enrolled me in a private school because the public schools in Morocco did not teach you well. When I was 4 the king of Morocco had a lottery for one family to travel to America legally. My dad put us in the lottery and we won! But.. my mom decided that we shouldn’t leave a good life behind and move somewhere else, so we stayed in Morocco. My dad was very stubborn so he put our name in the lottery the next year and we won AGAIN! This time my family decided that we were going to take the opportunity and move to America, not for fun, but for a chance for my brother and me to get a good education.

I remember the things the Americans would say about Muslims, the mean things, the sad things. Why does the media display Muslims as such mean and violent people? These are questions that don’t have an answer.

When we first moved to America, my family lived in Jersey City, New Jersey, but then we moved to Boston. I watched only American cartoons and shows and quickly learned English. I have tried my best to strive for academic excellence, as it was the reason my family came here. Now I go to the Mario Umana Academy and I am in a class with some friends that I have known for four years.

I am happy to say that I wasn’t bullied for being a Muslim many times, just once, and I can’t get what the bully said out of my mind. I try my best to push it aside, but at the end of the day I think about giving up because I feel like the only thing people see me as is a terrorist or a violent Muslim. I want all people that have been discriminated against because of their religion, or any other reason, to know that I know what they are going through, and that the only way to stop people from portraying you as a violent or mean or troublesome person is by telling them who you really are, by sharing your story, like I am now.