Enes Mujugaic (Moo-ya-gitch), or Ness, is a cashier at my local Smith’s. I met him on my first day as the new bagger, and he was the first person to welcome me to the store. He offered me a handful of Sour Patch Kids, which I gladly accepted. With his unassuming appearance, my first impression of my new friend was that he was probably an average Mormon (like most people in Utah are), was a bit of a jokester, and an all-around cool guy.
I was right about the last two things, but my first impression of Ness as the average Utahn was far from accurate. This was made apparent when an older man came into the store and began talking to Ness in a language unfamiliar to me. Ness responded in the same tongue, and after the man left, I learned they had been speaking Bosnian. At that time, Bosnia meant little to me; just a faded memory of where it was on a map. I had no idea that war was waged there in the mid 90s, that the primary religion there was Islam, and that many refugees from the genocide are now living here in Utah.
I never would have guessed that Ness hadn’t been born in the U.S. Apart from his strange name, nothing about him struck me as different. He speaks perfect English, is well versed in pop culture, and wears standard Western clothing. Despite his average demeanor, Ness’ life started out in the most unique of ways. In 1992, a war broke out in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Ness was a young child. There were three main peoples living in Bosnia at the time: the Bosnian Serbs (Orthodox Christians), Bosnian Croats (Roman Catholics), and the Bosniaks (Muslims). Ness and his family were part of the Bosniak population, and were heavily affected by the war. Most of this was due to the “ethnic cleansing” that wiped out much of the Muslim population in Bosnia.
I never would have guessed that Ness hadn’t been born in the U.S. Apart from his strange name, nothing about him struck me as different. He speaks perfect English, is well versed in pop culture, and wears standard Western clothing. Despite his average demeanor, Ness’ life started out in the most unique of ways. In 1992, a war broke out in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Ness was a young child. There were three main peoples living in Bosnia at the time: the Bosnian Serbs (Orthodox Christians), Bosnian Croats (Roman Catholics), and the Bosniaks (Muslims). Ness and his family were part of the Bosniak population, and were heavily affected by the war. Most of this was due to the “ethnic cleansing” that wiped out much of the Muslim population in Bosnia.
To escape the war, Ness and his family got out of the country. Being only four years old at the time, Ness remembers very little of how they escaped. All he remembers is getting on a bus headed for Germany, where his family sought shelter from his aunt and uncle. He lived there for a few years and learned German. He enjoyed living there, and remembers playing in the forest behind his house. Unfortunately, it did not last long. His family didn’t apply for their Visas properly, and at the age of twelve, he was forced to leave the country.
Ness’ family chose to immigrate to America because they had relatives here to help them get on their feet. For a second time, Ness and his family learned a new language, adapted to a new culture, and carried on with their lives. America was different from Germany, however. Instead of accepting people who generally “kept out of each others way,” they were met with a much more intolerant population. Compared to Germany, America was filled with much more prejudice against Muslims like Ness and his family, especially after 9/11.
Ness isn’t the most conservative of Muslims, but he still believes in the fundamentals of Islam. He said that he used to pray with his grandma when he was little, but these days he doesn’t pray much. Despite this, people would still fight with him about his beliefs, and make him out to be a bad guy because of their own bigotry and ignorance. Instead of the nice young man Ness is, people would only see his religion and the negative connotations they carry with it. A sign on a car stuck out to Ness once, it read “I learned everything about Muslims during 9/11”. That sign sadly represents a large amount of Americans, people who only know some horrible negatives, committed by extremists and know nothing of the real people who belong to Islam. Some people can’t even open their minds or hearts to try and see that people of the Muslim faith, are just like anyone else.
Bosnians have their own culture, traditions and foods. Ness attends cook outs with soccer and dancing. About 5,000 Bosnian refugees live in the Salt Lake area, and they form a tight knit community with some families that know each other from Bosnia as neighbors, and others who survived together and formed bonds with one another. About twenty of Ness’ family members live in Salt lake, and globally his family reaches the hundreds. I asked him what Bosnian food was like and he described Krompirusa, a coiled pita with potatoes in the center. A lot of Bosnian foods have potatoes and pita bread in them. A whole community lies right under our noses, and not a lot of people know about it, I didn’t, until I met Ness and got to know more about him.
Ness’ family chose to immigrate to America because they had relatives here to help them get on their feet. For a second time, Ness and his family learned a new language, adapted to a new culture, and carried on with their lives. America was different from Germany, however. Instead of accepting people who generally “kept out of each others way,” they were met with a much more intolerant population. Compared to Germany, America was filled with much more prejudice against Muslims like Ness and his family, especially after 9/11.
Ness isn’t the most conservative of Muslims, but he still believes in the fundamentals of Islam. He said that he used to pray with his grandma when he was little, but these days he doesn’t pray much. Despite this, people would still fight with him about his beliefs, and make him out to be a bad guy because of their own bigotry and ignorance. Instead of the nice young man Ness is, people would only see his religion and the negative connotations they carry with it. A sign on a car stuck out to Ness once, it read “I learned everything about Muslims during 9/11”. That sign sadly represents a large amount of Americans, people who only know some horrible negatives, committed by extremists and know nothing of the real people who belong to Islam. Some people can’t even open their minds or hearts to try and see that people of the Muslim faith, are just like anyone else.
Bosnians have their own culture, traditions and foods. Ness attends cook outs with soccer and dancing. About 5,000 Bosnian refugees live in the Salt Lake area, and they form a tight knit community with some families that know each other from Bosnia as neighbors, and others who survived together and formed bonds with one another. About twenty of Ness’ family members live in Salt lake, and globally his family reaches the hundreds. I asked him what Bosnian food was like and he described Krompirusa, a coiled pita with potatoes in the center. A lot of Bosnian foods have potatoes and pita bread in them. A whole community lies right under our noses, and not a lot of people know about it, I didn’t, until I met Ness and got to know more about him.
So Ness, being a Muslim, was part of the persecuted faction. Being only four years old at the time, Ness remembers very little of how he got out of his war torn home. He remembers escaping on a bus, and his family sought shelter from his Aunt and Uncle in Germany. He lived there for a few years, learned German, and enjoyed his time there. He told that when he was there he would run through the forest that lines the backyards of German houses. But, his family didn’t apply for Visas correctly, and they had to leave.
Ness’ family chose to come to America, because again, they had relatives to help ease them in. For the second time, Ness and his family had to learn a new language, adapt to a new culture, and carry on with their lives. America was a bit different from Germany though. In Germany, people “kept out of each others way” and were generally accepting of each other. In America though, especially since 9/11, tolerance for Muslims was, and still is, much lower.
Ness isn’t the most conservative Muslim, but he still believes in the fundamentals of Islam. He said that he used to pray with his grandma when he was little, but these days he doesn’t pray much. Still people would fight with him about his beliefs and make him out to be a bad guy, just because of bigotry and ignorance. Some people can't seem to see the perfectly nice young man, and can only see what his religion happens to be. A sign on a car stuck out to Ness once, it read “I learned everything about Muslims during 9/11”. That sign sadly represents a large amount of Americans, people who only know some horrible negatives, committed by extremists and know nothing of the real people who belong to Islam. Some people can’t even open their minds or hearts to try and see that people of the Muslim faith, are just like anyone else.
“It’s human nature I think, most of us aren't very fond of accepting things we don't understand. Sometimes ignorance can even be linked to fear. Muslims poke fun at that one a bit too, someone made a shirt that said ‘Don't Panic, I'm Muslim.’ ” - Enes Mujugaic
Bosnians have their own culture, traditions and foods. Ness attends cook outs with soccer and dancing. About 5,000 Bosnian refugees live in the Salt Lake area, and they form a tight knit community with some families that know each other from Bosnia as neighbors, and others who survived together and formed bonds with one another. About twenty of Ness’ family members live in Salt lake, and globally his family reaches the hundreds. I asked him what Bosnian food was like and he described Krompirusa, a coiled pita with potatoes in the center. A lot of Bosnian foods have potatoes and pita bread in them. A whole community lies right under our noses, and not a lot of people know about it, I didn’t, until I met Ness and got to know more about him.
Throughout middle and high school, Ness was bullied by fellow students, and soon grew tired of people never listening to what he had to say because he was Muslim. Instead of giving up like many do, he worked hard to graduate early and escape his tormentors, soon moving on with his life. Ness now attends a community college and has a stable job. He has left his bullies behind, but average people can become bullies without even realizing it.
Working in a grocery store provides many social opportunities. People of all shapes and sizes walk through the doors, and purchase everyday essentials. A Muslim woman and her children often come in for their weekly shopping, and they are greeted by stares every time. Once they leave, many people turn to each other and gossip or make rude comments just because they see a woman wearing a headscarf. Her appearance makes it obvious to everyone what faith she follows, and people make sure not to say terrible things within earshot. Instead, they make these comments in checkout where they don’t realize the man ringing up their groceries is Muslim, and he can hear every word.
“The ignorance is also very common, most of the comments aren't nice, but I survived a war when I was four so wordplay doesn't hurt me personally”- Enes Mujugaic
Though Ness doesn’t take bigoted comments from strangers to heart, many people in similar situations might. Imagine being ripped from your county, and know you can never go back because there would be no surviving. No jobs, no future prospects, just an empty barren place that you once called home. Imagine the only place where you could succeed in the world, was the one place where almost everyone has some sort of grudge against your religion, and in turn, you. How would it feel to not be accepted? To work so hard to learn a new language, or even two, and have noone treat you with respect? Any refugee from Bosnia could be facing mental abuse here in America. Any Muslim in America that doesn’t wear their heart on their sleeve could too. In fact anyone who isn’t a complete stereotype for what they happen to be, is always at risk of overhearing something directly offensive towards them.
Why? Why do we let racism and bigotry run rampant in everyday life? Why do people so often think it is okay to say something offensive behind someones back but wouldn’t dare to say what they are thinking to their faces? It is amazing to think that so often people could be saying hateful things straight to the people it would offend and they would never even know. One man opened up my eyes to something terrible in this country, and most likely all over the world. In the end everyone is human, we have different shapes, colors, traditions, cultures, religions, likes, dislikes, the list goes on and on. Bigotry and hate, especially uninformed, only tears people down and makes the world a little uglier. If only people would start looking at the individual instead of grouping people into broad categories and labeling them negatively; I believe the world would be a much better place to live in.