Growing up in Kurdistan, I experienced racism to its extreme. Kurdish people were brutally slaughtered simply for being Kurdish and demanding their natural rights as human beings. Racism has forever left an emotional scar on my society. Today, the older generation is terrified to discuss politics of the Middle East. They encourage their children to stay away from politics, believing it can only lead to torture and death - even if they live in the democratic West.

Racism raises its ugly head in ways other than politics as well. Recently, a five year old Kurdish girl was diagnosed with a large, disfiguring, hematoma on her cheek. She needed an operation that could only be done in Turkey or the West. The family did not have the means to travel to the West and so having an operation in Turkey was their only option. Turkish doctors agreed to do their best to help her, but her parents were extremely apprehensive.

They believed that historical hostilities between the Turks and the Kurds would produce only a devastating outcome for their daughter. Ultimately fear prevented them from taking their daughter to have the surgery in Turkey. This saddens me greatly - because of past political and social prejudice, a little girl suffers today.