I am Ibrahim, from Egypt, and I have lived in the States since 1992. The most important thing that I have gained in America and didn’t have much of in Egypt is my human dignity. Here I’m treated as an equal citizen. In Egypt I’m judged by how much wealth and status I have, and I’m refer to as the son of who and who; if it’s a wealthy father then his kids are treated with fear and respect, and if it’s a poor family then people shame them by their father’s trade if the father is a mechanic, tinker of some sort, etc. I have always longed for freedom and respect based on my individuality as a human. I heard of a distant relative on my father’s side who made it to America, married to an American and got her converted to Islam. I have always wanted to by like him and convert Americans into Islam. By the age 20 I got converted into Christianity due to the witness of an American pen pal, listening to Christian radio stations, reading the sermon on the mount, etc. This was followed by persecution: I got beaten up by my mentors in the Muslim Brotherhood, later arrested and spent a night in jail till I was due for interrogation the next days. Jail guards took my money before I left, claiming that it was time to buy them some tea, cigarettes, etc. I did my best to keep a low profile until I left Egypt on a student visa, thanks to the generosity of a Southern Baptist seminary. After 5 years of living in terror in my own homeland I was able to escape. In Egypt there’s no way I would have had the nice house I have been blessed with. Nobody ever treated me with any kind of racism, except an African American brother who once rebuked me for my lack of cultural awareness and mumbled, “f** immigrant!” It always brings a smile to my face when I remember it; I even laugh hard, but that was not not definitely any kind of racism. Be grateful for being born and having lived in America and stress the great, positive things that America has given you.