Fordson: Faith, Fasting, Football

Cassandra McCulley

Dr. Sharon Oster

ENGL 130

Extra Credit: “Fordson: Faith, Fasting, Football”

Rashid Ghazi’s film, “Fordson: Faith, Fasting, Football” was a film that captured the essence of a religion, culture, and sport in such a beautiful manner. Powerful messages were brought to light throughout the film by Ghazi and the Fordson High School football team. This film opened up my eyes not only about the Muslim faith and religion, but also about the way Muslim Arab Americans were viewed and treated after the tragedy of 9/11.

In his film, Ghazi features the Fordson High School football team from Dearborn, Michigan. The high school itself is about 3,340 students, with an estimated 95% Arabic population; the football team has an estimated 98% Arabic population. The film discusses the stereotype that most Arabs are accustomed to soccer, but in this particular community, fathers, sons, brothers, and cousins are all die hard football players and fans.

The film begins with an uplifting spirit and sets the mood for an inspirational story, however, Ghazi chose to incorporate the impact made on the school and its football team after the terrorist attacks of 9/11. The school was continuously threatened, and the players were victims of discrimination. A particular quote from the movie stuck out to me that describes the Arab American community and the way they are treated as, “One day a respected neighbor, the next day a suspected enemy.” One player in particular, witnessed his own brother become a victim of discrimination. It amazed me that a football team of teenage boys were able to conduct themselves with poise and continue on their paths of self determination, even though they were constantly being discriminated against by the entire nation based on their religion and ethnicity. This raised questions to me. Why, as a nation, are we so quick to call ourselves victims of these terrorist attacks, while we ourselves have put our own brothers and sisters through hardships just as bad? Did we not bind up African Americans and use them as slaves? Did we not force Japanese Americans into refugee camps after the bombing of Pearl Harbor? How can we call ourselves the land of the free and promote the American dream if we patronize various cultures and religions?

Despite the discrimination, the football players constantly practiced their Muslim religion. The religion, however, did pose a few hardships during season. Ramadan. The holy month of fasting. Each year, the Muslim faith participates in Ramadan, 30 days of fasting. Each day, members of the Muslim faith refrain from food and drink from sunrise to sunset. But, for a teenage boy who wakes up every morning to go to school for seven hours, followed by another several hours of football practice. This particular film shows the football team preparing for their largest rivalry game while undergoing the fasting of Ramadan. I thought this was simply amazing. During all the intense exercise and workouts, these boys are unable to have a sip of water, yet they do not complain and even succeeded in beating their cross-town rivals. I found it particularly inspiring that coaches that did not practice the faith decided to take part in the fast as well, in order to see what their players were going through. At the end of the film, we learned that the head coach decided to hold over night practices during Ramadan so that the workouts were not so trying on the players.

I thoroughly enjoyed this film and learned not only a lot about their culture, but I also was able to stop myself and break some stereotypes that have been planted. “We cannot defend freedom abroad, by deserting it at home.”