Individual Racism Against Muslims and People of Color in Ausma Zehanat Khan’s Blackwater Falls

Abstract

This study is about minority Muslim and people of color living in the predominantly white Christianity community undergoing racial discrimination in Ausma Zehanat Khan’s novel Blackwater Falls. Using hegemony theory as well as descriptive and dramatic approach, close reading and textual evidence, the researcher analyzes the speech and action of the characters and finds that the three characters, that is, Inaya, Razan, and Seikh, cannot express their Islamic belief freely as they are blocked by the white Christianity’s sentimental feelings about religion and skin color. Accordingly, it is individual racism they confront. The study also finds that there are two factors leading to the racial discrimination among them, namely, the effect of the 9/11 attack and the powerful influence of Resurrection Church.