A Youthful Outlook on Diversity

By Chadwick Bowman

Jamal Kamandy is embedded in the young American culture just like any other student at Colorado State University. He has a Facebook profile, listens to rock ‘n’ roll and drives a big black truck. But his background is much different than most of the students at CSU. He was raised in an active Islamic family.

Kamandy inserts most of his energy towards his academics, but he also spends a good amount of time in open discussions to a less diverse world on ways we can reduce ethnocentrism and engage in dialogue to accept diversity.

Kamandy’s father was born in Kabul, Afghanistan. In the late 1970’s, his father immigrated to the United States after the hostile takeover of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union. He escaped on foot to a US Embassy in Pakistan. His father was a one of 13 siblings where the entire family was living on just 60 cents a day. Kamandy’s father was lucky to escape, many members of his family did not survive the Soviet invasion.

“My dad is a superhero.” Kamandy said.

Kamandy was born and raised in Fort Collins where his family owns and operates three restaurants in Old Town. He was drawn to CSU in order to stay near his family including his mother. Adding to his already diverse background, Kamandy’s mother is from Germany. He also has a sister, who is a practicing Muslim and freshman at CSU.

Kamandy is an executive board member to the Center for Peace, Justice and Environment in Fort Collins, and a political science and philosophy double major. He will speak to community activists and other simply looking to gain further knowledge on the topic of Islam and how we need to bridge the gap between the cultures and to hope that those in attendance could leave the lecture with an intellectually honest view of Islam..

What Kamandy brings to his presentations is a strong energy and a youthful voice, hoping to grab the attention of an older audience who mainly have grown up in a more traditional, less religiously diverse background. It is still apparent today that many citizens of the United States are ill-informed about the practices of the Islam. He hopes to reach as many people as he can, but says the responsibility is not entirely his.

“Many people would only entertain the thought if we came to them.” Kamandy said. “They need to be willing, and not afraid. I can only go halfway. They also need to come with an open-mind.”

Kamandy would repeatedly reiterate to his audience that no where in the Islamic religion or in the Quran, the Islamic holy book, does it mention terrorism as a practice.

“It saddens me that I have to explain this, but I do have to go over this. On 9/11, Muslims did not fly planes into the World Trade Center. On 9/11, psychopathic terrorists who falsely used a religion to further a political agenda flew planes into the World Trade Center. Islam is not terrorism, terrorism is not Islam.”

Kamandy also has ambitions to attend law school and is currently preparing to take the LSATs. The nation wide controversy over an Islamic community center is at the forefront of the American media. He responded to the concerns while speaking to a group earlier the past September.

“I’m not going to speak for other people but I do know what the Constitution says. If we are a nation that believes in private property and freedom of religion and whether our feelings agree with it or not, it is not a reason to revoke ones liberty.” The statement was greeted with applause.

Kamandy is working ambitiously attempting to open the door for not just tolerance, but acceptance of other people, cultures and religion.

“It takes courage to combat stereotypes and ignorance about a group that you are part of.” Kamandy said. “It’s the only way to alleviate the increase in discrimination against Muslim-Americans that we see every day.”