Actor Navid Negahban in his role as a terrorist on the TV show “Homeland” (source: CNN)

A recent article on CNN reinforces the media stereotype of the terrorist — a man with a turban and beard (via @jbarooah):

It’s hard to say that looking like a terrorist would be a good thing, but it hasn’t gone so badly for Navid Negahban.

…”I went to shoot a project in Toronto last year and I still had a full beard and my hair was a little bit longer, and I was scruffy – I mean, I was afraid of getting on a plane with myself,” joked Negahban, who had to go through a customs line in New York’s LaGuardia Airport. “I was going through the line and the agent locked eyes with me and I thought ‘Oh, here we go again.'”

The most recent terrorist attack in the United States was perpetrated by a clean-shaven white man, but those of us who wear turbans and beards as part of our faith continue to pay the price of stereotypes and mischaracterization by media.