Many of our bloggers have brought up that one of the things they’ve been most pleased to find in America is diversity – people from all over the world and people with all sorts of beliefs and preferences. But Martin Luther King Day yesterday serves as a reminder that America has a difficult history, and ongoing struggles, when it comes to accepting people from different backgrounds.

This week we’ll be looking at prejudice and tolerance on American campuses – what prejudices you might encounter and which ones you’ve heard about that aren’t true at all. What have you heard about how different races, religions and ethnicities are treated in America? Would you be worried about how U.S. students would accept you?

We’ll look in particular at what it’s like to come to America as a Muslim. I recently received the following message from a student on Facebook:

I really want to study abroad, to America of course… Actually, my boss would probably pick Aussie for us as most of them had studied there, but I need to go further than that

But, the “jilbab” that I wear quite worry me, I hope American people wouldn’t bother it at all for a moeslim girl like me study and live in their neighbourhood

I wanted to write back and say, “Of course it wouldn’t be a problem.” But the reality is probably more complicated.

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