Sometimes, 24-year-old newspaper photographer and convert to Islam, Bobby Ellis, stops his car at a gas station and kneels outside of it.
"I think people just assume I'm checking my tire pressure or something," Ellis said.
He's really saying prayers to Allah, something he's tried to do almost every day since converting to Islam a few years ago.
Ellis is one of the growing percentage of American Muslims who are converts. The current proportion is 23 percent.
Most of the people who have prejudice against Muslims whom I interviewed for this story were surprised by that statistic. It turns out it's easier to be threatened by people from a foreign country than by one's own.
And while prejudice people can still worry about and feel threatened by a religion with a propensity to acquire brown-haired, blue-eyed American converts, they're more likely to question people they identify with about it. That gives people like Ellis a chance to break down stereotypes, even if they're not always successful in it.
This is just one more example of how critical thinking - and knowing the statistics - can help minimize prejudice.
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