Since slavery, African-Americans have been judged, oppressed, and persecuted all because they were mistaken to be an unintelligent, inferior race. Has anyone noticed that there is a “race” within our race that goes through the very same thing, except they receive it from both inside and outside the African-American race?

They have been classified by their religion, instead of only their race, as Muslim-Americans. Muslim-Americans have always been looked upon differently because of their appearance and lifestyle, especially after September 11th.

Qasim Basir wrote and directed a film that tells the journey of a young, Muslim-American male’s trials and tribulations from childhood to adulthood.

“MOOZ-lum” tells the journey of Tahriq Mahdi (Evan Ross) as he enters college and is finally away from his strict father (Roger Guenveur Smith) and his ever-loving mother (Nia Long).

Tariq is exposed to many foreign situations with which he has never encountered and new relationships cause more confusion in his already feeble ideals with his religion.

The movie shows how he deals with these obstacles before and after 9/11.

“MOOZ-lum” has already won awards at the Urban World Film Festival 2010 and was an official selection at the Chicago International Film Festival 2010.

Qasim Basir, writer and director of “MOOZ-lum,” is a 2004 graduate of Wayne State University and is a well-seasoned film director.

His first project, “1 Nation 2 Worlds,” discussed the important issues of race and his second project, award-winning short Glimpse, had a different theme but the same idea of “erasing ignorance”, this time referring to Muslims in America.

The Inspiration of Barack: “Yes We Can” Film Series was a nationwide effort in support of the Obama campaign.

“MOOZ-lum” is his most recent project and, while he is still looking for a distributor for the movie, it is creating media buzz. Basir and “MOOZ-lum” have been covered by NPR radio, BBC World News, Good Day New York, WPIX 11 News in New York, just to name a few.

If you would like to know more information about “MOOZ-lum,” please visit www.moozlumthemovie.com .

• Jasmine Gurley