When I walked into the classroom, I saw Husni sniffling and sitting alone.

I asked him what was wrong.

"I was at the store with my mom, and people came up to us and started yelling mean things at her and pulling at her hijab." Husni said.

A hijab is a religious head covering worn by some Muslim women.

I felt upset and thought about it for the rest of the day. When I got home from school, I asked my mom about it.

"Why do people sometimes treat Husni's family badly?" I asked her.

My mom sat down with me and started to explain.

"We are lucky to live in such a diverse nation, but some Americans don't like people that are or look like they may be from other countries."

"Do you remember when I used to take you to church on Sundays?" asked Mom.

I nodded.

"Husni and his mom go to a different kind of church. They are Muslim, so they have different beliefs. They worship at a place called a mosque."

"Some Muslim women wear a special head covering called a hijab. Husni's mom wears one, remember?"

Husni's mom is very beautiful.

I was happy to learn about Husni and his family's culture, but I still didn't know the answer to my question.

How could people say mean things to Husni's mom when she didn't do anything wrong?

"Sometimes, people make mean assumptions about certain groups to help understand and cope with sad events," mom said.

"It's easy to blame an entire group of people when a few bad members of the same group do something bad."

Mom explained that in 2001, before I was born, a group of terrorists flew airplanes into two tall buildings in New York and the Pentagon in Washington DC.

Terrorists are people that do bad things and cause fear in order to get a point across.

A lot of innocent people died that day.

"Because the terrorists were Muslim, many people blame all Muslims for the attack. Blaming the whole group makes it easier for some to understand and cope with what happened," mom said.