Islam: Ingrid Mattson - Newsweek Society - MSNBC.com

Ingrid Mattson can tell that nobody likes to sit next to her on airplanes anymore. Ever since she converted to Islam two decades ago, Mattson, a 43-year-old white Canadian, has been learning what it means to be part of a mistrusted minority. But the recently elected president of the Islamic Society of North America doesn’t mind when people speak to her in an extra-loud voice, or stare as she walks by. “It helps me understand what so many other Muslims and visible minorities go through,” she says. “I have the advantage of not having grown up with that … so I have a certain confidence.”