Last year I watched the film adaptation of Frank Herbert’s science fiction novel Dune about a boy named Paul who tries to protect the desert planet of Arrakis, its inhabitants, referred to as Fremen, and its valuable spice reserves from brutal Harkonnen rule. If you are like me and did not read the book you too were surprised by the amount of worldbuilding reminiscent of Islamic or Arab traditions. Ironically however, none of the main actors portray Middle Eastern/North African (MENA) or Muslim backgrounds; rather, the protagonist communicated as meant to rescue Arrakis’ largely colored Fremen population turns out to be a white male. While Dune and its characters reside in the fictitious realm the storyline is one replicated far too often in the real world.