Common Ignorance

About three weeks ago, my niece called me to tell me about something that happened to her at her school. This year is her first year in high school. She was really excited about being in the ninth grade, and for the first few weeks, all I heard from her were good stories about her days in the ninth grade. But, three weeks ago, she had a run in with an ignorant hall monitor. The hall monitor asked to speak with my niece; she wanted to know what nationality my niece was. My niece informed the hall monitor that she was half Pakistani and half African American. The hall monitored responded with, "Oh, well you can't wear that thing on your head. We have a no head dress policy." My clever niece responded by telling the hall monitor that she was Muslim, and that she was required to wear her hijab as part of her religion. The hall monitor scolded my niece and said, "Girl, when I asked you what your nationality was, you was supposed to say Muslim"

My niece was shocked that an adult could be so ignorant. But, unfortunately, I was not surprised. On more than one occasion someone has either assumed that I was from the middle east because of my head cover or asked me what my nationality was and then responded with, "Oh, I thought you were Islamic" when I inform them that I'm African American. Muslims are not a nationality; they are followers of the religion Islam. Yet, so many people assume being Muslim means to be Arab or foreign, not American, and frequently, not black.

There are millions of Muslims living in America. Muslims come in all races and nationalities, and their presence exist in every state across the country. If this is the case, why is ignorance of the Islamic cultural so prevalent, especially in US public schools? Muslim girls should not have to be singled out and told they can't wear their hijabs because of "No Hat" policies. Teachers and staff at public schools should be educated about Muslim students' First Amendment rights to practice their religion without interference from the government, and they should recognize a Muslim girl when they see her in her hijab. I'm sure that most teachers would clearly recognize a Jewish student in a yarmulke. How is it that in this day in age, especially after all of the publicity Muslims have received in the media since 9-11, people are still ignorant about Muslims and their cultural traditions?