Microaggressions (for being Muslim in American Society)
For Muslim women that cover, before they are able to say a word, many people can use well known but false stereotypes to make assumptions regarding women. Many women who cover must be ready for microaggressions each day and, rarely, may face hate crimes or acts of violence. Even for Muslim women generally, whether because of their “foreign sounding” name or dark skin tone, they are subject to hatred based on uninformed stereotypes. Below are some examples of the way this has played out.
Anisah
Anisah
- “I think there was one time I went shopping at the outlet mall and we got some bad treatment at one of those fancier stores but I never know what to peg it to. I don’t see bad treatment towards me as a reflection of “oh, I’m Muslim that’s why they’re treating me badly” personally. Maybe they’re having a bad day, maybe in the past they haven’t had good interaction with other individuals who’ve decided to cover. Honestly, I don’t take it to heart if I do get treated badly because there could be many reasons.”
- "I just remember the beginning of 2002, the U.S. had already gone to war with Afghanistan and it was the beginning of all that craziness, I remember driving down Beltway 8 and there was this man trying to run me off and I stood my ground. I've always been a rebel, I've never really been afraid of anyone. Now I'm afraid only of God, that's it, so it was kind of like he was trying to get me to be scared but because I'm not a scared person. So as this is happening, I could tell he was trying to intimidate me and I saw a cop coming up so I pulled over and I said “hey this guy tried to run me out, the truck,” I told him the information and the cop -Boom- zoomed over and pulled that truck over and I honked "haha" but that was the only time where I had something happen to me personally."
- "I think the main one that like really stands out to me was when I went to like some sort of theme park, I don’t remember where, and I went to use the bathroom and when I was like washing my hands, there was a woman who like came out and she like saw me and then she just had like a shocked face and then she just walked out without washing her hands because she didn’t want to stand next to me. I was like completely shaken. I was like, “What?” And it’s like you’re only doing yourself worse, like you’re being germy now. You’re not washing your hands so you’re just going to have dirty hands all day. That was probably the most apparent. There’s not one other experience I can tell you because it’s more of like a day- not that it happens everyday, but kind of like a day-to-day thing. It’s like microaggressions. Nothing super blatant like that has happened to me, but there’s definitely been points where it’s like some people aren’t willing to approach me. Or they automatically that I’m not as educated or that I don’t know how to speak English. That happens a lot when we go to the airport. It’s hilarious because I’m speaking with a full American accent and yet you still don’t think I can understand what you’re saying."
- "My mom, who doesn't cover, was once told to go back to her country"
- "I remember one time I was at a red traffic light and someone next to me in a pickup truck - two guys - they put their t-shirts on top of their heads and they were trying to mock me, you know, because I am covering my head with my hijab and they were making fun."