Current Events: Muslim Woman Harassed in Wal-Mart

A post 9/11 world has no doubt been difficult for us all. The attack not only had a dramatic affect on the United States—but the world as a whole. However, one particular group has been met with unfair cruelty and prejudice ever since the attacks. Recently, CNN reported that a Muslim New Jersey resident wearing a hijab—the traditional headscarf for women practicing modest dress—was victimized in Wal-Mart by a fellow shopper last December. According to the woman the male shopper deemed it appropriate to sing an offensive and degrading version of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” to her. The man made references to terrorism and Osama Bin Laden.

The woman, shocked, asked, “Do I look like a terrorist to you?”

The response: “What else does a terrorist look like?”

While on a goodwill mission to Syria, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi caught fire from one of her biggest support groups when she was seen on every news channel entering a mosque wearing a headscarf. A good gesture of acceptance was quickly deemed, “an affront to feminism on par with bowing before the queen,” according to a professor at Elmhurst College. Another professor retorted, “Whatever happened to, ‘When in Rome, do as the Romans do?’”

It is blaringly obvious that the world has now developed a misconstrued idea of those that practice the Muslim faith. The New Jersey woman explains that the idea behind wearing a hijab is so that people will see her inner-beauty rather than just her outside appearance. Now in a lot of middle-eastern countries it is not a sign of oppression for women but something of great religious importance to those that practice the tradition. The world has clearly not caught on and what we are left with is a baseless prejudice that assumes middle-eastern citizens are radical terrorists and wearing a hijab is simply a sign of oppression.

Blogger Eleanor Clifton writes, “Maybe the fallout over Pelosi’s headgear says more about the state of American politics than it does about the Muslim world.”