Racial harassment in schools worsens for scapegoated students
By Jennifer Emiko Boyden | RaceWire
It didn’t start on Sept. 11. But it did get significantly worse. People are afraid to sit next to you on the bus. Random strangers on the street point their finger, shouting that you’re a terrorist. Kids on the opposing soccer team throw rocks at you while you’re trying to play.
That’s what life’s been like since Sept. 11 for Najwa Ahmed, a 17-year-old Muslim student at Abraham Lincoln High School in San Francisco.
“I’ve been spit at in the face. This guy literally tried to run over me and called me a suicide bomber,” Ahmed said.
The events of Sept. 11 fueled anti-Arab and anti-Muslim sentiment in the U.S. and unleashed a rash of hate crimes against anyone who looks like “the enemy.” For those perceived to be Arab, Muslim or Middle Eastern, expressing cultural or religious difference from the mainstream has become increasingly hazardous. Some Muslim women stopped wearing their head covering, the hijab. Some Sikh men cut their hair and beards and removed their turbans. Some even changed their names.
“You hear it out there in the community, of individuals who shy away from using their Arabic names,” said Ra’id Faraj, public relations director with the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) in Southern California. “It’s unfortunate, especially for those who are very young, who have not reached an age where they can defend their views, opinions or their very names.”
For Arab, Muslim and South Asian youth, adults at their schools often fail to come to their defense when they are molested by their peers. In fact, advocates say that perpetrators of hate violence on school campuses are more commonly authority figures than students.
At a Hayward high school, for example, a student was listening for his name as his science teacher called roll. After the teacher called the last name “Mohammed” he followed with, “the terrorist who bombed our buildings.” The student reported the incident to the principal, who asked the teacher to apologize to the student.
In another case, verbal harassment was coupled with physical assault. When a French teacher at a San Francisco high school took his class to computer lab, a young Muslim student and her lab partner couldn’t understand his directions. When they asked for clarification, the teacher grabbed the Muslim student by the hijab, pulling her head back to position her ear near his mouth and asked, “Can you hear me now?” According to Helal Omeira, executive director of CAIR in Northern California, the principal of the school would not disclose what kind of disciplinary action would be taken against the teacher.
In the weeks immediately following the attacks, there were also reports of teachers kicking Arab, Muslim and South Asian students out of their classrooms.
Racial profiling and zero tolerance in public schools took on new meanings and intensity after Sept. 11. But what didn’t change is the failure of school officials to respond appropriately.
“Though many adults perpetrated harassment and general hostility towards Arab, Muslim and South Asian students, the burden of discipline and punishment is always geared towards and placed on students,” said Kanwarpal Dhaliwal, member of Alliance of South Asians Taking Action (ASATA), a Bay Area-based group that works to end violence and other forms of oppression against South Asian communities. “Instead of being proactive and supporting student engagement around the events of 9/11, most schools took the single measure of being more ardent in discipline and punishment, including punishment for questioning and criticizing adults.”
The situation in schools reflects the broader society, which has seen a pronounced increase in hate crimes over the past year. And by any account, advocates say the numbers on record may be just the tip of the iceberg.
The Attorney General of California recently reported that the number of anti-Islamic hate crime victims in the state rose from five in 2000 to 87 in 2001. “Anti-other ethnicity/national origin” hate crimes, which include those directed at Arabs and Middle Easterners, increased from 99 in 2000 to 501 in 2001.
In response to the problem, a coalition of groups, including ASATA, Intergroup Clearinghouse, Chinese for Affirmative Action, and the Islamic Networks Group, came together in April to form the United Response Collaborative. The collaborative provides victim assistance and referrals, advocacy and violence prevention training. Youth Together and Cultural Unity — two programs based at Berkeley High School — also created a “buddy system” for youth who were being harassed or feared they would be targeted.
But education is just part of the solution. Promoting tolerance shapes people’s hearts and minds, but policies that discourage and appropriately punish hateful acts also need to be enforced, advocates say. They stress zero tolerance for any identity-based violence, because the consequences are dire.
“Name-calling has effects that are much more systemic and damaging because it also comes with violence and discrimination and a lack of adequate resources,” said Youmna Chlala, training and education director with WILD for Human Rights in San Francisco. “In order to adequately address the needs of recent immigrants or refugee youth, you have to take into account that they have come from war or situations of conflict and economic struggle.”
Still, in spite of everything, Ahmed maintains pride in who she is as well as compassion for her fellow Americans.
“The first couple of weeks after 9/11 my parents wanted me to take the scarf off, [saying] ‘that’s dangerous, you shouldn’t be yourself right now … But I’m wearing the scarf and I’m really proud now,” said Ahmed. “I know people are frustrated, but they shouldn’t take their frustration out on me.”
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