Our MA student Sumaiya Zama has joined a Congressional briefing to discuss, with other student activists and lawyers, Indian state of Karnataka's ban on the wearing of hijab by Muslim girl students at educational institutions.
Sharing her thoughts on the ban, Sumaiya said, "As a future educator, it is my fundamental belief that all people deserve access to education and that no one deserves to be barred from any classroom because of the way they look, believe, practice, or dress. As I look toward the brave young women in India fighting for their constitutional right to go to school while expressing their faith, I am reminded of my childhood hero Ruby Bridges who had the tremendous task of desegregating an all-white school in the United States in the 1960s. I am reminded that even today, young girls around the world are still being tasked with the responsibility of pushing back against racism and bigotry, simply because they wish to go to school.
"This fight is not about our personal beliefs around what hijab is or is not. This fight is about whether we are willing to accept a world where women are denied the choice to wear what they wish to wear. I urge you all to stand with the brave Muslim women of India as they make history and actively resist against the rise of fascism there."
Our MA student Sumaiya Zama has joined a Congressional briefing to discuss, with other student activists and lawyers, Indian state of Karnataka's ban on the wearing of hijab by Muslim girl students at educational institutions.
Sharing her thoughts on the ban, Sumaiya said, "As a future educator, it is my fundamental belief that all people deserve access to education and that no one deserves to be barred from any classroom because of the way they look, believe, practice, or dress. As I look toward the brave young women in India fighting for their constitutional right to go to school while expressing their faith, I am reminded of my childhood hero Ruby Bridges who had the tremendous task of desegregating an all-white school in the United States in the 1960s. I am reminded that even today, young girls around the world are still being tasked with the responsibility of pushing back against racism and bigotry, simply because they wish to go to school.
"This fight is not about our personal beliefs around what hijab is or is not. This fight is about whether we are willing to accept a world where women are denied the choice to wear what they wish to wear. I urge you all to stand with the brave Muslim women of India as they make history and actively resist against the rise of fascism there."
