By: Sourov Rayhan
(DAILY ORANGE) Muslim women who wear coverings such as the hijab face scrutiny, discrimination and attacks around the world, including in U.S
In March, the French Senate voted in favor of legislation that would ban Muslim girls from wearing hijabs in public.
As Syracuse University students, can we better discuss the issue of Islamophobia on our campus, and why we haven’t already been doing so?
Is it because the issue doesn’t affect all of us personally?
I have seen my own relatives ridiculed due to wearing hijabs and a long garment often worn by Muslim women that covers the whole body from head to feet. As a practicing Muslim myself, I also had to go through a fair share of backlash whenever I chose to disclose my religion.
We need to do more to unlearn the demonization of Islam everywhere.
We need to start by addressing the issue immediately. Allowing it to foster on and off our campus can cause chaos, build intolerance and even prompt violence.
Shutting down Islamophobia on campus can be as simple as starting conversations on how these racist beliefs are As the future of our country, SU students are responsible for influencing what’s considered acceptable.
Naively allowing racist rhetoric to spread will prevent us from diminishing violence and building peace.
The terrorist attacks that took place in France years ago stirred hatred and discrimination toward Muslims in many parts of the Western world. However, France has gone too far in reinforcing this hatred – the hijab and burkini ban are proof of this.
Countries such as France claim to want to protect their culture and keep their nationalism alive. However, the intolerance of other cultures contradicts that. They say they want peace and freedom for all, but aren’t bans and intolerance counterproductive? The reason we need to address these issues is that they indirectly do affect us.
