By Seemi Ahmed & Dr. Shaik Ubaid

Co-Chair Muslim Peace Coalition USA (New York chapter)

Probably you already know this.

A Muslim girl from Dreyfus School, New York, was beaten up, thrown to the ground. Her headscarf pulled off, as she was repeatedly called a “terrorist” a “bitch” and told “You're a Muslim”. She was threatened to be stabbed with a knife unless she handed over her cell phone and all her money. The victim suffered minor bruises and a cut lip. This incident took place on March 30, 2011,

We wish that his hate crime was an isolated case. According to a Columbia University survey seven percent of Muslim students in New York report being beaten up. There are 100,000 Muslim students in New York public schools which means about 7,000 Muslim students have been beaten up. Probably they don’t report to police since according to the above survey 28% Muslim students report being stopped by Police because of racial profiling.

Islamophobia is affecting our children in a serious manner. Listen to an NPR Story about how a family was devastated after what happened to their daughter in the school: Shouting Across the Divide: http://www.thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=322

It’s about time that Muslims stand up against this hate.

100 plus imams from New York have called upon all Muslims from New York to join 500 other organizations who are standing up against war, terrorism and Islamophobia. These are all connected to each other and all of them essentially hurt Muslims.

Non-acting school administration:

What is significant about this latest episode of hate against the hijabi girl is that the school was not willing to act.

  • The school administration failed to act despite the fact this student was subject to repeated assaults over several months.
  • The classroom teacher called school security for help in this latest incident but none came.
  • It was only after the victim called her brother who called the police which finally came, not because of the school administration.

According to the media reports "The principal [Linda Hill] talked with the cops for three hours in her office, trying to get them not to make it a hate crime because it would look bad for the school."

Trauma the girl might be suffering from:

The girl does not want to be named. This is not the first time this Pakistani-American honor student has suffered this trauma of being bullied. She has been verbally and physically assaulted at least four times before. I wonder what type of trauma she is going through at this moment. NPR once interviewed the family regarding the trauma and the pressure they were facing. Listening to that might give us some fresh insight into what might be going through this girl’s mind at this moment and what the family might be thinking about it. Shouting Across the Divide.

The honor student is traumatized from the months of abuse. "Now after he's arrested, I'm still afraid ... I'm just scared of something," she appealed that “they should not hurt Muslim people. They should not hurt anyone because of their race." Her sister told reporters that "She was crying at that moment, but she's OK."