TRUMP WIN AFTERMATH
Harassed for hijab in NY
Bangladesh-origin victim
calls for protecting
minority rights in US
MIR MOSTAFIZUR RAHAMAN FROM USA
Fariha Nizam, a 19-year-old Bangladesh-origin American, who experienced horrifying harassment for wearing hijab by a white couple two days after Trumps victory in the US presidential election, urged all to remain vigilant in protecting the rights of minorities in the USA. Talking to The Independent yesterday, Fariha, a student at Hunter College who faced the bitter experience on a bus in New York city on Thursday, said, I do not want that such incident would repeat and anyone would face such a horrible experience. Fariha was travelling to Manhattan from her Bellerose home riding the Q43 Thursday morning when a man and woman boarded the bus. The middle-aged pair got up from their seats and approached her, yelling at me and telling me to take off the disgusting piece of cloth on my head, saying that it wasnt allowed anymore, Fariha recalled in her Facebook post. She said other commuters yelled at the couple to leave her alone, but that didnt stop the woman from trying to yank the hijab off her head. People were telling her to stop, but she just kept getting madder, yelling, No, she needs to take it off,. Fariha said adding that she broke down crying and got off the bus at the next stop.
Fariha, whose parents emigrated from Bangladesh, believes the abuse was directly related to Islamophobia stoked during Trumps campaign.
And for this an awareness to protect the rights of minorities should be created in cross section of people, she told The Independent in an emotion chocked voice. She mentioned that a number of local media interviewed her after the incident but unfortunately none from the local administration communicated with her. My parents are also severely shocked but they have been counselling me since the incident to overcome the situation, she added.
She also mentioned that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) didnt help her during the incident. According to Fariha, the incident, less than two days after Donald Trumps victory, was not remotely coincidental. She feels that hijab is a clear signifier of her Islamic identity, and that she, like many other Muslim Americans, believes that the Trump campaigns rhetoric further stoked anti-Muslim sentiment.
I know Im more susceptible to a lot of things because I wear it, she says. But its something Im going to do Im not going to change that. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a non-profit group that tracks and litigates hate crimes in the United States, released a report on Friday that there had been 201 incidents of election-related harassment and intimidation since the election on Tuesday night, reports NY magazine The Cut. These range from anti-Black to anti-woman to anti-LGBT incidents. There were many examples of vandalism and epithets directed at individuals. Often times, types of harassment overlapped and many incidents, though not all, involved direct references to the Trump campaign, the SPLC reported. Some reports were sent directly to the SPLC.
