A day behind the veil

By Anisa Abdullahi
Tuesday, July 08, 2008

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My name is Anisa Abdullahi. I am a graduating senior at the Volunteers of America high school. I come from a big family and I'm the eldest girl. My family is a traditional Somali family so that means I am like a second mother. My father died when I was four-months and my mother remarried and had five kids.

I am studying the curiosity many Americans have when it comes to Muslim women behind the Veil. I want to know the comments that might be made, the questions that are asked, and how long they stare with either curiosity or fear. My aunt has always worn the veil and I was always curious to know how it felt to wear a veil in a terrorist fearing society like America. I will be wearing the Veil and the full body cover dress. I will go everywhere I usually go such as school, public transportation; and I will do every thing I usually do after school before I go home. I will collect data for my first 35 minutes behind the Veil at every location that I'm at. I am excited to learn about the things that Muslim women go through everyday while wearing the Veil in America. With a city as diverse as Minneapolis are the people still scared and curious of newcomers?

I left my home at 7:55 am and the city bus came for me by 8 am, which is when I began collecting my data. I got off the bus at approximately 8:15 am at the light rail station on Lake Street. As I waited for the train to come, the staring began. I got on the train when it came and collected more data; I stopped collecting data when I got off the train. Soon after I reached Volunteers of America, which is my high school, and that's when I collected the most data. If I had $5 for everyone who stared at me with shock I would be rich right now.

After a while, students started getting used to me, so I took it off. After school I went back on the train and rode it for about 35 minutes to collect data. I got off at the Lake Street train station and started to walk to Minnesota Transition Schools. Things started off the same way as it did at Volunteers of America, but there were fewer students. After that I made my last stop at the Mall of America when my friend gave me a ride. Things were a bit easier than I expected. So after I collected my data there, I went home and it was all over for me, but not for many of the other Muslims.

Out of about 300 people about 24 people stared at me for a little less than three minutes total. Along with the stares came comments, such as, "Do you have a bomb in that purse," and, "Are you going to blow us up." One man even brought out a newspaper with a young lady wearing a veil with headlines that read, "Al Qaeda terrorist recruits."

My peers at volunteers of America asked me many questions. With all these stares and comments, at moments I felt uncomfortable and other times I felt proud. I noticed that more of the people that looked at me where Somali people. It was unusual for me because I am Somali myself. I think the reason they stared at me is because they are not used to seeing a young girl covered up so much and because it was a shock to them to see a Muslim person not afraid after everything in the media, such as the mainstream broadcast news stations and many newspaper prints around the nation stereotyping Muslims as ruthless terrorists.

Overall, I was shocked at the fact that I really didn't get many stares. But I still got some stares and that was enough for me. The stares were enough to tell me that with a city as diverse as Minneapolis, people are still curious and scared of newcomers.

After going through this whole experience for a day it was not really what I expected. I was expecting this vision of people coming after me with lit torches and pitchforks. This might not be the reaction that I got, but I still got a reaction and many times that made me feel uncomfortable. Maybe if Minneapolis weren't the Somali capital of North America I would have had many more reactions, not only about the veil, but also about my head covering tradition. I think the reason most people stared is because they are not used to a girl dressed like me. The Veiled women are usually seen in the media with nothing but bad headlines above the picture.

This experience helped me understand and see what many Muslims go through. I have more respect for them as human beings and more as Muslims. Hopefully this will all change and we will no longer be scared of what's new, otherwise we as a society are headed towards a bad environment with nothing but hatred and confusion.

This article was originally posted by Insight News

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