March 11, 2011

Last week, MPAC intern Yasmin Nouh spoke at La Canada High School in Los Angeles for their first Diversity Week. The week was organized by members of the Parent Teacher Association in hopes of raising awareness about different cultures and ethnicities in a school whose student body is primarily Caucasian and Korean.

Nouh spoke about her experiences as the only hijab-wearing Muslim at the high school, where she graduated from in 2006. She recounted her peers’ questions about her religion and her reasons for donning the headscarf. She talked about choosing to keep her headscarf on after 9/11, even though some of her friends decided to take it off for fear of hate crimes. She discussed how she did take off her headscarf three years later due to the pressure of wanting to fit in with her peers, but then put it back on in college after embracing her identity as Muslim American.

She spoke about how diversity is a blessing because it empowers people to get to know one another. At the same time it is a test of patience and humility with those who hold different values or come from different cultures.

After her talk, the crowd of students and parent organizers asked her questions about Islam and Muslims in America.

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Marium F. Mohiuddin (marium@mpac.org)
Communications Coordinator