Perspective: Parents, we need to teach our children about the dangers of hate-laced speech against Muslims
By Hena Khan April 9 at 9:00 AM When I was in elementary school, a boy called me “Indira Gandhi.” It was intended as an insult, but I was more surprised than offended. Gandhi was the former female Prime Minister of India, which wasn’t too shabby.
I regularly hear alarming stories of Muslim girls getting their hijabs yanked off. Muslim kids are being singled out and harassed for their faith by fellow students and sometimes even teachers and administrators. In one case that made national news last year, an elementary-aged child received sloppily handwritten death threats in her cubby, of all places.
I came home and asked my sons, now in middle and high school, about what I had heard. I said, “These kids live in our county, and they experienced this in school.” And my kids, like the others, nodded their heads and said, “Oh, yeah.” They apparently heard the same types of things all the time, too. When I asked why they hadn’t told me, it was because no one was saying these things directly “to” them.
My son understood this in theory, but he still hadn’t brought it up to his friends when I asked later. I get it. When you already feel different, and are associated with a group that is being vilified, it’s hard not to want to hide or just blend in, especially if you aren’t oozing extra self-confidence.
Anti-Muslim speech and attitudes are dangerous. They are the seeds of hate that can grow, fester and turn violent, not only on the playground, but as we saw in New Zealand recently, in unthinkable ways.
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