Imagine being a 12 year old girl on a city bus and have people glaring at you simply because of the way you dress. Now, imagine turning all that around by simply wearing a Girl Scout sash. It's actually a sad commentary on how we treat people in this country.Sometimes when Asma Haidara, a 12-year-old Somali immigrant, wants to shop at Target or ride the Minneapolis light-rail system, she puts her Girl Scout sash over her everyday clothes, which usually include a long skirt worn over pants as well as a swirling head scarf.
She has discovered that the trademark green sash — with its American flag, troop number (3009) and colorful merit badges — reduces the number of glowering looks she draws from people otherwise bothered by her traditional Muslim dress.
“When you say you are a girl scout, they say, ‘Oh, my daughter is a girl scout, too,’ and then they don’t think of you as a person from another planet,” said Asma, a slight, serious girl with a bright smile. “They are more comfortable about sitting next to me on the train.” [...]
By teaching girls to roast hot dogs or fix a flat bicycle tire, Farheen Hakeem, one troop leader here, strives to help them escape the perception of many non-Muslims that they are different.
Scouting is a way of celebrating being American without being any less Muslim, Ms. Hakeem said.
“It is kind of cool to say that you are a girl scout,” Asma said. “It is good to have something to associate yourself with other Americans. I don’t want people to think that I am a hermit, that I live in a cave, isolated and afraid of change. I like to be part of society. I like being able to say that I am a girl scout just like any other normal girl.”
7 comments:
That's so sad in so many ways. She has to ID herself as a girl scout in order to be OK? When did we become such a stupid and heartless country. I wonder if she just wore the flag pin if that would work? Damn!
Oh dear. Wow. It is so sad. Anyone who doesn't think we are like Nazi Germany is sadly wrong.
My heart is breaking.
Hope she makes those folks buy cookies. I am counting the days until 2009 when, hopefully, reason returns to this country. Well, more reason than we have seen in a long while.
I am embarassed for us.
And we seem to be backsliding on the hate. It's now acceptable in some circles.
To everyone -- I agree! What kind of a country have we become when little girls need to join scouts just so they won't feel afraid to take public transportation?
BAC
The people are scared, they have been lead down this road by W and his cronies, For the Germans it was the Jews, for the Turks it was Armenians, I guess for us it is now the Muslims,
having said that, Muslims screaming for the execution of an elderly english teacher for naming a bear Mohammed IS bad as well as Muslim extremeists cutting heads off of people....
Tomdem - you have a point, BUT, we are talking about children here and in my opinion one step toward encouraging them to grow up to be people who DON'T want to cut someone's head off is to treat them with respect as children.
If we continue to make people feel like outsiders guess what? They will continue to view themselves that way and will have no investment in what is supposed to be our way of life.
BAC
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