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on with two or four pins. As I walked on the street, a man spit at my
feet from a car, shouting at me,
"You dirty Arab! You are just like the Jews: you’re everywhere!"
Tears had begun to fall from my cheeks, and I rested on a stone. I
was ashamed, ashamed of what, exactly - of being the center of
attention, on display. But since I could not hide my convictions, I
had to face reality with courage. I had no choice, and people had no
choice either: they had to accept me as I was! I wanted to be worthy
of wearing the hijab. The same day, I felt how vulnerable I was in a
society I was no longer part of the majority but part of the minority.
A group of children had appeared at the end of the street. When they
reached me, they crushed into me laughingly, saying, "Why do you
have a bandage around your head?" I kept silent, astounded by their
boldness, but dignified. What could I do to children? How would
they grow up, I thought, if they already were raised racists or
intolerant? How was it possible that it had already affected the small
ones? Were not children supposed to be innocent and harmless? Not
anymore, I thought in disgust and deep sadness!
The open manifestation of racism really began in France from a tiny
event. In 1989, at Creil, in the region of Oise, three young Islamic
girls were expelled from high school, only because they had chosen
to wear the hijab, the Muslim headscarf. On October 24, eleven
young girls were expelled from Fedherbe Middle School for the
same reason.
"Showing religious convictions is an attack on the constitution!" or
so I heard.
And this was not all! In November, twenty-four teenagers from the
school Saint-Exupery of Mantes-La-Jolie, in the region of Yvelines,
suffered the same fate and protested. People said the girls were
manipulated! Since then, cases of verbal aggressions and trials
multiplied. Because people were becoming angrier with us, we were
becoming the targets of the media, the outlet for frustration caused
by problems like unemployment, governmental failings, fears about
the future, etc. Immigration was not the major problem in France,
but the media still made it headlines in the News; it was to become
an obstacle to France's peace. A good scapegoat! But also, the
problems with Algeria had been so tense since the independence that
people felt increasingly revolted against Arabs and afraid of a direct
aggression. The veil then had become a symbol of terror in the
world.
The veil was actually associated to a minority who is violent. People
did not even realized that about 35, 000 French people had already
converted to Islam during the time this all happened. I was one them.
We had ‘reverted’ to Islam because we had learnt with certainty that
we could find answers in Islam, and also peace for our heart. We
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had found in Islam what our country had lost of his morality. And
much more than we expected in manners of beauty and self-respect.
I remember a woman who was hired to work in a clinic for lunatics;
the staff accused her of being an unwanted distraction for certain
patients, leading them to deeper illnesses. She proposed to use a
nurse’s cap instead, and was taken to court. She won her case, but
lost her job. That was typical! I remember feeling full of pride for
her, for her courage and boldness. Ya Allah! O My God! Facing a
court, here! This happened only in the last resort!
2000-20001 arttoday.com
“Years told me something new, Asmaa,” I continued while
talking to my sister of faith, “One never understands what being
different stands for until he is himself in trouble. Sometimes, you
cannot even imagine that racism exists in the place where you live. It
is a reality you do not belong to, so you convince yourself it does not
exist. However, the affair of Creil had its own explanation; it was not
only a problem focused on Muslims. Indeed, a community of Jewish
children had already refused to go the school on Fridays and on
Saturdays before the events of 1989. That was in order to respect the
weekly religious day of Sabbath. The school of Creil had refused to
compromise. See, so how was it possible that the school could
compromise with Muslim women a few months later, even if not for
the same reasons, even for any reason at all? Traditionally, French
people follow the principle of secularism.
To make it vivid, a writer even proposed to display in every school’s
classroom a quote from Montesquieu, which speaks for itself: “If I
would know of something which would aid me, and which would be
harmful to my family, I would reject it from my soul. If I knew of
something which would be useful to my family and which would not
be to my country, I would try to forget it. If I knew of something
which could be useful to my country and which would be harmful to
Europe, and harmful to humanity, I would regard it as a crime.”
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