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I would be curious to know what she means when she says she encounters all the racism. Are people purposely making her feel inferior or are people just looking at her because she is wearing a hijab?
We're both community college teachers, and most of what she's stressed about is comments and problems with students. Again, maybe the New Jersey kids are more likely to speak up if her faith does not speak well with them, while the Midwestern kids might sit quiet.
But she's gotten it all from stares, to well-meaning people who assume that she's an immigrant and are impressed that she speaks English without an accent, to those who make racist jokes, to those who actually make cruel hateful remarks.
She says that, though most people in NJ are cool, there are still a group who wants to blame every Muslim for 9/11. She says that Wisconsin is much better in that regard, but some people are still a little naive.
I am neither Muslim nor a woman, but my office mate is. She's constantly complaining about all the racism she encounters because she wears a scarf. She says that Milwaukee is bad, but New Jersey (where she's originally is from is worse). She'll be leaving Milwaukee in a two years, and I'd love to recommend places that might be accepting of hijab.
If Canada's an option, I'd hope that Toronto would be a good alternative. Definitely not Montreal, as Quebec is trying to push a hijab ban through.
The proposed ban is only for public employees (and would also apply to kippahs and turbans), but yeah I think it's pretty ridiculous.
Toronto has a pretty substantial Pakistani community, as well as Muslims from elsewhere. A burka would attract attention but a hijab definitely wouldn't. It probably helps that Canada wasn't attacked on 9/11 and isn't as involved in the "war on terror" too.
She wouldn't have too much of an issue in Upstate NY cities either. Buffalo has a decent sized Muslim population in the city, as well as Lackawanna and parts of Amherst. You see some women wearing hijabs around town here as well.
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