Local Muslim Teen at White House
Recently, the Shura Council of Southern California was contacted by the White House Office of Public Liaison to help invite a Muslim student to a national meeting of students, parents, and teachers of various faiths. Attendees were asked to present their experiences about being discriminated against for practicing their faith to President Trump in the Oval Office.
After several candidates were interviewed, Malak Hijaz and her mother Samira were selected to attend the meeting. Malak shared distressing details of how she was singled out and picked on for her faith which in turn had a devastating impact on her identity and self-esteem. Despite raising the seriousness of the problem with school administration for almost a year, investigations by the school district and the California Department of Education were inconclusive and actually implicated Malak as a perpetrator, so CAIR-LA assisted in appealing the findings and attempting to resolve the situation.
The family decided to withdraw from the public school system and adopt homeschooling as a result. Malak’s story was reported through several outlets, including the local news and NPR . The Shura Council was thankful it could facilitate this opportunity for Malak’s voice to be heard and bring the disturbing issue of bullying to light.
In a related story in NPR, Franco Ordanez writes:
President Trump on Thursday defended students who feel they can't pray in their schools — and warned school administrators they risk losing federal funds if they violate their students' rights to religious expression.
Trump held an event in the Oval Office with a group of Christian, Jewish and Muslim students and teachers to commemorate National Religious Freedom Day. The students and teachers said they had been discriminated against for practicing their religion at school.
The US Supreme Court banned school-sponsored prayer in public schools in a 1962 decision, saying that it violated the First Amendment. But students are allowed to meet and pray on school grounds as long as they do so privately and don't try to force others to do the same.
Trump said the government must "never stand between the people and God" and said public schools too often stop students from praying and sharing their faith.
"It is totally unacceptable," Trump said. "You see it on the football field. You see it so many times where they are stopped from praying and we are doing something to stop that."
The group included William McLeod, a 9-year-old Utah boy who was forced to remove the cross of ashes from his forehead on Ash Wednesday. "I just don't want anyone to feel like that," McLeod said.
Malak Hijaz said her school failed to protect her from anti-Muslim bullying. "I would bring the hijab to cover my hair and kids would make fun of me, harass me and attack me," she said. "And I would tell the principal."…
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