It was a brisk New England day as I walked out of the community center with a group of Somali Muslim women from my adult English as a Second Language class. My students were laughing and joking, their hijabs blowing in the breeze. We had finished our unit on the New World, drawing connections between Europeans immigrating to America and Somalis immigrating to Lewiston and southern Maine.
Suddenly, a local woman shouted, "Terrorists! Go back to where you came from. We don't want you here!" She spat at us.
I was appalled and embarrassed, my mouth hanging open. I was accustomed to the openness of the volunteers I trained and the teachers I worked with everyday. We had created a protective bubble around our students and us. This angry and confused woman burst our bubble.
But I learned something from my students as I apologized profusely to them. They told me that these taunts happen several times a day. They had, in fact, become "used to it," one student said.
My students saw how upset I was and consoled me when I should have been consoling them. They walked me to my car as they journeyed the short distance to their apartment buildings, leaving me to my thoughts.
These incidents are not uncommon around the United States. An influx of Muslim immigrants and 9/11 have led to an increase of hate crimes and harassment. In The Baltimore Sun, Basir Jamil, a high school senior, wrote about the prejudice he has faced growing up Muslim in America after 9/11. He said, "From grade school on, I have personally encountered racism and extremism. I have endured snide comments, people calling me 'terrorist,' and people generally hating me for no reason but my race and religion."
Basir, like my own students, still has hope. He believes that the people who do not like him are the people who do not know him and do not understand his religion.
My students are Muslim and dress differently than most of the other people in Lewiston, but they share many of the same goals. They are hardworking, family-oriented women and men who value education.
Sitting in my car driving the one-hour commute to Lewiston, I've often thought back to the incident with the woman on the street and what I would have done differently.
I have decided that I would stand up to her and say, "Stop! These are my students and they deserve respect. They have every right to live here, as do you. They are hard workers, wonderful mothers and sisters, and all they want is to come to class to get an education.
"They may look different than you and practice a different religion but that doesn't mean that they deserve to be mistreated. That's not the American way. So please, cross the street and leave my students to walk in peace with their heads held high. Better yet, visit one of my classrooms. Get to know my students and see for yourself how wonderful they are. Let us all learn from each other instead of being divided by hate."
I wish I had said this a million times over.
Giroux specializes in ESL literacy and curriculum design. She is based in Maine.
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