Half of Muslim students in California report bullying

San Francisco Chronicle wrote:More than half of the state’s Muslim students have experienced religion-based bullying, a rate double that of their non-Muslim peers nationally, according to a survey released Friday by the California chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Across California, less than 10 percent of middle school and high school students overall reported harassment at school based on their religion, according to state data.

The new report indicates that children across the state are still feeling the side effects of the 9/11 attacks, at a time when Islamophobia and anti-Muslim sentiment has become almost normalized in some quarters — used to garner votes in presidential campaigns or to challenge a creative Muslim boy who brought a homemade clock to a Texas classroom.

According to the report, not only were 52 percent of Muslim students insulted or abused because of their religion, one in five experienced such discrimination by their teachers or administrators. Boys were more likely to report being bullied, but of the girls who wear a traditional Muslim head scarf or hijab, 27 percent said they were discriminated against by a teacher or administrator.

One teacher, for example, told a student he or she wasn’t American enough to understand a classroom topic. Another student said that, “When I wear my hijab in schools sometimes people ask me if I’m related to Osama bin Laden.”

“Today, anti-Muslim rhetoric has become so acceptable that parents and students feel that it is a normal part of being a Muslim in America,” said Fatima Dadabhoy, a senior civil rights attorney for the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Los Angeles. “However, this normalization causes people to forget the very real consequences that bullying and discrimination can have.”

Education is a big part of the answer in reducing this and all forms of bullying, according to the report’s recommendations, which include training teachers on leading diverse and multicultural classrooms and ensuring classroom materials, including textbooks, movies and projects are “current and free of Islamophobic bias.”

The nonprofit organization also offers school-based training and materials to help schools navigate issues related to Islam.

Despite the frequency of bullying faced by Muslim students, the report released Friday found 83 percent of those surveyed felt safe at school. Still, only a third of students said teachers and administrators were responsive to their religious needs, including time for prayer, excused absences for religious holidays like Eid or an alternative to the uniforms provided for physical education.

The researchers surveyed 621 students between the ages of 11 and 18 last year.

San Francisco student Mai Sinada, 16, is among those who have experienced bullying or verbal harassment based on her religion. She vividly remembers the middle school classmate who told her, “Shut up, terrorist.”

“You kind of get used to it and it doesn’t hurt you anymore,” said Mai, now a junior at Wallenberg High School.

Mai is one of those students who feels safe, with bullying far more rare in high school. Still, she is combatting any bullying and negative stereotypes with a simple recipe: success.

She is class president and has big plans for college and a career in science or technology, though she also feels the weight of responsibility.

“I feel that being a minority is like walking on a tight rope — one small thing can be held against you and you can figuratively fall off,” she said. “I want to become an inspiration to Muslim girls around the world. I want them to feel they’re supported and comfortable and safe in their surroundings.”

Jill Tucker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.

eddie wrote:Bullying is terrible.
It's not only kept especially for Muslims though.

Original Quill wrote:

San Francisco Chronicle wrote:More than half of the state’s Muslim students have experienced religion-based bullying, a rate double that of their non-Muslim peers nationally, according to a survey released Friday by the California chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Across California, less than 10 percent of middle school and high school students overall reported harassment at school based on their religion, according to state data.

The new report indicates that children across the state are still feeling the side effects of the 9/11 attacks, at a time when Islamophobia and anti-Muslim sentiment has become almost normalized in some quarters — used to garner votes in presidential campaigns or to challenge a creative Muslim boy who brought a homemade clock to a Texas classroom.

According to the report, not only were 52 percent of Muslim students insulted or abused because of their religion, one in five experienced such discrimination by their teachers or administrators. Boys were more likely to report being bullied, but of the girls who wear a traditional Muslim head scarf or hijab, 27 percent said they were discriminated against by a teacher or administrator.

One teacher, for example, told a student he or she wasn’t American enough to understand a classroom topic. Another student said that, “When I wear my hijab in schools sometimes people ask me if I’m related to Osama bin Laden.”

“Today, anti-Muslim rhetoric has become so acceptable that parents and students feel that it is a normal part of being a Muslim in America,” said Fatima Dadabhoy, a senior civil rights attorney for the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Los Angeles. “However, this normalization causes people to forget the very real consequences that bullying and discrimination can have.”

Education is a big part of the answer in reducing this and all forms of bullying, according to the report’s recommendations, which include training teachers on leading diverse and multicultural classrooms and ensuring classroom materials, including textbooks, movies and projects are “current and free of Islamophobic bias.”

The nonprofit organization also offers school-based training and materials to help schools navigate issues related to Islam.

Despite the frequency of bullying faced by Muslim students, the report released Friday found 83 percent of those surveyed felt safe at school. Still, only a third of students said teachers and administrators were responsive to their religious needs, including time for prayer, excused absences for religious holidays like Eid or an alternative to the uniforms provided for physical education.

The researchers surveyed 621 students between the ages of 11 and 18 last year.

San Francisco student Mai Sinada, 16, is among those who have experienced bullying or verbal harassment based on her religion. She vividly remembers the middle school classmate who told her, “Shut up, terrorist.”

“You kind of get used to it and it doesn’t hurt you anymore,” said Mai, now a junior at Wallenberg High School.

Mai is one of those students who feels safe, with bullying far more rare in high school. Still, she is combatting any bullying and negative stereotypes with a simple recipe: success.

She is class president and has big plans for college and a career in science or technology, though she also feels the weight of responsibility.

“I feel that being a minority is like walking on a tight rope — one small thing can be held against you and you can figuratively fall off,” she said. “I want to become an inspiration to Muslim girls around the world. I want them to feel they’re supported and comfortable and safe in their surroundings.”

Jill Tucker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.

Shady wrote:Human nature is a funny old thing but what we often forget about these days & times is that it is just an extension of our ancient survival techniques.

At a deep level,we recognize danger or trouble even though we may not really understand what that perceived danger or trouble really is or isn't.

And one of the reasons that those Muslims in the states are being bullied is because they have been recognized as being trouble......on an ancient danger/trouble level but also on a more recent level .......9/11,7/7 & beheadings etc.

So really,one could put forward the argument that bullying is not what is happening but low level attempts at survival are taking place.

Therefore,to reduce the bullying the Muslims need to progress into the 21st century & integrate.....quickly.

If they don't & because of the way things are going in Europe,they will die.

Original Quill wrote:

Shady wrote:Human nature is a funny old thing but what we often forget about these days & times is that it is just an extension of our ancient survival techniques.

At a deep level,we recognize danger or trouble even though we may not really understand what that perceived danger or trouble really is or isn't.

And one of the reasons that those Muslims in the states are being bullied is because they have been recognized as being trouble......on an ancient danger/trouble level but also on a more recent level .......9/11,7/7 & beheadings etc.

So really,one could put forward the argument that bullying is not what is happening but low level attempts at survival are taking place.

Therefore,to reduce the bullying the Muslims need to progress into the 21st century & integrate.....quickly.

If they don't & because of the way things are going in Europe,they will die.

I swear...I believe that RWers are died-in-the-wool socialists.  Such social theories they come up with!!  I'm stunned at the incredible associations they make.

Muslims are inevitably trouble, citing a couple of over-publicized crimes, you say??  Hmmm...  But Christians start wars, citing Korea, Vietnam, Somolia, Iraq I and Iraq II, among others.  Isn't it just that Christians pack a whole lot more punch in their bullying?  Christians do it at a much higher, more sophisticated level, so perhaps it isn't recognizable.  WTF..tho', the babies are still just as dead.

Anyway...I'm more concerned about RWers turning into socialists.  Watta world.  

Original Quill wrote:

eddie wrote:Bullying is terrible.
It's not only kept especially for Muslims though.

But, as the article says, it happens to 50% of Muslim students and only 10% of other students.

eddie wrote:

Original Quill wrote:

But, as the article says, it happens to 50% of Muslim students and only 10% of other students.

Well most terrorists kill non-Muslims

Swings and roundabouts

Didge wrote:

eddie wrote:

Well most terrorists kill non-Muslims

Swings and roundabouts

Wrong

Most victims of terrorism are Muslims

Fuzzy Zack wrote:

Didge wrote:


Wrong

Most victims of terrorism are Muslims

And most powerful terrorists are Zionists. ;-)

Shady wrote:Over publicized crimes? 9/11 & 7/7? Over publicized?

You really need to get out more & experience the world outside of your sanctuary.

Why do you think they are being bullied then?

eddie wrote:Why do,people have to label everything and everyone?
Muslims are stupid to follow this book, people are picking on Muslims, Christians are silly, conservatives are this and LW are that

How about letting people be?

It's people who do rubbish, not the labels you stick on them!

eddie wrote:

To date, I haven't had a Muslim nor a Christian enforce their beliefs on me.

eddie wrote:I'm also not obsessed with religion

Original Quill wrote:

Shady wrote:Over publicized crimes? 9/11 & 7/7? Over publicized?

You really need to get out more & experience the world outside of your sanctuary.

Why do you think they are being bullied then?

Because of dumb shits like you, who see the world as 'we-they', without any compromise.  We had the same thing at the start of WWII, when all Japanese Americans were put into internment camps.  It's categorizing people by racial characteristics, and not for what they believe.

On the examples: 9/11 and 7/7 were, after all, just crimes.  A good criminal justice agency would have been sufficient to handle them.  However, the incidents were use to whip up hysteria to justify a war in a totally unrelated country, and hostility toward a people who bore no responsibility.

It took a Democrat--and then, 10-years later, after Republicans were feckless--to go and apprehend the real criminal.

Shady wrote:

Original Quill wrote:

Because of dumb shits like you, who see the world as 'we-they', without any compromise.  We had the same thing at the start of WWII, when all Japanese Americans were put into internment camps.  It's categorizing people by racial characteristics, and not for what they believe.

On the examples: 9/11 and 7/7 were, after all, just crimes.  A good criminal justice agency would have been sufficient to handle them.  However, the incidents were use to whip up hysteria to justify a war in a totally unrelated country, and hostility toward a people who bore no responsibility.

It took a Democrat--and then, 10-years later, after Republicans were feckless--to go and apprehend the real criminal.

You're a fucking crank.

eddie wrote:I'm also not obsessed with religion

eddie wrote:

To date, I haven't had a Muslim nor a Christian enforce their beliefs on me.

Ben_Reilly wrote:

eddie wrote:I'm also not obsessed with religion

You also have a different upbringing than everyone else here. Were you ever as a child discussing with a friend whether the moon will eventually escape the Earth's gravity or crash into the Earth, only to have your father angrily interject that God wouldn't allow anything like that to happen?

What I went through was mild compared to what is done to many American kids:

eddie wrote:

Ben_Reilly wrote:

eddie wrote:I'm also not obsessed with religion

You also have a different upbringing than everyone else here. Were you ever as a child discussing with a friend whether the moon will eventually escape the Earth's gravity or crash into the Earth, only to have your father angrily interject that God wouldn't allow anything like that to happen?

What I went through was mild compared to what is done to many American kids:

That was your dad that did that to you. Not religion. L
If your dad force fed you fish, that you detested, until you vomited, would you grow up pissed at your dad for forcing you to eat something that made you sick, or would you go down to the sea and shout at the fish?