Imagine being afraid to rummage in your backpack on a crowded bus, or worrying about how to explain your holidays to your classmates, or wondering if your friends are whispering about your head scarf — and then imagine trying to keep your focus on your schoolwork.
These anxieties, and many more, are all too real for many Muslim American students, explains Taymullah Abdur-Rahman, the Harvard Chaplain for the Harvard Islamic Society. As political leaders grapple with how to handle the threat that ISIS and other terror groups pose to the United States, Muslim American children, teenagers, and young adults are left to contend with that confusion and fear in their everyday lives.
Educators, always working to create inclusive spaces, can serve as important allies in encouraging empathy and modeling support for Muslim young people — and the peers of those Muslim students can do the same.
