WASHINGTON – Muslim women donning hijab have taken to social media to echo nationwide fear and uncertainty after Donald Trump was declared the next president of the United States.
One Muslim teen took to Twitter to share her despair after her mother sent her a heartbreaking text message when news of the election result broke.
Nineteen-year-old Janna, whose social media account is usually adorned with photos of Harry Styles, shared her mum’s request with others.
Her mother had asked her not to wear the hijab, seemingly fearful that she might be subjected to hatred now that Trump has won the election.
My mom literally just texted me “don’t wear the Hijab please” and she’s the most religious person in our family….
— ㅤ (@harryonmen) November 9, 2016
Similar fears were echoed by Nora Nashawaty, a 23-year-old Syrian-American student living in Chicago.
“Trump does not work from within the system. With Clinton, even those of us not with her, we have connections and we know we can work within existing systems to change things,” she told Fusion.
“We have none of that with Trump. We know he doesn’t want to listen to us, and we know that he sees us as less than human.”
Trump has targeted Muslims since the early days of his campaign, calling for a ban on them entering the US, and suggesting that they carry identification cards.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) reported an “unprecedented spike” in Islamophobic hate crimes “attributed at least in part to statements and policy proposals made by public figures like GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump.”
A Georgetown University report confirmed CAIR’s statement, saying there were 53 attacks against Muslims in December 2015. Meanwhile, only two such attacks happened at the start of the election season.