Muslim girl suspended for head scarf
As I see it right now, I don't think we can make a special accommodation for religious wear. You treat religious items the same as you would as any other item, no better, no worse. Our dress code prohibits headgear, period.
- D.D. Hayes
A few days ago I wrote about the idiocy that ensues when school administrators blindly enforce "zero tolerance". Today's DUMASS AWARD wieners are guilty of a sadly similar variety of stupidity and excess. You know, there used to be a time when being a Muslim in this country was not a crime. Since 9.11, it has become fashionable to treat Muslims like second-class citizens and terrorists looking for a place to happen. Now the idiocy extends to our schools.
OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) -- An 11-year-old Oklahoma girl has been suspended from a public school because officials said her Muslim head scarf violates dress code policies.
Board officials met Friday to discuss the fate of suspended sixth-grader Nashala "Tallah" Hern, who was asked to leave school in the eastern Oklahoma town of Muskogee on October 1 because she refused to remove her head scarf, called a "hijab."
School officials instituted a dress code in 1997 prohibiting the wearing of hats and other head coverings indoors. Officials said they implemented the code to stem gang-related activity. Hern declined to remove her hijab, saying it would violate the way she observes her religion.
Officials at the school, the Ben Franklin Science Academy, previously summoned Hern to the office on September 11 to inform her she was no longer allowed to wear the scarf. She had worn it since the school year started a few weeks earlier.
I wonder if the maroons on the school board have any idea how small-minded and mean-spirited their policy makes them appear? Hern is hardly a threat to the safety or security of her school, and yet she is treated the same way a gangbanger would be. Have we lost our sense of perspective, ladies and gentleman? Apparently so.
Can we return to a time and place where common sense and reasonableness rules the day (that's if we've ever been there...)? All Hern wants (and, frankly, deserves) is to be allowed to observe her religion in peace. She's not flashing gang signs or pushing drugs, so why treat her like a criminal- unless y'all really WANT your DUMASS AWARD??
