About 85 students gather in the Juan Ramon Jimenez room in Stamp Student Union with five panelists in a discussion about what it means to identify as both black and Muslim.
First-year graduate student Azzizah Abdullah, who identifies as black and Muslim, said she abandoned her headscarf when she started in the business school at the University of Maryland to avoid any intolerance of her religion and to appear more professional.
“Initially, I wasn’t wearing hijab … people didn’t know that I was Muslim,” Abdullah said. “Over the course of time, I just started to question why I had to change who I am and take my scarf off to be more professional.”
Abdullah, along with about 85 students, gathered in the Juan Ramon Jimenez Room in Stamp Student Union to join five panelists in a discussion about what it means to be both black and Muslim.
“I don’t think there’s a lot of safe spaces that allow us to connect with both sides, being African-American and being Muslim at the same time,” Abdullah said. “There’s that intersectionality that’s usually dichotomized into African-American or Muslim.”
The event, “Being Black and Muslim: Forging Solidarities,” was hosted by the Office of Multicultural Involvement & Community Advocacy as part of this university’s Social Justice Coalition’s Unity Week. This initiative aims to raise awareness about different social groups and the injustices they might face, said Jennifer Olson, Interfaith Programs and Spiritual Diversity graduate coordinator.
Olson said the goal of the event was “to give voice to the experiences of black Muslims, their role in building solidarity between black and Muslim communities in social justice movements and how the larger Muslim community can better support black Muslims.”
Mina Al-Salihi, a MICA student intern, organized the event and said the idea to discuss racism within the Muslim community arose this past year, and she decided that she wanted to hold an event to address it this semester.
“It really increased awareness … so that we can be more inclusive toward our brothers and sisters,” the junior biology major said.
Sadiyah Bashir, one of the panelists at the event and a Prince George’s Community College student, said a big challenge that she faces is the incorrect assumptions people have about what being black and being Muslim means.
“It’s really hard to integrate that within yourself when so many external sources are telling you what you’re supposed to be as those two things,” the freshman business major said.
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Shahrazad Hired, a junior government and politics major at this university, also spoke on the panel and mentioned that she has always felt as if she faced stereotypes from her Muslim peers about being black.
“Growing up, my biggest issue was being
marginalized as a black Muslim within the Muslim community itself,” Hired said.
Another panelist at the event, Tariq Touré, a graduate student at Howard University and a Muslim public speaker, stressed the importance of people educating themselves about racism to minimize its impact.
“Some people are going to be racist and just not even know they’re being racist,” Touré said. “The crux of the situation is just education.”
Bashir encouraged students to address prejudices or inaccuracies that people might believe about the black identity intersecting with the Muslim identity.
“Challenge your family, challenge your friends on microaggressions. … Ask, ‘Where did you get that idea from?’” Bashir said.
