For the first two weeks after Sept. 11, Subheen Razzaqui only left her house twice. But don't assume for a second that she is timid.
Ms. Razzaqui, who emigrated from the Middle East when she was 10, teaches high school history in a Boston suburb. A Muslim, she wears a hijab, or head scarf. Whether it's the hijab or the teacher's tone of voice, she commands respect. She did not return to the classroom last September in order to care for her newborn. But, after the morning of the 11th, she remained housebound for an entirely different reason.
"I traveled on Sept. 11 because my son had a doctor's appointment," she recalls. "And I think I got hostile looks, but I survived that. After that, I think I went out three days later and the looks were much, much worse."
An uncle in Pakistan called to urge that she shed the scarf and her husband shave his beard. Reports of attacks on Muslims and Sikhs had reached Pakistan via CNN.
Many of Razzaqui's colleagues called to offer solidarity. Some even offered to accompany her to the grocery store.
"[The response] was amazing because I didn't realize that I needed that [support]. It was incredibly reassuring," she says. However, she didn't take them up on it. "I felt that the offer was enough … for me psychologically to [go out alone]."
She decided to go out and to continue wearing her hijab.
"I understand that my looking so visibly Muslim may elicit a hostile reaction from people, but I'm hoping they will be able to differentiate between mainstream Muslims and people who misuse Islam."
Her resolve reaffirmed two decisions she made in the last five years: to wear the hijab and to become a US citizen.
During her teenage years, she thought of herself as a Pakistani, and never wore a hijab. Religious study fueled her decision to wear it, and historical study of civil rights struggles led her to US citizenship. Wearing the hijab in public became a political statement tied to both decisions.
"I'm a Muslim-American. I want to be treated with that respect, and I want to be recognized."
Razzaqui says after Sept. 11, many Muslims in the US asserted that they, too, were Americans devastated by the attacks. The event brought recognition to the Muslim-American community "as part of the fabric of this society," she says. With the higher profile came amplified reactions, both positive and negative. She chooses to focus on the positive.
"I think the positive initiatives that I saw post-Sept. 11 helped me recognize that yes, I did belong because my colleagues thought I belonged, because my friends thought I belonged. And I think that's what America is really about: coming to terms with diversity and accepting it, and respecting it."
– Ben Arnoldy, photo by Stuart S. Cox Jr.
