Muslim American Olympian: I feel unsafe in U.S.
The Muslim woman who is representing the United States in the Summer Games doesn’t feel safe in her own country.
“[I feel unsafe] all the time,” fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad said Thursday in Rio de Janeiro, according to The Daily Beast.
Muhammad, America’s first Olympian to wear a hijab, said she blames rising anti-Islamic sentiment.
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“I had someone follow me home from practice and try to report me to the police,” she said. “And this is right on 28th and 7th in New York City.
“I want people to know that as hard as [these racist incidents] are on me, they don’t come even close to things we’ve seen like the shooting in North Carolina or the rhetoric around the Khan family at the [Democratic National Convention].”
Muhammad, who was born in Maplewood, N.J., said she wants to bring light to the issues facing female Muslims in America.
“I’m very vocal about these things because I want people to know I’m not a novelty, I’m not special in any way,” she said.
“I’m a woman who wears a hijab, and these are my experiences. It’s ridiculous and we as a country have to change and I feel like this is our moment.”
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