Rehan describes Islamophobia from the perspective of a thirteen-year-old Muslim boy. Joined by Fatmeh Kalouti, a youth worker at the Edmonton Mennonite Centre for Newcomers.
January 29, 2017 saw the worst mass murder in a house of worship in Canadian history: the Québec City mosque shooting in which six Muslim worshippers were killed and 19 injured.
Rehan was ten. “I remember when it happened,” he said on the podcast. “That night, I actually started crying because I was like, ‘What if that ever happened to me?’”
Islamophobia is on the rise in Canada. It’s perhaps most visible in the forms of explicit violence such as the massacre in Québec City, but it also manifests in schoolyard jokes and whitewashed media. Girls having their hjiabs torn off; refugees being told to leave. A kid like Rehan who can describe racism as easily as his evening prayers.
Violence doesn’t end just because you cross a border. And just because we can point to a historical event and say that it was an example of Islamophobia doesn’t mean that it’s not still happening now. It is still happening. We need to talk about it.
Fatmeh mentioned the Centre for Race and Culture and recommended their publication Race and Respect as a resource for teachers seeking to teach students about active citizenship and inclusive communities.
Jasmin Zine, Islamophobia and hate crimes continue to rise in Canada →
Joanna Schroeder, Racists Are Recruiting. Watch Your White Sons. →