BY ANNA FRIEDRICHSEN | Guest Contributor | Putting on a hijab was something I never thought of doing. I grew up in a homogenous community of middle class, white Christians and I was certainly one of them.
Islamic Awareness Week at UMD was last week. Though I thought what the members of Muslim Student Association (MSA) were doing was awesome, I didn’t participate in any of the events they put on. That is, until I went to Hijab Day. Admittedly, I probably wouldn’t have gone to the event if the faculty member I work with hadn’t mentioned going.
It was four days into Islamic Awareness Week and I was hesitant.
I arrived at the tabling area across from the bookstore, slowly approaching MSA’s table covered with scarves and pamphlets about Islam. KUMD was blasting some sort of hip hop music I had never heard of, drowning out the laughter and joy surrounding me and filling my thoughts with anxiety about participating.
I was looking around expecting to see students gawking as MSA members helped those wanting to put on hijabs (for females) and hats (for males). I was wrong. No one was gawking and I was a little embarrassed to even think people would do such a thing.
I was greeted by a member of MSA, a girl who smiled widely when she saw me approach. I took off the scarf I was wearing that day and asked if it would work.
The girl was about eight inches shorter than me, but she gladly hopped up and down to help form a hijab with my scarf.
As soon as the hijab was in place, the girl looked at me and declared “You’re so beautiful!”
It was then that I breathed a sigh of relief and accepted that putting on a hijab was okay. I wasn’t misappropriating the Islamic culture.
In realizing that the week of events was for people like me, who were open and accepting of cultures but didn’t want to disrespect them. I realized that it’s my own hesitations pulling me back and preventing me from experiencing different cultures, both on campus and off.
The people who walked by the hijab event didn’t gawk, as I said, though some looked. Instead, the majority of people just walked by. I wanted so desperately to have a light-up arrow so I could point it at myself as if to say, “Hey, I can do it and so can you.”
The members of MSA and the other cultural groups on campus and in the Multicultural Center are open and accepting to everyone they meet; they encourage all people to attend the events they put on during the year and they really mean that when they say it. It’s the people, including myself, who don’t necessarily fit in with any of the cultural groups that fail to embrace the different cultures and people on campus.
While I accept and promote diversity, I realize I’ve neglected to incorporate it into my life as well as I could have.
It’s events like Islamic Awareness Week that I, and many others, need. It’s so important for people to see that different cultures and groups of people accept outsiders. In putting on a hijab and wearing it for half a day, I can say that I’ve taken a step to integrate myself with a culture unlike my own.
I’ve always said that I support culture and diversity, but I’ve never shown it like I did in wearing a hijab. It’s this very sentiment that takes me to say that actions really do speak louder than words.