Chicago area's Muslim youth fight stereotypes, suspicion

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Aasiyah Bhaiji knew the boys in her class were just clowning around, but their words stung just the same. As they headed inside from an ultimate Frisbee game at Springman Middle School in Glenview, one of them wrapped his team’s colors around his head like a turban.

“Are you trying to go Muslim style, terrorist style?” his buddy asked. Aasiyah’s stomach burned. “Stop it,” she snapped.

“You can’t tell me he doesn’t look like Osama bin Laden,” the kid shot back, Aasiyah would later recall. She explained to a friend later why she took offense, even though the boys hadn’t directly insulted her.

“My religion is me,” Aasiyah said.

Aasiyah, 13, and her peers weren’t alive for the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S. Her 16-year-old sister, Saarah, was an infant at the time. But both Glenview teenagers have grown up beneath a cloud of suspicion about their faith. Classmates come to school repeating what they’ve heard at home or amplify tropes on social media that liken all Muslims to murderers.

chicagotribune.com/news/ct-muslim-youth-bullying-met-20160204-story.html