These “incidents” occur so often I feel to some degree, no matter how outraged I am, numb. Let that settle within you for a second or two.Įven Transportation Security Administration (TSA), notoriously known for its Islamophobia and anti-Muslim agenda - holding me up for hours at security for no “ apparent ” reason - have never reached under my Hijab, with their bare hands, to check underneath. The security guard proceeded to condescendingly laugh, then use her hands to pat all over my bucket hat, and even reached under my Hijab and patted my hair. And I could not remove my Hijab, for obvious reasons that I shouldn’t have had to explain. That part in itself was a microaggression wrapped under another, until I said that I could not remove my bucket hat. When I asked her what she was doing, she asked if I could remove my bucket hat and “what’s under it,” referring to my Hijab.
Instead, she reached for my bucket hat and tried to remove it. The security guard body scanned me, and I thought it would end there. I transiently forgot that my Hijab precedes my name on this campus. It was my turn to get checked, and for an oblivious, naive second, I thought the world might not be so terrible and assumed the security checkpoint would go smoothly for me, just like it did for everyone else. You can probably tell where I’m going with this. Other people were not being touched by the security guard. Everyone was body-scanned and quickly moved through the rest of the process. Upon entering Juice Jam, there was a security checkpoint.
Without any justification, people see my Hijab and activate all of their predetermined prejudices and Islamophobia. Being visibly Muslim, however, comes with its burdens and public assumptions, especially at SU. I am a Hijabi Muslim, and you’re probably wondering how that is remotely relevant to Juice Jam. I posed, vogued and walked with my navy blue oversized cargos, multilayered turtlenecks - bottom layer is pistachio green and the top is purple and green - sleeves covering my hands with film captures of trees, topped off with my green Hijab and Champion green bucket hat. I spent days outfit planning, becoming a master of color theory while employing my scholarship in blending fashion with persona, producing one of my favorite looks and then sharing captures of it on Instagram. After days of students anticipating Jack Harlow’s hazy, dreamy presence on campus - even though the majority didn’t even recognize his gratuitous verse in “Already Best Friends” - everyone mobilized and cosplayed to be a Harlow fan for Syracuse University’s music festival, Juice Jam.
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