When you greet me, do you only see my hijab?
When I walk into
the classroom
the grocery store
the mall
the gym
the airport
Do you only see my hijab?
When I am
angry
sad
silent
happy
When I
fail
succeed
smile
cry
Do you only see my hijab?
When you ask me
“What foreign country are you from?”
“When were you forced to wear ‘that’?”
“When will you have an arranged marriage?”
When you
silence me
call me a terrorist
look at me with fear
yell at me to “go home”
pull your child away from my side of the sidewalk
are shocked that I can speak English
feel threatened by my mere presence
Do you only see my hijab?
Maybe the more important question here is:
What do you even see when you see my hijab?
Me?
or
Your false perceptions, implicit biases, unconscious hate, irrational fear, invalid disgust, and uninformed generalizations?