Looking Beyond The Veil
W.E.B. DuBois, a pioneer for the African Americans civil rights movement and hijab — the Islamic veil for women, the two are more closely related than one might imagine. How?
In the early 20th century DuBois wrote a book titled The Souls of Black Folk and the first essay written “I. Of Our Spiritual Strivings” details the realization of difference between himself and others. As he describes, “it dawned upon me with a certain suddenness that I was different from the others”, later on DuBois comes to mention the notion of double consciousness, the idea that he is neither an African living in America nor an American living in America — he is somewhere in between. The veil to which he was subject to always remained a reminder to his difference, much akin to the literal and metaphorical veil millions of Muslim women wear today. In a post 9/11 world many Muslims, particularly those who are women and wear the hijab are subject to questioning and critical remarks such as what DuBois faced by many — primarily that of being seen as a problem.
Everyday Muslim women who wear hijab represent Islam, being a man I couldn’t possibly understand the struggles they have to face, keeping their Muslim identity while balancing it with their American one and finding a balance between what at times seems to be two polar opposites (not to mention finding scarves to match with their outfits, seriously I don’t know how they do it). Although it is true that this exists for Muslim men it occurs to a much smaller degree because of the fact that many can’t be identified from a distance as being Muslim, sure they might have beards but then again so do many — anyone could just chalk it up to being a hipster.
Now of course there are exceptions, if you walk around dressed like in the picture below then you would be easily identified as Muslim, but realistically speaking few men actually dress like this in public.
The saddest part is that many Sikh men are thought to be Muslim and are attacked (Going into detail of the disgusting bigotry displayed would require another blog post). DuBois’ description of the veil perfectly describes the feelings of many veil observing women in America today.
“This sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity.” — W.E.B. DuBois
To understand just a small amount of the everyday experiences faced by millions of women I decided to conduct a short interview with my sister.
Q: Do you struggle with balancing the Muslim & American identity? How?
A: Yes, it’s really hard sometimes to let people know that hijab is just part of your identity and not all of it. Often times people see you as unapproachable or intimidating and I feel like its mostly because of how we are portrayed in media.
Q: When did you come the realization just as DuBois did that you were “different”?
A: I think I realized when I was different was in 9th grade when I started wearing hijab, being the only one in my school to wear it was a bold move. I knew at the time that I was still American and Muslim, if people decided to look at me differently it was their own problem.
Q: Are there times when you have to decide between the Muslim or American identity? How do you console these dilemmas?
A: One example of this for me is going to parties where there’s alcohol being served, for me thats an easy choice because of my beliefs, but in other instances it’s a little harder because of ideological differences. At the end of the day it can be hard to relate but some of my friends understand, realize, and appreciate the differences between and don’t let them get between us.
The way I see it every one of us has a double consciousness and at times have to reconcile between the various identities we hold — whether that be African, Latino, Christian, Muslim, and {insert other adjectives here}. Everyone has identity struggles and experiences these dilemmas in their own ways regardless of where they come from, at the end of the day it’s not about choosing one or the other but rather finding a middle ground.
