Five Muslim girls harassed at US restaurant during Iftar, told to 'leave the country'

A middle-aged man noticed the headscarves on the girls and passed a rude comment before shouting obscenities

Five Muslim girls were 'harassed' at a Mexican restaurant in Hickory Hills, Illinois, US on Monday, reported Yahoo News.

One of the five girls, Sawin Osman, told Yahoo News that the five of them had been harassed at Pepe's restaurant as they sat for iftar. Sawin, who was born and raised in Chicago, said a middle-aged man sitting on a nearby table noticed the headscarves on the girls and made a rude comment.

"We were walking past him on our way out of the restaurant. He yelled, ‘That girl could break a camel’s back," she stated. "We stopped and said, ‘Excuse me, sir, what did you just say?"



To which the harasser replied saying, "You can go and beat it. If you don’t like this country, leave."

The conversation started to heat up when Sawin retorted, "It’s our home too. What do you mean leave?" and one of her friends called the man "disgusting".

The word "disgusting" seemed to have triggered the harasser as in a response to that, he shouted obscenities at them.

The 17-year old shot a video using her smartphone of the entire incident and put it on social media. She then agreed to be identified and named so she may take a public stand against such comments.

Perhaps the most worrisome thought is the fact the staff and administration of the restaurant have taken no stance and passed no comments, and do not appear in the video shot by Sawin either.



Catherine Bronson, Sawin's mother, who teaches Islamic Studies at the University of Notre-Dame said, "We live in a very charged climate. I think the furor at the presidential level has sort of exacerbated this feeling and given a platform for those who might not have spoken out so aggressively."

Mrs. Bronson has highlighted a problem that Muslims all over the world but especially those residing in the US have alluded to: the fact that this anti-Muslim sentiment being subtly spread by the president has led others to believe that Muslims can be treated as inferior.

Sawin's disheartened attitude was most expressed when she said, "It’s honestly very terrible and disgusting, especially the comment, ‘If you don’t like it, then just leave.’ I mean I was born here. I was raised here. Leave to where?"

Her single comment identified the crux of the identity problems that Muslim-Americans go through on a daily basis; being treated as an outsider when perhaps there could be more American soul in Sawin than many others in the states.

 

This article was originally published in Yahoo News.