As a non-Muslim would it be okay for me to wear a hijab to protest Islamophobic behavior from my ethics professor?
My ethics professor has been making me uncomfortable with the way they discuss Islam and the way they discuss judaism, christianity, and well .... Everything overall. I find I'm getting really angry when I'm in there and I couldn't put my finger on why.
It turns out they are part of an evangelical baptist missionary group that "help" people "influenced by cults" and who have recently updated their mission to focus on Muslims and trying to convert them to christianity. Conversion therapy for non christians🤮😡
This answers a lot of of questions I had about the cause of my rage, I escaped a cultish group of christians from my childhood, I'm particularly sensitive to that kind of rhetoric, but I guess I didn't expect to encounter it from an ethics teacher so I wasn't pinpointing what was happening. Also, they are very good at pretending to be fair and balanced, I'm embarrassed ittook me looking them up to see the truth. At least my gut was warning me.
The professor does things like harping on jihad while ignoring my questions about recent mentions of Amalek from the IDF concerning Palestinians. I get shut down when I push back.
Fittingly, as it is with most conservatives, the thing they accuse others of is what they do. In our first class we were greeted to our first answers to a question posed with insults of "oh you must be a Nazi", followed by laughter that was mocking, and the comment of "after all that's how we debate now these days right?" As though to say here in this ethics class we rely on reason, not sensationalized gotcha moments. And then they immediately pull the exact same tactic when talking about ethics in religion by leading us to a false conclusion about jihad and Islam vs Judaism and Christianity. Infuriating.
I'm non religious myself. Anyway...this was a long winded way of asking if an atheist who is a rabid ally for all people to practice or *not practice* their faith unmolested can wear a hijab (I have a lovely black red and green scarf gifted to me by a friend that I am planning to wear) as a way to be a visible presence and a statement against the islamophobia I see from this teacher? There are no Muslims in class and only one non white student. I have issues with his approach to women, abortion, sexuality, and the treatment of women around the world as well. But I don't see any of those as quite as dangerous as I do the islamophobia that every single lesson seems to have a connection to.
I'm in my 50s, I remember many of my friends fearing for their lives after 9/11 because of how they looked or how they worshipped, there are kids (young adults) in my class who need to see someone stand up to this rhetoric. I don't want to offend anyone, I will wear it respectfully and without making an issue of it. My plan would be to just wear it without comment or explanation unless someone asks.
I know I'm rambling, apologies, I'm emotional about this and really hope this is a good plan. But I also know I'm a white woman with blind spots I don't even know I have. I just wanted an ethics class, not some weird conservative bible study. But that doesn't mean I'll stand by silently.
I am also planning on going to the dean of students closer to the end of the semester when I can have better notes and record of things said that are troubling. I do want to make an official report, especially if this line of thought continues with each lesson or gets more extreme as the semester goes on.