Advocacy letters from outside organizations failed to move the school or unify Muslim students

Evidence

CAIR wrote a letter to the school’s principal, arguing for Yasmin’s right to run, but nothing happened. The school ignored the letter, and the elections proceeded without her name on the ballot. Another Muslim girl, Waffiyah, a Pakistani American, won the position of vice president. “I don’t see what the big deal about going to the dances is,” Waffiyah told her. “I just stay downstairs. Why can’t you?” Yasmin growled at her, holding in her frustrations. Doesn’t anybody else understand what’s at stake here? she asked herself, the thought screaming in her head. Her principles were leading her to feel more isolated than ever, and she moped for most of the summer. — Moustafa Bayoumi, How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being…, 393

Categorization

• XREF: The divergence between Yasmin and Waffiyah (who accommodates dances by just ‘staying downstairs’) is a vivid concrete case of co-religionists disagreeing on how far to push principle — resonates with Muslim-inflection debates seen elsewhere in the book.