Being attacked for a religious symbol makes victims cling to it harder

Evidence

I was walking to the shops, a man came behind me, pulled my hijab and strangled me. No one stood up for me and he said to me “Are you going to bomb Boots?” I didn’t want to take the case to court or tell the police, instead I just read the Quran. I love my hijab more when they attack me for it. — Irene Zempi and Imran Awan, Islamophobia, 257

Categorization

• SHARE: One line (‘I love my hijab more when they attack me for it’) that would land hard with anyone working on hate-crime or anti-racist advocacy.
• XREF: connects to: Removing a sanctuary flag provokes anger that reveals its power meaning. — Andrew L. Whitehead, American Idolatry, 181; Naming an idol as such provokes anger in those attached to it — Andrew L. Whitehead, American Idolatry, 182; Humans deflect death anxiety onto cultural symbols, and defending those symbols produces real-world evil — Jeff Greenberg and Spee Kosloff, Terror Management Theory: Implications…, 25