Hijab converts white-passing women into racialized outsiders

Evidence

Nasreen, a forty-­two-­year-­old Palestinian American and mother of five, said that before she started wearing the hijab, she sometimes passed for white or a white ethnic, like an Italian or Greek. Once she started wearing it, she had some interesting experiences with her neighbors, who she considered to be her friends. After 9/11, the father of her son’s neighborhood friend would come over and engage her in conversation about religion. She felt he was trying to persuade her to give up her religious beliefs. He would try to convince her to take off the hijab. He said, “But you’re so good, Nasreen. You’re so good. And why do you have to put that on? It’s not making you better. It’s ugly.” She told me that his wife did not like her because she wore the hijab. She said her son’s friend would tell her stories of what his mother said about her. He told her his mother said, “She’s white. She’s an American. Why the hell does she have this on?” Another neighbor, an older white woman, said she would be more beautiful without the hijab. — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 404

Categorization

• XREF: Direct illustrative case of the religion-to-race conversion; connects to racial passing scholarship. — connects to: Rising Islamophobia drove many Muslim women to adopt the hijab in protest.; The hijab signals foreignness so strongly it overrides ethnicity and skin tone — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 349; Removing the hijab restored women’s ability to pass for white (+15 more)
• recurring: this claim recurs 3 times within its source

Broader Connections

• Removing the hijab restored women’s ability to pass for white #corroborates (0.90)
• Arabs classified as white lose that status upon wearing the hijab #corroborates (0.90) — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 201
• Wearing the hijab strips Arab women of their perceived whiteness #corroborates (0.85) — Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, 145
• Wearing the hijab is read as surrendering whiteness and citizenship standing #corroborates (0.85)
• Converting to Islam or wearing the hijab causes loss of whiteness privileges #corroborates (0.80) — Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, 261
• The hijab rather than skin tone triggers racializing surveillance of Muslim women #expands (0.80) — Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, 292
• The hijab functions like skin tone by marking bodies as racial others #corroborates (0.80)
• Wearing the hijab shifts how Muslim women are racially perceived and treated #expands (0.75)
• Lighter skin and Westernized names let some Muslims pass as white #corroborates (0.75)
• Ordinary fashion choices become racial markers on hijabi bodies #expands (0.70) — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 412
• The hijab overrides whiteness as a racializing agent on any wearer. #expands (0.70)
• The hijab marks Muslim women instantly and provokes hostile public encounters #expands (0.70)
• The hijab functions as a racial marker that triggers airport surveillance #expands (0.70) — Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, 224
• Muslim names alone can racialize phenotypically white people #expands (0.65) — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 91