The hijab signals foreignness so strongly it overrides ethnicity and skin tone

Evidence

One of the ways private citizens surveil Muslims is by questioning their nationalities. Interactions with private citizens reveal that Muslim Americans are often treated as if they are enemies who have trespassed American borders. Private citizens participate in the racialization of Muslim Americans when they watch, monitor, and interrogate them in public and private spaces. The encounters the Muslim Americans interviewed had with their fellow citizens show how ethnicity and race become less prominent in their interactions when religious signifiers are present. Muslim American women who did not wear the hijab were not subjected to the same verbal harassment or the same watchful eye as those who did, regardless of skin tone. The hijab is clearly equated with foreignness, and as a result, Muslim women’s bodies are under the gaze of their fellow citizens. They are racialized through this surveillance as forever foreign and never American. — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 349

Categorization

• XREF: Directly addresses the religion-vs-race guiding question: a religious signifier functions as a racial marker independent of skin tone. — connects to: The hijab functions as Islam’s most provocative symbol in Western public discourse.; The Hijab Ban solidified the idea that Muslim and French are clashing identities; Cultural and religious practices can racialize a body just as skin tone does — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 89 (+23 more)
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 349
• recurring: this claim recurs 5 times within its source

Library Connections

• Hijab converts white-passing women into racialized outsiders #instantiates (0.80) — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 404

Broader Connections

• The hijab rather than skin tone triggers racializing surveillance of Muslim women #corroborates (0.85) — Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, 292
• The hijab overrides whiteness as a racializing agent on any wearer. #corroborates (0.85)
• The hijab functions like skin tone by marking bodies as racial others #expands (0.80)
• Wearing the hijab strips Arab women of their perceived whiteness #exemplifies (0.80) — Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, 145
• Arabs classified as white lose that status upon wearing the hijab #exemplifies (0.80) — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 201
• Muslim Arabs move away from whiteness regardless of actual skin tone #corroborates (0.80)
• Ordinary fashion choices become racial markers on hijabi bodies #expands (0.75) — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 412
• Removing the hijab restored women’s ability to pass for white #exemplifies (0.75)
• Wearing the hijab shifts how Muslim women are racially perceived and treated #expands (0.70)
• Wearing the hijab is read as surrendering whiteness and citizenship standing #corroborates (0.70)
• Converting to Islam or wearing the hijab causes loss of whiteness privileges #expands (0.70) — Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, 261
• The hijab functions as a racial marker that triggers airport surveillance #expands (0.65) — Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, 224
• Cultural traits like language, clothing, and religious practice can racialize a group. #expands (0.60)
• Lighter skin and Westernized names let some Muslims pass as white #qualifies (0.60)