PROTESTING FOR PROTECTION
Incident at Fairfax High School sparks county-wide protests ALEENA GUL & JOSH BASS EDITORS-IN-CHIEF
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rowds of students gathered in protest in front of seven FCPS high schools the morning of Dec. 17 in response to an alleged hate crime incident at Fairfax High School, where Muslim student Ekran Mohamed said she had her hijab forcibly removed by a classmate. Chanting “hands off her hijab” and pressing for “justice now,” students across the county stood with sophomore Mohamed. The alleged assault occurred during Mohamed’s Fashion Marketing class, where she said the situation began when she was targeted by two of her classmates. “[It started when one of the students involved] drew an Islamic symbol (the star and crescent) and crossed it out with a red marker, proceeding to look at me and my Muslim friends,” Mohamed said. According to Mohamed, after confronting the two students and ultimately deciding to ignore their behavior, they continued to provoke her and her friends. After a series of heated exchanges, Mohamed decided to leave the classroom, only to be struck from behind. “I was walking towards the door when he
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grabbed my hijab,” Mohamed said. “Out of self defense, I punched him in the stomach, causing him to let go of my hijab as he grabbed me. After that, I fell and hit the side of my body on a desk and my chest hit a chair. [As my teacher escorted me out of the room,] I had a hard time breathing, then I collapsed on the floor and the school called the ambulance.”
I WAS UPSET AND ANGRY THAT THIS COULD HAPPEN IN A PLACE WHERE I WAS SUPPOSED TO FEEL SAFE.” - EKRAN MOHAMED FAIRFAX HIGH SCHOOL SOPHOMORE Fairfax High School responded to the situation by placing Mohamed and her alleged attacker under in-school suspension, where they were held in the same room. The suspension will appear on Mohamed’s
permanent school record. “I was upset and angry that this could happen in a place where I was supposed to feel safe,” Mohamed said. “[Being in the same room] only made me feel more unsafe and uncomfortable.” The Fairfax City Police Department became involved in the case, launching an investigation after hearing about the incident via social media. In a press release from Chief of Police Colonel Erin Schaible, the police determined that “the physical altercation between [the] two Fairfax High School students was not a hate crime” and that “the investigation revealed there were no racial comments made by either student.” Although police deemed there is insufficient evidence to indicate a hate crime occurred, Mohamed and witnesses say otherwise. In response to the lack of police action and school accountability, Muslim Student Associations (MSA) across Fairfax County decided to take the issue into their own hands, hosting school walkouts and releasing statements regarding the incident. “The police have handled this case absolutely terribly. We know several witnesses, many of [whom] were not even consulted. [Of those that were], the police
Page design by Taylor Olson & Aleena Gul | Photos courtesy of Zakareya Hamed
