For Sion girls, seeing a girl of the Islamic faith walking around in a hijab is nothing new. Every day we see senior Manahil Khan and her sister freshman Safa Khan wear their colorful patterned headscarves as a part of their everyday apparel. We greet them with smiles and a friendly hello and keep moving. Unfortunately, this is not the case for them outside of the secure walls of Sion. There are a lot stares and unwelcoming looks from strangers. The judgement of their harsh looks can be felt as others carefully inspect their outside appearance. I personally got to experience this for myself.

I went out on Saturday Jan. 16 with a group of friends to have lunch at Bo Lings on the Plaza. This is something we do from time to time to get away from our busy schedules and catch up with each other. But there was something special about this lunch. Not only were we out enjoying each other’s company, but we were lending our support to Khan. We all decided to go out to lunch wearing a hijab in her honor to support her right to freely wear her hijab to express her religion. This idea was brought up by senior Lisbeth Juarez- Lopez after receiving a Facebook invite to join an event supporting the women’s right to wear a hijab. 

“I wasn’t sure if [the event] was at a location  so I texted her and she said it was just a spreading awareness. So I thought maybe we should go out and try wearing a hijab to see what it would be like. So I texted my friends to see if they were up to going to lunch and supporting this,” Juarez-Lopez said.

I never thought that simply putting a scarf on your head would have such a big effect on how aware I am of my surroundings. I found myself more on guard looking for the looks and the stares of people passing. I wasn’t sure of how I would react to it or if it would make me feel belittled by society. While these thoughts were going through my head I began to wonder if these are the same feelings that Khan feels on a daily basis. But those thoughts were not going to keep me from participating in something so great. We loaded up the cars and we were on our way.

It turns out that I was worrying for nothing. People didn’t seem to really care about what I had on my head. I was expecting to be judged for wearing a hijab, and that people wouldn’t accept me for who I am. It was a good surprise to see that some people can look past a headscarf and just focus on me as a person.

Unfortunately this is not the case for Khan everyday. There are some people that don’t respect her right to wear a hijab. That’s why it was important that my friends and I stood up for Khan and went out to this lunch with her. It was our way to show our support and to stand in solidarity with our friend.