Last October, a few seconds of interaction in a New Jersey classroom caused a national uproar across social media platforms. Coming home from her school, her 7-year-old girl was upset and told her mother that a teacher in Maplewood, New Jersey, tried to remove her hijab, which she wore as a Muslim.
Her mother told the story on Facebook, and Olympic medalist and hijab-wearing fencing player Ibtihaj Muhammad was quick to denounce it as abuse.By the next day, Governor Philip D. Murphy discussed on twitterand state-wide Islamic organizations for teacher’s “quick fire”
A year later, the matter landed in court. The family sued the school district and teacher Tamar Harman. And this month, the teacher filed a defamation lawsuit, accusing the Olympians and the New Jersey chapter of the American Council for Islamic Rights and its director of causing “irreparable harm.”
At the time, the incident disrupted a community known for its liberal values and caused a deep sense of unease among many Muslims, who make up about 3% of the state’s population and face rising prejudicial crimes.
While many of the facts remained unknown, social media was soon flooded with outraged opinions.
Rutgers University Law School professor and author of book on Islamophobia, The Racial Muslim: When Racism Shatters Religious Freedom.
The teacher said in the lawsuit that he believed the girl was wearing a typical “form-fitting” hijab underneath and “teared off” the hooded garment that was blocking the student’s eyes. He immediately replaced the head cover and apologized to the girl when he realized his mistake.
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In her lawsuit, she alleges that fencer Muhammad and CAIR-NJ were “motivated by a combination of greed and an intense desire to hone their brand as fighters against Islamophobia.” My reputation was so tarnished that I never got hired by any other public school district.
The legal document also cites Gov. Murphy’s social media comments, but he is not named as a defendant.
The lawsuit, filed in Union County Superior Court on Oct. 5, alleges that Herman feared so much for safety in the community where she taught and lived for 20 years that she had to leave home permanently. ing.
“She’s been ostracized from the community,” said attorney Eric Dykema.
Although the lawsuit was filed two weeks ago, Daikema said neither Muhammad nor CAIR-NJ had received any legal documents.
Messages left for Ms. Muhammad and Ms. Wasserman on her behalf were not returned.
CAIR-NJ executive director Selaedin Maksut said he and his organization were unaware of the lawsuit until Monday.
In a statement, CAIR-NJ said, “We are unable to comment on this application yet and will need to be reviewed by our attorneys.” We continue to strongly support this student who had a clear constitutional right to cover.”
The incident occurred on October 6, 2021, approximately five weeks after classes began in the South Orange Maplewood School District in northern New Jersey.
Herman said the girl’s face was almost completely covered by the mask she and her classmates had to wear at the time to slow the spread of Covid-19 and what the lawsuit called a “hood.” I’m here.
After realizing the girl wasn’t wearing a hijab underneath, Herman “immediately put the hood on and covered all of the student’s hair and apologized,” according to the lawsuit. I didn’t.”
Robert L. Tarver, the family’s attorney, said the child immediately objected and grabbed the head covering.
In a religious discrimination lawsuit filed by her family in March, Herman said he touched the girl’s hair and “told her that her natural hair was beautiful.”
That lawsuit was dismissed last month, court records show.
He said he would not comment on her allegations that Ms. Herman had been harmed.
Because the original charges involved latent prejudice against religious items worn to hide hair and maintain humility, the district immediately referred the case to the Essex County Attorney’s Office, He led the investigation, but declined to file criminal charges.
According to the lawsuit, teachers are not allowed to return to the classroom and remain on leave. A school district spokesman said there was no immediate information about the teacher’s job status.
This exchange soon permeated well beyond the Seth Boyden Elementary school.
Mr. Maxto wrote on twitter “Racist teachers like this can’t be trusted around our kids,” he said on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” discussing his organization’s call to fire Ms. Herman immediately. did.
Muhammad, who has a large social media following and wrote a children’s book about a hijab-wearing girl, urged people to call and email the school.
“Imagine being stripped in front of your classmates as a child,” she wrote. “Imagine the humiliation and trauma this experience caused her. This is abuse.”
In the following weeks, the district responded to thousands of angry emails and phone calls. Temporarily prohibited from going outside.
A Facebook group popular with parents in Maplewood and South Orange, N.J., who share a school district about 30 miles from Manhattan, was inundated with outrage after Herrmann’s Jewish faith was injected into online discourse. did.
In the lawsuit, Herman said he had been subjected to “anti-Semitic bitterness and hatred.”
Her lawsuit is being funded by The Lawfare Project, a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting “the citizenship and human rights of Jews around the world.”
As a public figure, Muhammad “should have known better,” Daikema said.
“And she should have done a little more homework before she started saying what she said online,” he added.