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Muslim Woman Arrested For Refusing To Remove Hijab
New York, 4:33 PM
Fri Dec 18
69 posts in the last 24 hours
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Muslim Woman Arrested For Refusing To Remove Hijab |
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
12/17/08
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17 December 2008
KingCast says if the facts are as alleged, Lisa Valentine should sue Douglasville Judge Keith Rollins for First Amendment violations.
Lisa Valentine, a Muslim woman, already had an arguable case for not being allowed to wear her hijab in municipal court in the first place based on Religion. But if what her husband Omar Hall says is true, it's a clear cut First Amendment violation on Speech:
"Hall said Valentine, an insurance underwriter, told the bailiff
that she had been in courtrooms before with the scarf on and that removing it would be a religious violation. When she turned to leave and uttered an expletive, Hall said a bailiff handcuffed her and took her before the judge."
Whoops. She was LEAVING when she was called back. You're allowed to tell a cop whatever the hell you want to, though as long as you don't threaten injury or another crime. Ask my buddy Regina Sansalone, in Sansalone v. Ohio, 71 Ohio App.3d 284 (1991).
That means it was her name-calling that got her arrested and brought before the Judge. That's why they let her go after she was allegedly sentenced to 10 days for Contempt of Court. Lookout.
PS: A tennis streaker and an Islamic woman in back-to-back posts. It's KingCastic.
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I will admit that I cringed when I read that, because I can see that it wouldn't play well, but you know: People make mistakes, especially when they're being jacked around.
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Still, if the judge wanted to maintain decorum, as he says, why not just ban her from the premises? Seems rather harsh.
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A woman's head could be similarly wanded. I can see the argument that a full face veil needs to be removed for a security check -- but that can be done sensitively, by a woman, behind a screen. But a headcovering can be wanded, et voila! Safety.
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12/17/08
The American Experiment is over, and it is a failure. The best outcome is for the US to fracture into a small number of coherent nations. The real problem is that the Yahoos of the West will end up with the nukes, and the Russians know how uneasy it is that the Azerbaijanis are the worlds #4 nuclear power (after the US, Russia, and Ukraine). But the breakup is inevitable, and we would do well to start planning for the aftermath. (I have dual US/EU citizenship, so I have an obvious Plan B.)
12/17/08
Jokes on you I already made it to Canada!!!!! But yes I love the idea of deporting her to...where? I love that Americans are all about the melting pot but cannot reconcile a Muslim identity in America....
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12/17/08
I am certainly no expert, but I have a good friend who is Muslim and direct off the plane from Cairo. As she has explained it to me, the hijab is actually not a religious item. Nowhere in the Koran does it dictate such a head covering. The way she explained it to me, the hijab is a cultural choice. Through ignorance and influence, the practice has exploded. She was a counselor in Egypt and most of the women she helped believed the hijab was a religious item because that's what they had been told by their fathers, husbands, and religious leaders; even though it really wasn't. Obviously, my friend does not wear the headscarf.
So, looked at in that way, making the woman remove her hijab is actually not religious persecution, because it's not an item of her religion, but rather a cultural object. There are some cultures that carry ceremonial weapons, but we would certainly require them to remove those before entering a courtroom. I'm not suggesting that the hijab is dangerous in any way, but it's kind of like a "when in Rome" situation. I wouldn't presume to walk around in a Muslim country wearing tank tops and short skirts, out of respect for their culture. That judge's courtroom is his domain, and if the rules are no head coverings, then there should be no head coverings.
Oh man. I'm gonna' get flamed, huh?
12/17/08
But I take issue with the notion that a religion consists entirely of what is in its holy books.
Religions are culture. I know that a lot of Muslim feminists make this very same argument about hijab, and from my position on the side, it looks to me that they're right, and I hope (as much as a non-Muslim should even involve herself in the argument) that the future sees a different take on hijab.
But as a Jew, I can give what feels to me to be a slightly similar example: No where in the Torah does it say that I should maintain two entirely separate sets of dishes for my meat-based meals and my dairy-based meals. And yet I do, because as a Conservative Jew for whom the halacha (Jewish law) is something with I choose to grapple every day, it's part of my religion. (Not to mention two additional sets of dishes for Passover. Oy!)
12/17/08
I guess the question is, where do we draw the line between culture and religion? How do we define religion? If someone's religion infringes on my rights, do they still have a "right" to do it because it's their religious belief? If I'm living in a country that has certain established laws, am I allowed to break them because my religion tells me to? I don't think so. It doesn't matter if I disagree with the law or think it's stupid. If I want to live there, I have to play by their rules.
12/17/08
b) I think you've really put your finger on The Issue of our day. A lot of these conflicts come down to deciding which sensitivity is more important in individual situations.
Like, should a woman remove a face-covering veil at security? Yes, because security should (ideally) be about life and death, and that's the most important thing. But there should be an isolated area and a woman on hand to do the job, because the need for security doesn't override the woman's need for dignity.
On the other hand, should a woman remove her head covering in an American courtroom? I would say no, because the judge's sense of decorum, while possibly cultural powerful, does not rise to the level of Divine injunction.
Bottom line, I think that what we all need to do is a lot more thinking. And I'm desperately hopeful that the election of Barack Hussein Obama indicates that, in general terms, the American people is with me on this. Because lord knows the Bushies were all about telling us to stop thinking so damn much. (I think I veered off topic there, but what the hell!)
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But, just to clarify, this lovely little family doesn't live in Georgia.
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It's a fascinating study of the reality in France, the larger question of hijab in Islam, and the places where feminism and received culture collide. It kind of juiced up my feminism again, truth be told.
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