Sticks and Stones May Break my Bones, but Words Will (Never?) Hurt Me!

• In Event: Radicalized, Fundamentalist, and Terrorist: Muslim College Students and Their Ascribed Identities

Abstract

In this paper, Ahmadi relies on over 125 online survey responses, 10 focus group interviews, and individual interview data on 55 Muslim college students across 10 universities in 4 states with large domestic and international Muslim populations. Ahmadi uses qualitative data within the context of a legal analysis to examine the role of hate speech towards Muslims on college campuses. Ahmadi argues that college and university faculty and administrators use the old adage – ‘Sticks and Stones’ – to minimize and lessen the effects of such “words” on students’ self-worth. She asserts that a different perspective, however, need be applied when considering the role of hate speech, often directed toward a students’ race, but is now used against Muslim students because of their religious affiliation. For instance, Fatima a senior at a West Coast university provided an example of how hurt and defenseless she felt when she was verbally attacked on her college campus.
There was like this group of people, a bunch of – [it] sounds bad, but a bunch of white guys, to be honest – and they just started very calmly just telling me, “Oh, go to hell. Go back to where you came from. I hope you burn in hell,”….it was actually my first time after wearing hijab to be verbally attacked, and so I kind of stayed quiet.
Words do hurt, and when a legal definition is met, are criminal. But within the higher education context criminal prosecution is not a primary goal to redress ‘hate speech’, rather it is to provide an educational intervention to unlearn misinformation, gain an accurate and contextual frame for understanding difference is the preferred approach. Some would argue that being Muslim and American is antithetical and thus suggests that their rights to practice Islam freely in this post-9-11 era must endure the highest scrutiny. Yet, the American ethos and the democracy, which engages the ideas of freedom of religion, racial/ethnic and linguistic acceptance, and an ethic of hard work are values also held within and across Muslims. These democratic ideas are consistent with how Muslims in college construct their religious identity and the varied nature of how American patriotism is embodied. While America’s foreign policies directed toward Muslim countries are often a barometer for insider/outsider religious politics, these policies also mediate how Muslim college students construct their patriotism. These themes will be presented and discussed with implications toward enhancing institutional policy regarding free speech versus hate speech.

Author

• Shafiqa Ahmadi, University of Southern California