Welcome to The Dumbening of America.
A Muslim teacher at Hunterdon Central Regional High School in New Jersey was fired because she did not change her History class lesson plans after parents complained about her showing a video clip featuring Nobel Peace Prize Winner Malala Yousafzai.
She was not the only teacher at the school to show the video, but she was the only one scrutinized for doing so. Because of this, she has filed a lawsuit against the school system.
“[Principal] Suzanne Cooley received a complaint from the parent of a student about Plaintiff’s use of the Malala Yusufzai video during a lesson,” Hashem’s suit reads. Her supervisor allegedly “told Plaintiff that she could not teach current events in the same manner as her non-Arab, non-Palestinian and non-Muslim colleagues.”
During a later meeting with the district’s superintendent, Cristina Steffner, Hashem says she pointed out that her colleague had played “the same video and it was not a problem,” the suit reads. “Defendant Steffner slammed her hand on the table and said, ‘You are not Lindsay.’ Unlike Plaintiff, Lindsay Wagner is not Arab, not Palestinian and not Muslim.”
Parental complaints apparently started to stack up against Hashem.
According to local media reports, the school also called the FBI to report Sireen Hashem.
The final interaction alleged in the lawsuit came when the FBI came to Hashem's home in Franklin, Somerset County, asking about what she said during the closed-door executive session with the board of education on June 15.
Hashem denies making the statement, and in her lawsuit she argues "this erroneous and defamatory allegation must have originated from the defendant board" because it allegedly occurred outside the public meeting.
If you are a Muslim living in America today, I imagine this must be similar to the experience of being accused of being a secret Soviet communist during the Red Scare.
The Republican party and its presidential frontrunners are responsible for fostering our current environment where Muslim Americans -- and even people who aren't Muslim but vaguely resemble Arab Muslims -- are singled out and targeted for reasons that wouldn't have been controversial the day before.
The thought of a Trump or Ted Cruz presidency and all that entails, from Cruz-nominated Supreme Court justices to a xenophobic Justice Department, should give everyone pause.