The night my friend was harassed at UVA for being a Muslim
He said ‘These terrorists are infiltrating everywhere’
It isn’t hard to stick out at UVA, given our fairly homogenous student body.
My friend, an Indian Muslim third year transfer student, happens to be someone who sticks out. And it’s tough to think that anyone would harm such a sweet and innocent woman.
Nonetheless, on September 25th at 2am, after a Friday night out on the Corner, she experienced something that completely altered her view of UVA.
She was at Littlejohn’s with a few friends, a mix of UVA and VCU students, some of whom were Hindu or Sikh.
As her friend tried to get past the line simply to hand something to her, a bystander said, “We don’t cut lines in America. You should go back to where you came from.”
It’s hard to say for sure, but from the way she describes the incident, it sounds like the man who made the remark was a white college student.
The incident made both the girls uncomfortable, but they tried to ignore it.
A few minutes later, however, as one of her VCU friends tried to get to the bathroom, the same white man told him not to “bomb anyone while you are there.”
The man and his group of friends seemed to find these remarks extremely entertaining.
Someone from the group even said: “Goddamn, these terrorists are infiltrating everywhere.” Another asked one of her friends not to “bomb our asses”.
Ultimately, my friend and her group felt the need to leave the restaurant because they were not willing to stand it any longer.
My friend told me, “I believe in the notion of circumstantial ignorance, where some people just have not been exposed to diversity and therefore harbor ignorance about other races and religions.
“However, UVA is a diverse campus and the majority of the UVA student population comes from affluent and diverse places like NoVA. So, I do not believe there is any excuse for the racism I experienced.”
There are a few things to note about this event.
First of all, the white man who essentially called my friend’s VCU friend a terrorist made an ignorant assumption about his religion based on the color of his skin. It means the effects of anti-Muslim bigotry are extended to any person of color who somewhat resembles a Muslim.
And no one at Littlejohn’s who overheard these comments said anything.
This event also had a very negative effect on the students visiting from VCU. It makes it easy to assume that this sort of hateful culture is part of a norm at UVA.
And while it’s not common for these things to happen here on Grounds, the culture of division is definitely a reality.
Thanks to my friend for sharing this story with UVA in an attempt to bring attention to this issue on Grounds.