The New York City Department of Education today announced the addition of two Muslim festivals, Eid al-Adha & al-Fitr, to NYC schools' holiday schedule. The move, trumpeted as "a change that respects the diversity of our city," is a symbolically beautiful and practically meaningful change for the roughly 800,000 Muslims living in New York City who make up 10 percent of the student population.
Here is how Chancellor Carmen Farina described the change:
Unfortunately, not all New Yorkers (and Americans at large) were as enthusiastic about embracing such diversity. Below is a sampling of the top-rated comments on the Department of Public Education's Facebook
announcement:
Such bigoted responses, not unexpected, are symptomatic of the Islamophobia which runs deep in the veins of our nation, often injected by the hateful rhetoric of conservative pundits and politicians.
To combat this, as well as to serve the interests of a large and important constituency, Mayor Bill de Blasio campaigned on the promise of adding Muslim holidays to the NYC Public School calendar. However, when no changes were made in 20014, Muslims united to push for de Blasio to fulfill his promise, hoping such a move might hasten the acceptance of Muslim students who often feel ostracized.
As The New York Times reported in April of 2014 after a public forum pushing for the Muslim holidays to be added:
Organizers stress that granting the Muslim holidays equal status with Jewish holidays like Yom Kippur and Christian holidays like Christmas would send a powerful message to Muslim children — who often seek to blend in more than stand out — that they can be proud of their own culture.
Debbie Almontaser, who was forced out of her job as principal of the city’s first Arabic language school, in Brooklyn, in 2007 after The New York Post inaccurately portrayed her as sympathizing with Muslim extremists, now works at the Benjamin Banneker Academy, another public high school in Brooklyn. She sees many of her Muslim students grappling with how to express their identity.
“There is so much negativity out there, and including the Muslim holidays is simply a stamp of saying, We accept and embrace you, and this is your city as it is my city,” she said.
That negativity is being seen clearly in the response to today's announcement, further proof of just how meaningful, and important, it will be for Muslim-American children in New York City and beyond.
--§--
David Harris-Gershon is author of the memoir What Do You Buy the Children of the Terrorist Who Tried to Kill Your Wife?, recently published by Oneworld Publications.