By Last week was a rough one as far as the United States Constitution is concerned, as a talented runner’s freedom of religion came under blatant attack.
Noor Abu Karam, a 16-year-old athlete from Ohio was devastated to find that she had been disqualified from her 5km race. Noor told BBC that prior to the race, officials had inspected the runners participating for any code violations, and her Nike-branded sports hijab hadn’t raised any red flags. Post-race, after Noor had set a personal best time, she found that her name had been excluded from the scoreboard. When she inquired about the presumed oversight, the teen was informed that she had been disqualified because of her hijab.
Disqualified after setting a personal best, in a sports hijab designed by Nike specifically for athletes who observe the headscarf, and in spite of the fact that a race official had inspected all the runners for attire violations prior to the race, and had found no issue with any part of Noor’s attire?
People, please.
If this wasn’t a cruel attempt at humiliating a young girl based on her religious attire, then what was it? In response to this blatant violation of Noor’s First Amendment rights, the Twitterverse imploded with a barrage of opinions on the matter; some loaded with outrage, some with humor, and some with straight up facts. Here are the best of the best:
1. Queen Ibtihaj Has Spoken:
2. The Squad Came Through:
3. Muslim Twitter Called It Like It Was:
4. Our Sis Fatima Injected Some Snark Into the Situation:
5. Allyship at Its Finest:
6. Susie Gets Straight to the Point:
7. Nader Gets It:
8. You Tell ‘Em:
9. More Truth Bombs, Courtesy of Our Allies:
10. Fighting Words to End Some Racist Bull$#!&:
