The 15-year-old freshman volunteered with a few other students to wear traditional Muslim clothing to school for an entire day in February after a Middle Eastern Studies teacher at Bacon Academy announced that she was looking for students to promote her class by wearing the garb. Caitlin covered her slender frame and short brown hair with a periwinkle burqa, which concealed her face.
The hateful and abusive comments she endured that day horrified teachers, the teen and many of her classmates. The remarks underscored a persistent animosity toward American Muslims that is driven largely by the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. But they also opened up an important dialogue that could help teenagers in Colchester and across the state view the Muslim culture differently.
The lack of understanding of Islam and of the many of the cultures that contribute to a worldwide population of more than 1 billion Muslims is something Rabia Chaudry, a spokeswoman for CAIR, planned to raise with the state Department of Education when she meets with officials in a few weeks.
The freshman girl CAIR is championing was a burqa imposter. I've listed below some other burqa imposters. I wonder if they, too, felt "way too much prejudice"?
Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi, the snuffed former leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq; Time:
During the three-year hunt for him, al-Zarqawi was a maddeningly elusive target--a master of disguise who could pass as a woman in a burqa one day, an Iraqi policeman the next.
An alleged suicide bomber was caught on CCTV dressed in a burqa and carrying a handbag as he allegedly tried to escape London.
Two robbers disguised in Afghan-style robes stole 200,000 worth of jewellery from an exclusive London store.
The pair entered Ramot, in Sloane Street, Knightsbridge, disguised in burqas and full length robes which covered their bodies and faces.
However, once inside they flung open their gowns to reveal guns before locking staff in a back room and making off with the gems in a getaway car.
Bangladeshi police used tear gas and batons to disperse angry students and teachers who rampaged on Saturday on a university campus after men disguised as women were discovered in a female dormitory, police and witnesses said.
Three men dressed in burqas - a robe and veil covering the whole body - were found on Friday inside the compound of a women’s dormitory at Rajshahi University in northern Bangladesh. The intruders fled over a wall when female students noticed they were men and screamed for help, police officer Abdul Wahab said.
A senior Taliban commander has been captured by Afghan troops in the southern province of Kandahar as he tried to escape a Nato manhunt disguised as a woman in a burqa.
Head of the Association, Fatehchand Rankha told the BBC they had footage of women stealing jewellery but neither they nor the police could do anything about it because they could not identify their faces.
"The loss was almost one million rupees ($22,650) yet the police could not make any arrests. We could only see their eyes because the veil covered the rest of their faces," he said.
Abdul Rasheed Khalid was alone in his Brampton jewellery store filling the display cases with yellow gold rings and necklaces when two people, one wearing a head-to-toe black burqa, appeared outside his locked door.
"Salamu alaikum," the 58-year-old store owner said after pushing the entry buzzer, believing them to be a Muslim couple. There was no reply, and seconds later the pair — both males — forced him at gunpoint to the back office where he was bound with duct tape and hit several times. Then his store was cleaned out.
"The Cabinet finds it undesirable that face-covering clothing — including the burqa — is worn in public places for reasons of public order, security and protection of citizens," Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk said in a statement.
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