{"id":237170,"date":"2019-10-25T13:04:39","date_gmt":"2019-10-25T08:04:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/propakistani.pk\/lens\/?p=237170"},"modified":"2019-10-25T13:04:39","modified_gmt":"2019-10-25T08:04:39","slug":"muslim-teen-gets-disqualified-from-race-over-hijab","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/propakistani.pk\/lens\/muslim-teen-gets-disqualified-from-race-over-hijab\/","title":{"rendered":"Muslim Teen Gets Disqualified from Race Over Hijab"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A Hijabi Muslim teen was disqualified in a race over her hijab in Division 1 Northwest District cross-country meet in Ohio, USA. Noor Alexandria Abukaram has been competing in races for years but this is the first time she faced prejudice.<\/p>\n<p>When the 16-year-old finished her greatest race to date at a 5K run at her local district meet on Saturday, her name and time weren&#8217;t listed. Noor finished at her personal best time: 22 minutes and 22 seconds.<\/p>\n<p><iframe style=\"border: none; overflow: hidden;\" src=\"https:\/\/web.facebook.com\/plugins\/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fweb.facebook.com%2FZobaidaf%2Fposts%2F2486333541463584&amp;width=500\" width=\"500\" height=\"789\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: center; letter-spacing: 5px; font-size: 16px; margin: 0;\">ALSO READ<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a style=\"font-size: 20px; font-weight: 600; font-family: Raleway ,sans-serif;\" href=\"https:\/\/propakistani.pk\/lens\/quebec-education-minister-says-malala-cant-teach-if-she-wears-hijab\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Quebec Education Minister Says Malala Can&#8217;t Teach If She Wears Hijab<\/a><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>When the Hijabi Muslim teen asked officials why she wasn&#8217;t allowed to enter the race, they said her hijab violated the uniform policy and that she had been disqualified. To add insult to injury, her personal best time wasn&#8217;t even considered!<\/p>\n<p>Noor was wearing her regular race gear comprising black Nike leggings, an Under Armour top with the team\u2019s jersey, and a Nike hijab.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_237190\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-237190\" style=\"width: 490px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-237190\" src=\"https:\/\/propakistani.pk\/lens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Noor-Alexandria-Abukaram.jpg\" alt=\"Hijabi Muslim\" width=\"490\" height=\"1094\" srcset=\"https:\/\/propakistani.pk\/lens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Noor-Alexandria-Abukaram.jpg 490w, https:\/\/propakistani.pk\/lens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Noor-Alexandria-Abukaram-134x300.jpg 134w, https:\/\/propakistani.pk\/lens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Noor-Alexandria-Abukaram-459x1024.jpg 459w, https:\/\/propakistani.pk\/lens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Noor-Alexandria-Abukaram-364x813.jpg 364w, https:\/\/propakistani.pk\/lens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Noor-Alexandria-Abukaram-21x48.jpg 21w, https:\/\/propakistani.pk\/lens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Noor-Alexandria-Abukaram-43x96.jpg 43w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 490px) 100vw, 490px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-237190\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">What Noor Alexandria Abukaram was wearing on Saturday&#8217;s district meet<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Where in the OHSAA Rulebook?<\/h3>\n<p>The Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) <a href=\"https:\/\/ohsaa.org\/Portals\/0\/SchoolResources\/Handbook.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">cross-country rulebook<\/a>, does not specify a ban for hijabs or religious coverings. While each sporting event can have its own rules, these rules cannot be in contradiction or violation of the OHSAA rules.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/m.huffpost.com\/us\/entry\/us_5db1b8eae4b0d5b789475647\/amp?__twitter_impression=true\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">HuffPost <\/a>writes the rulebook also states that athletes who require an exception to the uniform rules due to religious reasons have to request one from OHSAA.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: center; letter-spacing: 5px; font-size: 16px; margin: 0;\">ALSO READ<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a style=\"font-size: 20px; font-weight: 600; font-family: Raleway ,sans-serif;\" href=\"https:\/\/propakistani.pk\/lens\/zahab-kamal-khan-pakistani-squash-star-to-compete-in-miss-pakistan-usa-pageant-2019-pictures\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pakistani Squash Star to Compete in Miss Pakistan USA Pageant 2019 [Pictures]<\/a><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Noor, the Sylvania Northview High School cross-country runner, didn&#8217;t face this problem previously. She competed in previous meets normally, until this Division 1 Northwest District cross-country meet in eastern Ohio that is.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cAt first it was just so humiliating and then was huge disbelief &#8230; This has never happened to me.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The race officials told Noor that she needed a written waiver in order to compete. If her hijab presented an issue, why wasn&#8217;t this pointed out to the runner during the uniform inspection?<\/p>\n<p>Noor mentioned that officials told one of her teammates that her shorts violated rules. So the girl quickly changed into new ones that were accepted. If there was a problem with the hijab, why had no one mentioned concerns until after she completed her race?<\/p>\n<p>This seems to be more a case of institutionalized prejudice and racism, than a technical one.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>What Does OHSAA Have to Say?<\/h3>\n<div class=\"content-list-component yr-content-list-text text\">\n<p>Although the OHSAA rulebook doesn&#8217;t list a hijab as a uniform violation, race officials told Noor that she needed a written waiver in order to compete.<\/p>\n<p>They said Noor would need a waiver signed by the OHSAA in order to compete. The Hijabi Muslim teen has never been asked for a waiver for on school cross-country, track and soccer teams before.<\/p>\n<p>An OHSAA representative told HuffPost that cross-country runners are allowed to participate in competitions wearing religious headwear only if they had obtained a waiver from the OHSAA prior to the race.<\/p>\n<p>The waiver should state:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Obtained a waiver from the OHSAA and submitted it to the head office before the race since it is a change to the OHSAA uniform regulations.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: center; letter-spacing: 5px; font-size: 16px; margin: 0;\">ALSO READ<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a style=\"font-size: 20px; font-weight: 600; font-family: Raleway ,sans-serif;\" href=\"https:\/\/propakistani.pk\/lens\/burkini-clad-muslim-model-becomes-first-ever-to-be-featured-in-si-swimsuit-magazine\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Burkini Clad Muslim Model Becomes First Ever to be Featured in SI Swimsuit Magazine<\/a><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"content-list-component yr-content-list-text text\">\n<p>The official said that the racing officials were just enforcing this rule.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cSimply enforcing this rule since a waiver had not been submitted,\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Interestingly, the OHSAA official did admit how the vagueness of their rule-book caused this problem to begin with. Banning a religious garment would be prejudicial and racist. Leaving such rules out of the rule-book causes distasteful instances like this one with Hijabi Muslim sports-persons.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThe organization is now looking at this specific uniform regulation to potentially modify it in the future, so that religious headwear does not require a waiver.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Hijabi Muslim teen was disqualified in a race over her hijab in Division 1 Northwest District cross-country meet in Ohio, USA. Noor Alexandria Abukaram has been competing in races for years but this is the first time she faced prejudice. When the 16-year-old finished her greatest race to date at a 5K run at her local district meet on [&hellip;] <a class=\"g1-link g1-link-more\" href=\"https:\/\/propakistani.pk\/lens\/muslim-teen-gets-disqualified-from-race-over-hijab\/\">More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":237188,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1298,2199],"tags":[],"adace-sponsor":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-237170","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-culture","8":"category-featured"},"wps_subtitle":"So much for tolerance for other faiths.","img_urls":{"thumbnail":["https:\/\/propakistani.pk\/lens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Hijabi-Muslim-teen-364x205.jpg",364,205,true],"medium":["https:\/\/propakistani.pk\/lens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Hijabi-Muslim-teen-758x424.jpg",758,424,true],"full":["https:\/\/propakistani.pk\/lens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Hijabi-Muslim-teen.jpg",1000,560,false]},"author_name":"Ummara Sheraz","categories_name":["Culture","Featured"],"title_text":"Muslim Teen Gets Disqualified from Race Over Hijab","related_stories":"https:\/\/propakistani.pk\/lens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts?filter&per_page=4&categories=1298,2199&exclude=237170","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/propakistani.pk\/lens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/propakistani.pk\/lens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/propakistani.pk\/lens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/propakistani.pk\/lens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/53"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/propakistani.pk\/lens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/propakistani.pk\/lens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237170\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/propakistani.pk\/lens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/propakistani.pk\/lens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/propakistani.pk\/lens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/propakistani.pk\/lens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237170"},{"taxonomy":"adace-sponsor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/propakistani.pk\/lens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/adace-sponsor?post=237170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}