CHICAGO -- Driving north on Interstate 294, Chicago-area drivers might notice a billboard that reads “My hijab, my right” featuring an illustration of a Muslim woman with her arm raised to make a fist. The ad is part of a campaign organized by local Islamic organizations to raise awareness of the violation of the freedom of religion right of Muslims in India that has arisen in the last three months. The second goal of this campaign is to “clear negative stereotypes about the hijab and oppression.”
In the southwestern Indian state of Karnataka, young women were denied entry to school and colleges because the state put a strict policy that prohibits uniforms to be worn with hijabs, said Aamer Abdul-Jaleel, a Chicagoan and organizer of the “My hijab, my right” campaign with the local chapter of the Muslim organization GainPeace Chicago.
“The reason this billboard is relevant now is because the right to wear the hijab for the Muslim women and the rights that we take for granted in this country — freedom of expression and freedom to wear what we want — they are being taken away in many parts of India,” said Sabeel Ahmed, director of GainPeace Chicago, a group that wants to raise awareness and popularity on this issue in the U.S., via its campaign with the Council of Social Justice and the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago.
