From Herman v. Muhammad, decided yesterday by the N.J. appellate court (Chief Judge Thomas Sumner and Judges Ronald Susswein and Stanley Bergman):
The following facts are alleged in the amended complaint. Herman is a second-grade teacher at an elementary school (school) in the South Orange-Maplewood school district. On October 6, 2021, Herman believed that one of her students, who normally wears a form-fitting hijab as part of her Muslim faith, was wearing a "hood" covering her eyes. Attempting to reengage the student in schoolwork, Herman asked the student to remove the hood from her eyesight. Unbeknownst that the student was wearing a loose-fitting hijab, Herman "lightly brush[ed] back" the student's hijab and "immediately and gently brushed [it] back to cover … the [s]tudent's hair." Herman claims that "out of respect for the religious practices of Islam and for the [s]tudent's observation of same, [she] apologized to the [s]tudent." Herman maintains the hijab "never left the [s]tudent's head," and class resumed without disruption. After the student told her mother about the incident, the mother spoke to the school's principal and assistant principal.
The next day at 4:00 p.m., Muhammad, a practicing Muslim who wore a hijab while winning a Sabre fencing medal for the United States in the Olympics, posted the following sentiments on Instagram:
I wrote this book [The Proudest Blue: A Story of Hijab and Family] with the intention that moments like this would never happen again. When will it stop? Yesterday, Tamar Herman, a teacher at Seth Boyden Elementary School in Maplewood, NJ forcibly removed the hijab of a second[-]grade student. The young student resisted, by trying to hold onto her hijab, but the teacher pulled the hijab off, exposing her hair to the class. Herman told the student that her hair was beautiful and she did not have to wear [a] hijab to school anymore. Imagine being a child and stripped of your clothing in front of your classmates. Imagine the humiliation and trauma this experience has caused her.
This is abuse. Schools should be a haven for all of our kids to feel safe, welcome and protected—no matter their faith. We cannot move toward a post-racial America until we weed out the racism and bigotry that still exist in all layers of our society. By protecting Muslim girls who wear hijab, we are protecting the rights of all of us to have a choice in the way we dress.
Writing books and posting on social is not enough. We must stand together and vehemently denounce discrimination in all of its forms. CALL Seth Boyden Elementary (973) 378-5209 and EMAIL the principal [email protected] and the superintendent [email protected]
About thirty minutes later, Muhammad edited and reshared the post on Instagram and Facebook. The edited post omitted the first two sentences ("I wrote this book with the intention that moments like this would never happen again. When will it stop?") and included a photo of the school. Muhammad's posts garnered considerable reactions in mass media and social media, including by the Counsel on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) Foundation, CAIR-NJ, and CAIR-NJ's executive director Selaedin Maksut (collectively CAIR defendants), calling for Herman's immediate termination….
As a result of Muhammad's "defamatory social media posts … the Essex County Prosecutor's Office opened a [three-month] criminal investigation" of the incident, and though "vindicated by the outcome," Herman alleges she has endured "acute emotional distress," destruction of her "hard-earned reputation," and physical threats. Herman also alleged she was even "condemn[ed]" by the "rabbi from her childhood congregation." …
Herman sued Muhammad and CAIR for defamation, and the court allowed the case to go forward against Muhammad but not CAIR. The court concluded that Herman had adequately alleged that Muhammad's statements about her were false (though of course the question whether they were in fact false can't be decided until later):
