Sheema Khan writes eloquently about this week's Bright Shiny Thing -- barring niqab-wearing women from taking the Canadian citizenship oath.
She winds up with an anecdote that some may not have heard.
Inas Kadri had her niqab torn off by a woman in a Mississauga mall in the summer of 2010. The incident did not shake her faith in Canada. Rather, she re-evaluated her role as a citizen: “Living with people in this society, I think I should work harder to educate people about my religion.” Fellow niqabi Sana Mutawi summed it up best: “We want our kids to be brought up in an understanding community, so they will be good citizens.”
Hate the niqab all you want. But banning it is not a Canadian value.
More than that, banning something helps to demonize the custom or the wearers, enabling pointless violence in suburban malls.
And speaking of pointless, spiteful violence. . .
OccupyMelbourne protesters had camped out in a park. Told that was against the law, a few cheeky buggers decided to wear their tents as clothing.
That was a bit much for the bully-boys. This happened on December 5. Watch.
Ban, demonize, harass, it's all good, when you are in charge of keeping the uppity [insert derogatory epithet] down.
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