A Muslim woman has accused a New Jersey shopping mall security guard of trying to force her to remove her head-covering garment.
�He came into my face and made a hand gesture like he was going to lift my veil off,� � Wakeelah Salaam, 30, told The Post of her ordeal at the Bridgewater Commons Mall last Saturday.
�I felt like he was going to do something. I didn�t feel safe in the mall.�
The US-born Salaam said the confrontation happened about 10 minutes after she entered the mall with her two young sons.
She was wearing a Muslim veil known as a niqab, which covered her entire head and face except for her eyes.
�I was passing the Apple store when he got in my face. He said, �This is a private place. You can�t wear that in here,� � Salaam said.
Salaam said that after she was approached by the guard, she called her sister who told her to seek out a supervisor.
But another guard told her no supervisor was available and she was �overreacting� and �out of line.�
Then, the first guard accosted her again, she said. �He told me, �I don�t know who you are, and I need you to take that off.� �
Salaam said she felt like a �victim� and was embarrassed in front of her boys, ages 5 and 12.
She dialed 911 and left after meeting with police.
�They humiliated me, the way they made me feel. I went home and cried for over an hour,� she said.
Salaam said she was particularly shocked because she has been wearing her niqab in public for years without a problem, including court appointments.
And, she�s even worn it to Bridgewater Commons before.
�I would never go back to that mall. I know [the guard] doesn�t live under a rock, so [he] knows what a Muslim woman wears,� she said.
The mall later issued an apology and said the guard had been sent to diversity training.
�We respect her right to dress according to her religious beliefs and she is welcome in our mall anytime,� a mall official said.
(Source: NY Post)
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10 Responses
and suppose it was a bomber, holdup etc as prooven many times
She is completely right. That being said I saw 3 women dressed in the same garb in the grocery store the other day and it scared the heck out of me and I froze. Call me intolerant if you must.
She’s completely wrong. There are laws against wearing mask in public.
She’s not right, if my religion poses a security risk and on top of that it requires me to wear a full costume- as a person with security interests myself, I would show my face.
Since when does YWN put up pictures of women?
Try getting into a bank today wearing that! Good luck! My bank has a sign posted that you cannot enter wearing SUNGLASSES!
If I walked into a store with a ski mask, I’d be surprised if they didn’t alert security. Don’t these Arabs ever get sick of playing the victim??
#3, NJ has no anti-mask law. In any case, anti-mask laws are probably unconstitutional, though the courts have been ambiguous on this and the Supreme Court has so far not taken such a case. But the Supreme Court has explicitly upheld the right to anonymous speech, so there’s a good chance that if these laws ever come up on appeal they will be struck down or severely curtailed.
#6, this mall apparently has no such sign. And in NJ it probably couldn’t have such a sign, since in that state the courts have ruled (astonishingly, and in my view unconstitutionally) that privately-owned malls are public places in which constitutional rights apply.
MorahRach
I agree. I think they are scary looking and more than once I felt uncomfortable and spooked out. You really never know who it is and it can be a terrorist.
You may find this interesting.
https://www.change.org/petitions/federal-and-state-government-in-the-usa-ban-the-burqa-and-niqab-in-public