The internet came to the defense of a woman who refused to take off her hijab to please her friend's future in-laws at a wedding.
To get the community's thoughts, the posted to Reddit's popular "AmITheA**hole" forum. The viral post is now around 10,000 upvotes and more than a thousand comments.
According to an article written by NPR, one million Muslim women live in America and 43 percent of them wear headscarves. The Redditor explained that she wears a hijab and lives in the south but a diverse area where her culture and religion aren't questioned. However, her friend "Sally" planned to marry into a conservative American family.
"Now I couldn't care less about someone's political views unless they start trying to talk to me about it or shove it down my throat, then in my opinion they invited me to the debate so they should prepare to to hear my opinions since they gave theirs unsolicited," she wrote.
When the Reddit user attended Sally's engagement party, she spent most of the time conversing with friends. She could overhear Sally's in-laws discussing politics at a loud volume and the original poster (OP) didn't agree with their opinions. She also noticed that they were giving her odd looks throughout the evening, which made things uncomfortable.
The following day, Sally called to thank the OP for coming to the party.
"At some point in the call she seems nervous to say something, so I ask her to just spit it out," she said. "That's when she admitted that I made her in laws uncomfortable, and as though they couldn't freely talk with someone like me around. I say sorry, but her in laws seem like blatant racists, but it's not like I'm the one marrying them so if she likes them I hope she has a great wedding and I just won't come."
In the phone call, Sally asked her if the OP could take off her hijab for the wedding so not to scare the brides in-laws. "I tell her 'no way in f***ing hell would I ever change myself or compromise my religion for a bunch strangers, and I won't step foot near them as I'd hate to scare them.'"
When speaking to her friends about the situation, they took side of u/Klutzy_Doubt_8749, calling the bride's actions inappropriate. The Redditor works as a freelance makeup artist and agreed to do the bride's makeup for the wedding for free. She felt guilty leaving the bride in a tough position only a month before the wedding but the Reddit community was quick to defend her in the comments,
u/GlitterGaff responded to her post, which received over 17,700 upvotes. "No amount of make up can make a racist/racist enabler look pretty."
The original poster replied with, "I spit out my coffee at this comment."
In response to the comment, u/L3GI0N__1183 said, "I have to laugh at your friends who said you left her in a tough position. there is nothing tough about telling racist to f**k off, and you can tell your friends this internet stranger said so. it's only a tough position because she lacks a moral backbone."
"Absolutely NTA," u/JanusIsBlue wrote. "Nobody can expect you to remove a PERSONAL AND RELIGIOUS ARTICLE OF CLOTHING for a wedding. A f***ing wedding! Stand your ground, and know that we're behind you on this."
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Ashley Gale is a Newsweek reporter based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her focus is reporting on trends. She has covered trends, ... Read more
