This Muslim Family Invites Strangers for Dinner to Combat Islamophobia
Resisting hatred through curry, friendship, and hospitality
Yusra Rafeeqi stood with her father at the intersection of El Camino Real and Embarcadero Road in Palo Alto, California. In was 4 o’clock on a Thursday afternoon in May 2017, four months since the inauguration of President Donald Trump. Yusra was a shy, quiet 15-year-old. She didn’t much like attention. But there she was, next to her father, holding up signs at the passing traffic. “Have Dinner With a Muslim Family!” one sign read. “Fight Islamophobia,” the other said. “Dine with my Muslim Family!”
Since Trump’s inauguration, life in the U.S. had become increasingly hard for Muslims. Hate crimes rose dramatically on the back of an election campaign that was openly Islamophobic. And the Rafeeqi family was getting worried. In public, Yusra’s mom wore a hijab and abaya, a long, loose-fitting robe. Over the past few months, her Islamic dress increasingly drew suspicion and hostility.
The problem was not just in the U.S: Over in the U.K., Yursa’s sister Samrah took her young child to a park in Cambridge where she was verbally abused by a gang of white men.
How do you deal with a problem like this? How do you fight back against the tides of misunderstanding…
