(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — A Muslim middle school student in the western suburbs has been the target of repeated harassment and bullying because of her religious faith, an Islamic-American civil rights group says.
The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) said the 13-year-old is an 8th-grader at Marquardt Middle School in Marquardt District 15 in Glendale Heights. CAIR officials said she has been the subject of anti-Muslim hazing and bullying — including physical beatings caught on video — since August.
“They’ve called her ‘terrorist.’ They’ve alluded to her father being a terrorist and her being a terrorist, so there’s some Islamophobic underpinnings to this bullying,” CAIR executive director Ahmed Rehab said.
The girl and her parents want her transferred to another school but the district has refused, Rehab said.
Rehab’s organization and the family also want those responsible for the bullying to be punished.
Also, they would like to see protocols in place to deal with similar situations in real-time. Responses could include cultural sensitivity training.
Rehab said CAIR has 18 video clips that show what the student has endured.
“In one situation, she was told by the teacher when she tried to defend herself to sit in her damn chair,” he said.
WBBM Newsradio has reached out to Marquardt District 15 for a response.
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