- I think I got so used to the hate
that I don't even
have the strength to fight about it anymore.
So I just go with the flow.
(keyboard clicking)
(somber music)
- Hi. All I'm going to do is ask you a question
and all I want you to do is react
to the question and explain your reaction.
The question is,
How do you feel
about the proposed ban in France?
I think it's such a step back,
not just for like Islamophobia or anything,
but just for women in general.
- France has this pride and, of being the country
of freedom, and the country of human rights.
And you know, there is also this history
of colonization, and Eurocentrism, which make France,
the French government believe today that it is the provider
of knowledge and the rule of freedom.
- With France right now,
I feel like they're trying to package Islamophobia
under the disguise of secularism
and playing into the French identity
and the French culture and upholding these French values
while stripping and denying the freedom
of many French Muslims in particular, Muslim French women.
- They don't want us to be oppressed but they oppress us
by not allowing us to wear what we want to wear.
- People who think that hijab is an oppression
I have this impression that they see me as a weak person
or someone who can't make any choices by herself.
- I think people need to understand how dangerous
bills like this are.
Again, it's not just against a piece of clothing.
it's a movement against women.
- I don't know where are we going with all these laws
And I really, really, really hope that it will not pass.
It will be killing for the youth.
(keyboard clicking)
- I grew up in a city where I was like
the first Muslim hijabi on every school
So everyone was like,
Oh! is it your parents that forced you to put it on?
I was like, No, I chose it by myself
the day I became a woman.
- For myself, I decided to wear the hijab was when I was 17.
I didn't know about anything.
And I just wanted to treat myself because I had
a very good Ramadan.
- I was like getting teased more.
You know, when you were born Muslim
you always grow in like in a cultural way, but you arrive
at a moment when you get more interested in the religion.
So I got interested in it.
I got more into it and that's why I chose to wear it.
- I felt close to God.
I felt close to my community, my religion.
And I felt that it was the right time just to present myself
in the world as a Muslim woman and be proud of myself.
- The hijab has, has been like my second skin.
It's been something that's around me my whole life
something that provides me comfort at first,
and now protection, security like confidence and closeness
to my faith and closeness to my Lord
which is a very, very important thing for me.
- All this Islamophobia in France
is actually killing the dreams and the hopes
of young women who want to grow up
and to, I don't know, to be who they want to be.
(keyboard clicking)
(somber background music)
I am a woman and I face, I need to face sexism.
I am a black woman. I need to face racism.
I am a black woman wearing the hijab.
I need to face Islamophobia.
And this is really oppressing.
This is a weight we have to carry on our shoulders,
and I don't think it's really fair to be sincere.
- I think the worst thing that hurt
is someone tried to kill me,
because of that on the subway,
I got pushed in the subway,
like two minutes before the subway arrived.
And someone who pulled me out.
So I think the biggest trauma that I had growing up here,
when I went to the subway station, they like
they checked the camera and they said
they couldn't do anything because
they couldn't see the face
of the person I saw.
That's the day I knew that I would never be
I wouldn't have the full rights to live in security,
in France.
- By 2001 after the 9-11 attacks happened,
one of my teachers physically pulled hijab
off my head and I was a child,
and I didn't understand Why?
And I had an actual
I remember panic attack and asthma attack,
and because again, it, for me, it was just a comfort.
- I don't fit in.
Actually. I really feel that I don't fit
in this country and that I'm not, I'm not accepted.
And it's really
you don't have hope when you have the status
of a Muslim woman.
- Being visibly Muslim.
It is quite scary, especially not even in France
but even in the UK and many other Western societies.
So I can understand why
like some Muslim women may feel quite
like apprehensive and quite scared to actually
openly practice their religion.
- I already have had the experience
of working without wearing my scarf
and I really felt bad.
it, was making me feel
like a liar and having a double life,
and it was really hard to handle mentally,
and even physically, I was very shy, I wasn't myself.
I wasn't myself and it was destroying me.
I quit this job.
And today I can't find a job
because I really want to work with my hijab
and it's really difficult.
- It's not just a piece of clothing to us, you know, it's
it's not just as simple it's way more,
it's part of our identity.
And you're literally taking away a piece of someone,
who they are.
(keyboard clicking)
- It's really in the mind of people,
and we can't, it's like racism, it's like a homophobia,
It's like every kind of oppression.
It's really, people need to talk about it, to be outspoken,
to be fearless and to face everything,
and even though it's easy to say it like that, but on the
on the daily basis,
I really try to be a proof that they're wrong.
And I really think it's important for people to support us.
- Just by bringing awareness around it,
I think it's pretty great.
I was hoping like some manifestations or
some stuff like that soon, give more highlight on it.
- I really think that it is important
that other people from all around the world speak about it.
And I just hope that it will not pass.
(piano music).