Ibtihaj Muhammad, America's first Muslim fencer to compete in the 2016 Rio Olympics, was asked to remove her hijab in order to get her ID badge at SXSW, the annual interactive media festival in Austin, Texas.
Even after Muhammad explained that she was wearing the hijab for religious purposes, the person at the registration booth insisted it had to be taken off.
Muhammad did not remove her hijab at any point during the event, and ended up getting her ID badge with her photo. However, she was given an incorrect name and title. The cherry on top of her experience.
The SXSW organization issued a statement apologizing for the incident and explained that the person responsible for checking in Muhammad was a volunteer who was acting in error.
“It is not our policy that a hijab or any religious head covering be removed in order to pick up a SXSW badge. This was one volunteer who made an insensitive request and that person has been removed for the duration of the event. We are embarrassed by this and have apologized to Ibtihaj in person, and sincerely regret this incident.”
Islamophobia is not something new. But, it's a shame to see that one of the most reputable and looked forward to events worldwide is guilty of this. Yes it was a volunteer's fault, but the organization is still responsible at large. If Muhammad wasn't American's first Muslim fencer to be competing in the Olympics, would the attention and apologies still have happened the way they did?