Muslim American women who wear the hijab are made to feel like they are oppressed, bad for society, un-American, and even unattractive. The mentioned interactions reveal that Muslim women are told that the removal of the hijab would be an act of citizenship. Their interactions with private citizens show who wields power in defining who is an American. Private citizens participate in the rearticulation of what it means to be an American. At a time when the nation is engaged in a War on Terror, a Muslim is excluded from this definition.

Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, loc. 247