A Muslim mom says she was harassed onboard a Delta Air Lines flight for wearing a hijab, and that Delta staff failed to come to her defense.
Darlene Hider, 32, says she wants an apology from the airline, but she’s ready to forgive.
“This made me stronger,” Hider told HuffPost. “Our faith teaches us to forgive, and I do.”
Hider, a mother of four from Michigan, was traveling from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Detroit on Monday when an unidentified woman reportedly began complaining that the children were being disruptive. Noticing Hider’s headscarf, the woman turned toward the mom and allegedly said, “This is America!”
Hider said she immediately thought, “So this is what [Islamophobia] feels like.”
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Young Muslim Americans are particularly vulnerable to discrimination in public, according to a 2011 Pew Research Center survey:
More than half (56%) of U.S. Muslims ages 18-29 say they have been treated with suspicion, called offensive names, singled out by law enforcement or physically threatened in the year prior to the survey. By comparison, 35% of Muslim Americans ages 30 and older say at least one of those things has happened to them.
Hider said the reaction from other passengers on the plane was what gave her the most hope.
“The unity I felt on the airplane was just overwhelming. So many people were consoling me. People were very gentle and nice to me and my husband,” Hider said. “This is America. That’s the American response.”
