MuslimMatters's Ruth Nasrullah, a hijab-wearing Muslim convert touches upon how some Muslim women with hijabs were "removed" from being behind Obama. Her thoughts are being cross-posted here with full permission
I'm currently reading The Veil: Women Writers on Its History, Lore, and Politics, edited by Jennifer Heath, which is an in-depth compilation of essays by different writers exploring various aspects of the veil, not just in terms of Islamic dress, but of veils from all over the world over the centuries - and of veiling as an idea.
So it's funny that today I read about this incident in which two Muslim women were barred from sitting behind the podium at an Obama rally in Detroit, thus keeping them out of camera range - and thought, well there you go. The scarf on your head that says you're Muslim - it really is more than a scarf. It is an idea, as the book says.
Obama has repeatedly denied affiliations with Islam and Muslims, and as I've written before it hurts that he hasn't said that it wouldn't matter. I suspect that the campaign volunteer who told the sisters to get out of the picture was not relying on a standing no-scarf policy of the Obama campaign, but I am sure he acted out of a general public relations sentiment, unspoken or not - that hijabis are not good for photo ops.
In The Veil, Mohja Kahf recounts her mother's experience with forced de-veiling in Syria in the 50s, a practice which was and is enforced in several middle Eastern and north African countries. As Kahf notes, it's ironic indeed that so many in the west take the scarf as evidence of women's oppression, when in fact women have been in many places oppressed by governments that force them to take it off.
In contrast, there has been a resurgence in scarf-wearing in many parts of the world including the US, and especially since September 11. For many women scarves say "I believe" and "I'm proud."
Apparently, in the world of ultra-sensitive political campaign workers, the scarf says something different. Obama has run into trouble with a veil before - remember the photo of him in African dress? In the photos he is wearing an elder's turban - which can be broadly defined as a veil...which of course broadly defined is a message.
Monday's incident reinforces that the message of the veil is so loud it hurts the electorate's ears, so loud it harms a political campaign, so loud it drowns the shouts of support from Muslim mouths. And I think that is a shame.