To the woman who decided to yell at me for my headscarf (hijab) as she was driving by me in her Ford SUV in the Goodlife plaza around 3:30 on Tuesday:

First, I almost didn't even realize you were saying something to me as I was walking to my car. It wasn't until I heard the all familiar "...That THING on your head!" comment that I even looked up to see who was yelling. You could barely even look at me when you said it, you kept driving as you yelled, and then you quickly rolled up your window and took off as you finished. Makes me think that maybe this was your first time being openly prejudice - nice try, I guess?

Since you judged me so quickly (and all other women who wear the scarf because really, it could have been anyone you yelled at) and chose not to see me as a normal human being, I just wanted to tell you a few things about myself. Hopefully after reading this, you and whoever else sees hijabi women as just a stereotype, might think differently:

- I am a full time professional with a blooming career.
- On top of my professional career, I work part time at a non-profit to help women learn new skills.
- I volunteer for various local events both within and outside of the Muslim community.
- I have young children who are my world (and were luckily not around when you yelled at me).
- I graduated in the top 15% of my class after going back to school as an adult with two young children at home.
- I also completed my three years of coursework in two years.
- I have been happily married for 10+ years
- I am attempting to learn the beginnings of a fourth language (English is my mother tongue, but I have learned French through school and held on to quite a bit of it, and have taught myself the foundations of Arabic and Spanish in my spare time).
- I am a proud Canadian who was born and raised here.
- Like you might imagine, my family is an immigrant family - they came from Scotland 48+ years ago. Before Scotland, my family descended from Ireland.

Not what you were thinking, right?

I choose to wear this THING on my head because...well, because I can. I am Canadian, I am Muslim, and I wear a hijab. All of which are my right as a human being in this country. I am a productive, contributing resident of this city and citizen of this country.

Want to know something better? My story is NOT unique. There are thousands - no, millions - of women who wear the hijab who do the same and more, all over the world. We do not let our hijab get in our way. Unfortunately, there are times when other people let our hijab get in the way. I hope this ends one day.

We are seen as both victims and aggressors at the same time. But really, we are just regular women who do our best - we have good days and bad days. We do 'normal' things like get our hair done, have parties, foster genuine friendships, have fun, love our family, etc. Despite all this, all you saw was my scarf.

That's fine - you're not the first and you certainly won't be the last to say something to me about my scarf. Your passive aggressive bullying, however, is not acceptable in Canadian society. So while I am extending my hand to you for the purposes of understanding, realize that I refuse to be a victim of your (or anyone else's) prejudices. Hate is very real, and it's scary on BOTH sides when things go awry. It really hit home for me the other day when the three young, respectable Muslims were killed in North Carolina. It was frightening when there was a man brutally attacked in front of his children in Dearborn, and when a Somali teen was ran over and killed for doing nothing more than being Muslim. It also hits home two-fold when there are home grown attacks against Canadians or Americans - the events in Ottawa shook the community (both Muslim on non-Muslim) deeply here in Windsor. It's just too close to home. It also scared me as a hijab wearing woman that others might see me or my children as being at fault for such attacks because we share the same name of our faith, no matter how our greatly our beliefs vary. I have to worry even more about the safety of my loved ones during these times because people might just take out their frustrations on us even though we personally have nothing to do with what occured. It happens and it's scary as a Canadian and a as Muslim. In the end, the longer people think that all Muslims are like the barbarians you see on TV, the bigger the problem gets.

We as a community locally, try VERY hard to fight that notion, and we do this one event, one press release and one person at a time. You're my one person today.

Nice to meet you.