To Whom It May Concern--
Beginning on Monday of this week, you (the many respectable news outlets like Time and the Chicago Tribune) have written articles about Dr. Larycia Hawkins' academic suspension from Wheaton College, IL. Your headlines are almost all identical:
To clarify: Dr. Hawkins has been suspended because of her statements regarding the theological foundations of Islam and Christianity, not because of the hijab. You can read about it in all of these articles, but the most clarifying in terms of theology is this one.
Media outlets, you know these facts. Your actual articles are more or less about the facts of this case, about Dr. Hawkins' statements on Facebook and not her attire. You know that she gained support from other Wheaton professors and CAIR in her decision to wear the hijab in a truly embodied act of solidarity with those in suffering around her. You know that your headlines are misleading. You know it's not about the hijab.
So my question to you is why?
Why would you make this a hijab issue rather than the deep theological issue that it actually is?
Why would you paint my school as "bigots?"
Why, why, why would you perpetuate this Islamaphobic culture? This is teaching those who read the solely the headline --a vast majority of people, and you know it-- that hijab-wearing women are something newsworthy, something strange, something to be questioned. Why would you use that photo (see "Inquisitr" headline and photo above) of a woman who is first of all, not Dr. Hawkins and second of all, is wearing a niqab not a hijab. All this does is prove our own ignorance and create further prejudice and alienation from our peaceful Muslim brothers and sisters.
Honestly, why are you involved at all? This is not national news. This is a strictly Wheaton-wide conversation that does not concern the public. By making this a very public story, you've drawn unnecessary and likely harmful attention to the ever-deepening rifts between Muslim and non-Muslim Americans. You're creating a wider trench specifically between Christians and Muslims when Dr. Hawkins' goal was to do exactly the opposite.
So, media outlets, I would like you to stop and really think about why you had to write these stories, why you had to make drama where there was none? I feel silly telling you to sit down and think about what you've done and about how our words can hurt people, but that's where I feel like we're at.
Sincerely,
Those Who Are Concerned
