HIjab Scene #7 by Mohja Kahf

            One way that Mohja Kahf expresses how the stereotypes she faces repress her is in the following four lines in the middle of her poem: “What else do you need to know/ relevant to my buying insurance,/ opening a bank account,/ reserving a seat on a flight?” These actions that Kahf has listed, such as buying insurance and opening a bank account, are rights that every citizen his naturally entitled to in America. However, whenever Kahf tries to exercise that right, she is bombarded with prejudice and stereotypical questions that even question her citizenship based on the fact that she wears a hijab, making the assumption that she must be an expatriate from the Middle East. These assumptions, therefore, in doubting her American citizenship, also doubt her right to such rights as opening a bank account or buying insurance. Therefore, people making these assumptions and doubting her citizenship are, whether intentionally or not, doubting her rights as a citizen, and are therefore repressing her in a more subtle way. Plus, the fact that these stereotypical questions and assumptions bombard her and follow her wherever she goes, even during irrelevant occasions such as booking a flight and opening a bank account, shows that the stereotypes imposed on her by others will not leave her in peace to go about her day and live freely and normally, as is the right of every citizen living in the U.S. Thus, they prevent her from living peacefully, and repress her right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.