Talk about girl power! Amara Majeed, a freshman at Brown University, is challenging stereotypes of what it means to be a Muslim woman in America with her “Hijab Project”. She was recently interviewed by Good Morning America about her project:
Majeed launched the project at age 16 with the goal of fighting Islamaphobia and challenging stereotypes about headscarves and the women who wear them. Participants are encouraged to wear Hijab for a day and share their experiences on her website.
“A bridge of understanding needs to be built between Muslims and non-Muslims, and experiencing the lifestyle of a growing and often misunderstood culture in America is vital to shedding the lack of knowledge that many people have regarding Islam as a religion,” she wrote on her website. “I’m looking forward to hearing your hijab stories!”
You might also recognize Majeed for her recent viral letter that she penned to Donald Trump in Seventeen magazine, criticizing his comments about Muslims.
“With all due respect, Mr. Trump, you are a demagogue who is capitalizing on Americans’ fear and paranoia; you are scapegoating an entire population of 1.6 billion people in an attempt to further your campaign, in an attempt to ‘make America great again,” she wrote. “You are dragging the American people back into the past, keeping us from moving forward.”
And when she’s not busy standing up to Trump, Majeed definitely isn’t immune to the pop culture phenomena of our time. She told Good Morning America that she loves Leonardo DiCaprio and Taylor Swift.
It’s not just her bravery that exceeds her age though. Her words of wisdom on girl power are ones to live by.
“I think that girl power is essentially showing the world that we females can be powerful not despite but because of our gender.”