Muslim youth learn to tell their own stories at media literacy workshop
Organizers hope youth will learn to push back against negative cultural stereotypes
CBC News | November 19, 2016
A group of Muslim youth spent their Saturday at a workshop learning about Islamophobia and the media.
The event, organized by the National Council of Canadian Muslims, is meant to help young Muslims push back against negative stereotypes.
“I feel like there is a really one-dimensional perception of Muslims: they’re all really conservative, they’re very insular, they keep to themselves.” said Rudayna Bahubeshi.
A Muslim herself, Bahubeshi works with the InSpirit Foundation, one of the groups that partnered in hosting the workshop.
She describes herself as “a non-visibly Muslim woman,” meaning that since she isn’t veiled, her religion isn’t immediately identifiable at first glance.
“I don’t necessarily come into spaces and receive those same reactions as perhaps the veiled women in my family do, and that’s also really troubling because we have very similar politics,” she said.