It is not safe to be Black in this country. We know that. It is not safe to be Muslim in this country. We know that, too.

I recently introduced slam poetry to my students in order for them to have an outlet to express themselves and have a chance to compete locally and nationally.

Urban education is a discourse.  In an effort to describe it, I realize my own limitations and the essential paradox underlying this task.

“Why are you in charge of the Black Lives Matter Club? You’re not even Black.”

It’s a weight when you know with almost complete certainty that you are probably the only Muslim and Arab teacher they have ever had. I know everyone has their biases, including my students.

I work in an urban district with an overwhelmingly Latinx and Christian student body. For most of my students, I am the first woman who wears hijab that they have ever interacted with.

Teaching While Muslim is not intended to be a limited space for just our voices, but as Muslims continue to be vulnerable in the United States, we found it necessary to seek a space to call our own.