A young woman I met earlier this year took this baller picture of herself earlier today - I (and her from the photo on top clearly) were too excited not to share.

She is the face of one of three different posters on GRTC buses in the Richmond area this summer. The three posters reflect Muslim, Jewish, and Sikh individuals wearing their religious head dress. The Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy is Virginia’s oldest faith-based advocacy group who created the current Rethink Bias campaign in hopes that those who see the posters will be challenged to rethink biases they may have about these types of individuals and why they wear the respective pieces of head gear.  

In light of the recent attacks on both Sikh and Muslim places of worship, I cannot express how relieved I am that one city is taken some sort of action in the realm which matters most: public opinion.

A little background on Rethink Bias:

In the wake of 9/11, our nation experienced conscious and unconscious forms of bias against residents of our country, particulary those from Arab, Muslim, and South Asian communities. In response, Rethink Bias was developed to challenge misperceptions and increase respect and understanding between religious and ethnic majorities and their Muslim, South Asian, and Arab counterparts in Virginia.

In 2007 this campaign ran bus ads throughout Richmond which were intended to increase awareness about biases and educate Virginians about various faiths. The posters, pictured below, portrayed common American phrases in Arabic script. Oftentimes, when people see or hear a language they do not understand it scares them. Though we may be uneasy about that which we don’t understand, we are able to overcome that fear by learning about others. We can rethink bias, but it starts with learning about our neighbors.

Today, I’m proud to be from Virginia and incredibly happy to know Anisah alhumdullilah.