along with the Army uniform she wears in high school as a member of the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC).
This argument is a not new one. Sikhs, who are drawn to military service in large numbers, have been fighting for decades against the military rule that doesn’t allow clothing not issued as part of the uniform to be visibly warn when in uniform.
The 14-year-old student, Demin Zawity, of Brentwood, Tennessee, quit the Junior ROTC program at Ravenwood High School and returned to regular gym classes when commanding officers said she had to take off her hejab if she wanted to march in the homecoming parade.
Demin told Fox News, “It was during Spirit Week. We were getting ready for the homecoming parade and the head officer said that I wouldn’t be able to wear the head scarf while I had the uniform on. I said that it was a religious thing and that I really couldn’t take it off.”
Demin said she asked the officer if an exception could be made, and “he told me that he would see what he can do.”
But school officials and district lawyers determined that if Demin wanted to participate she would have to comply with the rules, which apply nationally.
Jason Golden, chief operating officer and general counsel for the school district, said, “We as a school system are bound to the regulations of the Army. We cannot conduct the program unless we follow the regulations.”
Demin said of her commanding officer, “We were practicing all week and the day before the parade he pulled me over to the side and said that I couldn’t march. I wanted to break down and cry right there, but I held it in and went into stoic mode.”
Demin’s family feels she is being discriminated against, and has reached out to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which is calling on the school district and the Department of Defense to change a policy that it says “effectively bars a Muslim student from participating in the class.”
“It’s an unwise policy,” CAIR staff attorney Gadeir Abbas said. “It’s acceptable for a Jewish student to wear his yarmulke under his uniform hat.”
“A yarmulke can be covered by military headgear,” said Lt. Col. Matthew Hackathorn, a spokesman for the US Army Cadet Command who said the regulations don’t ban religious garb unless it is exposed or covers the uniform.
Demin’s mother, Perishan Hussein, said her daughter “felt that they were dismissive toward her beliefs. It was very upsetting to her. It shouldn’t have been a shock to them. She wears the headscarf every day. She has been wearing it ever since they approached her to join the program.”
The mother said, “We think that it’s un-American that anyone is not allowed to participate over religious beliefs. The government has previously made rules that, over time, they had to change because they didn’t make sense. This rule makes no sense.”
She said her daughter has been “stressed” by the whole incident and now has no intention of returning to JROTC—even if she is allowed to wear a headscarf.
Demin’s family and CAIR say they do not intend to sue unless they deem it necessary. CAIR sent a letter last week to the superintendent of Williamson County Schools asking that a formal apology be issued to Demin and that she be allowed to participate in the JROTC program wearing her hejab as part of her uniform.
It also mailed a letter to the Department of Defense asking for a change to the policy.
“We are reviewing the program’s current policies, regulations and procedures to ensure consistent application and enforcement of uniform standards,” said Lt. Col. Hackathorn. He said the senior officer in charge of Demin’s class acted according to the regulations.
“The JROTC tries to instill good values in the students who participate,” Hackathorn said. “Wearing the uniform demonstrates personal responsibility, attention to detail, and being part of a team. We’re not discriminatory. She’s invited to come back anytime, but it has to be in accordance with the regulations,” he said.
The ROTC program is a major program in colleges to prepare college students to serve as officers in the armed forces. The unior ROTC program is a much smaller program in some high schools designed to familiarize teenagers with the military in hopes they might choose ROTC in college.