HAYWARD (KRON) — A Hayward teenager says she has been picked on because of her Muslim faith, and she says the final straw came last week when a boy at her middle school called her a terrorist in class.
The teen is a student at Cesar Chavez Middle School in Hayward.
Nikki Hussein said she is being bullied for her faith.
“Since third grade, the same guy has been bullying me, and he’s been calling me names because of my religion,” Hussein said. “He’s been making fun of my hijab, which is my scarf.”
The 13-year-old Hussein said the problem goes back several years. It was so bad that she stopped wearing her hijab during her fourth, fifth, and sixth-grade years and was left alone.
But she said she gathered the courage to wear it again this year and the problems came right back.
And the final straw came last week, in class, when a boy pulled on her scarf and called her a terrorist.
“I wasn’t being bullied, and now, I’m wearing the scarf again,” Hussein said. “In seventh grade, he is the only one bullying me and that is how I feel…really scared. I don’t feel like coming to school. I just want to be home schooled from eighth grade now.”
She told her teacher and her parents what happened.
And now, the Council of American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, got involved. There was a meeting with school officials to address the problem.
The school district says action is being taken.
“At this school, we are implementing an anti-bullying policy that focuses on developing a positive climate and culture,” Hayward Unified School District spokesman Hector Garcia said.
CAIR representatives said the meeting was productive. Still, Nikki said she doesn’t want to come back next year.
Nikki said it hurts when people make fun of her because of her religion, and she has a message to the boy who bullied her.
“Terrorism does not represent me or my religion or anything else. That is all I want to say to him,” Nikki said.
The district said they cannot comment on any punishment the bully received.