Imagine this: You’re a female Muslim youth attending a public school in the suburbs in Philadelphia. All of a sudden a few of your classmates target you to harass and bully you online. And this went on for months. Then one day at school, suddenly, you are physically attacked, in the lunchroom, where many other students can see what’s happening. As well as some adults who work at the school.
When an unprovoked attack occurs, what do most people do? They try to defend themselves, and that’s exactly what North Penn High School student Sanaa Beaufort did when she was jumped at school.
Mind you, this attack was videotaped, and so there’s actual evidence of what happened. The ugly situation unfolded on May 4th of this year, and every news channel in the Delaware Valley covered the story and broadcast the video footage captured. Sanaa Beaufort was suspended by the North Penn School District, but the other two girls were not. The question is, why was Sanna suspended when she was the victim? After seeing the video footage myself, it clearly looked to me like it was indeed the other two girls who started the brawl, and it was them that did all the online bullying, seemingly just because Sanna is a devout Muslim who wears her Muslim female attire, as required in her religion.
During the fight, Sanna’s hijab, (head covering) was ripped from her head, and rather than be allowed to pick it up off the floor and put it back on, she was made to walk through the hallways of the school to the principal’s office, UNCOVERED, which is 100 percent against her religious practice. So on top of everything else, she was humiliated. Then to make matters even worse, the police were called to the school, and in their initial questioning of her, to get her side of the story, they addressed her in an accusatory way, Sanaa Beaufort reported.
Back in May, a week after the altercation happened, while being interviewed by Fox 29 News, 16-year-old Sanaa shared, “For it to happen, not only to me but in front of everyone on purpose. It just doesn’t feel right, and I’m not okay,” Beaufort explained. She adds the fight, in which she says her hijab was ripped from her head, came after some very hateful words were allegedly hurled at her by the two female students. “I have to watch my back. I don’t want to be a target,” Beaufort explained. Oh, and did I mention that the two female students who were bullying her are white?
Shaykh Anwar Muhammad is the head of the NAACP’s Ambler branch, and he believes this was a hate crime. “To have a Black Muslim attacked and her hijab pulled off, and racial slurs and Islamophobic slurs hurled at her is absolutely incredible,” he said.
Sanaa was given a ten-day suspension, but it’s not clear if she actually had to do all ten days because there has been such an uproar in the African American and Muslim communities over the way in which she has been mistreated. First by the two white students who were bullying her, then by police, and even by some in high positions within the North Penn School District. You gotta call a spade a spade when you see a spade.
Because this situation happened just weeks before the school year ended, things carried over into the summer. But this is where the story shows even more so, how there is some folk still, in Montgomery County, who are adults, who need to take some racial sensitivity classes and some fairness in decision-making courses in order to do right by all children, be they Black, White, Hispanic, Asian or other. Whether they are Catholic, Jewish, Baptist, Methodist, Muslim, Buddhist, or whatever religion they choose. Fairness and equal rights, that’s what’s at stake. In all his lack of wisdom and fairness, the District Attorney for Montgomery County, Kevin R. Steele announced his decision to charge Ms. Beaufort with wrongdoing. Say what?
CAIR-Philadelphia has decried that decision by Steele and held a demonstration outside in front of the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown on July 14, 2021. In a statement, CAIR-Philadelphia Civil Rights Attorney Timothy Welbeck said, “We are deeply disappointed by the decision to pursue criminal charges against Ms. Beaufort. We have maintained from the beginning that our client is the victim in this incident, and our system should protect her rather than vilify her. We will do all in our power to vigorously fight against these charges.” He continued, “CAIR-Philadelphia will continue to legally represent Ms. Beaufort and her family to ensure their rights are preserved.”
Timothy Welbeck added, “We’re actively working to get this case out of the criminal system. I was told that the District Attorney’s office has offered the other two girls a diversionary program that includes community service work and other types of classes on anger management and things like that. If they successfully complete the program, they won’t have a criminal record. Sanaa has been offered that same program.
For juveniles who have made unfortunate decisions and potentially they could be ensnared in the criminal justice system, it’s a great option, but we maintain that Sanaa is the victim in this case, and we don’t want her entered into the system as an offender, even in a diversionary program. That’s why we held the rally yesterday. It’s also why we are continuing to look for alternate resolutions.
Welbeck continued, “Next we have to continue negotiating with the prosecutor’s office. They have given us the diversionary offer. If we decline the offer, then this case will continue in the system and they will start scheduling hearings, or they can drop the charges. So those are the options right now. They can drop the charges, we can accept their offer, or this can continue further down the route of criminal proceedings. I will say this, the prosecutor’s office has said they do not want this to go to court, and we agree with that. We don’t believe this is something that warrants a trial. But, we also don’t believe that Sanaa should be in the criminal system either.”
As for me, I think back to when I was a child, and my parents knew that one of us two girls had misbehaved. Neither of us would confess, so we both got a punishment. In the case of what happened at North Penn High, because the rules of the North Penn School District indicate there is to be no fighting at the school, that’s why ultimately, all three girls were charged for the physical altercation. I still think, however, that after being bullied over and over online and then attacked inside the school, would provoke anyone to defend themselves. That’s why I don’t think Sanaa should be punished for any wrongdoing.
I wonder if the teen who was being bullied was white, and the two girls who were doing the bullying were Black, and the two Black girls laid hands on the white girl, and say they pulled a wig off her head, what do you think would have happened? I think the Montgomery County District Attorney would have charged the two Black girls with a laundry list of crimes, and the white girl would not have been suspended for one day from school and certainly would not have faced any charges from the D.A., even if she tried to defend herself during a physical altercation inside the school. I‘m just saying…
Sanaa Beaufort and her mother were granting interviews to the media over the last couple of days, and I was hoping to speak with them for the SCOOP. However, timing is everything. I was unable to link up with them before my deadline when I had to turn in this column, but I think their attorney has represented them well in this story. I for one, am rooting for Sanaa Beaufort. How dare these little girls put their hands on her, rip off her hijab, or bully her online, or in any other way. They are the ones who should have been suspended. They are the ones who should face charges. Not Sanaa. You don’t have to get a law degree to know that. We’ll keep our SCOOP Readers updated as to what happens next and when it happens.
CAIR is America’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance understanding of Islam, protect civil rights, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
