How Does It Feel to Be a Problem. Blog 3

The next chapter that I read in Moustafa Bayoumi's story was the story of Yasmin's life.  She is also from New York and lives with her parents in Fort Hamilton in the Bay Ridge area.  Her neighborhood contains a lot of Greek, Arab, and Italian populations. 
Her father always wanted her to be a succesful doctor and so she tried her best to be successful in her academics.
When she started as a freshman in high school, she went to Leadership class and it was a required class for student officers and is an elective class for students who are interested in student government.  This sparked Yasmin's interest for student government.
And so she decides to run for school secretary.  She understood that it was a long shot due to the fact that the other candidates were a lot smarter and far more superior than her.  Yasmin campaigned for secretary because she had the desire to help out the school so they can get their needs.  She also received a lot of support from her Muslim friends during election day.  She won the most votes and became the school secretary.  She was filled with joy and she felt overwhelmed by the results.  But it soon turned to a dark route.
The school was hosting a dance and that everyone with a school government are required to attend the event.  Yasmin had to tell the Coordinator of School Affairs or COSA that she was not allowed to go to school because her dad and her religion forbade her to join to any dance event.  COSA gave her the option to either stay in the basement or formally resign from her position as school secretary.  Even though she fought back about resigning and the options given to her, she was pinned down about how she is wrong about her responses.  She called her father for help and called COSA about her situation but it did not resolve anything.  So her father contacted the sheikh for assistance and explained to COSA that Yasmin could not attend the dance because music had sexual content, fraternity between boys and girls, and underage drinking.  But the COSA broke him with tough questions and it was never resolved.  Yasin eventually resigned and gave a statement to the Principal.
The culture of Muslim women was that they had no rights and they are weak and can never win.  They are also looked down upon by men.  Their is 100% sexism for all Muslim women.
After her resignation, she would closed the door of her bedroom and began to cry.  "She felt powerless, defeated, and angry."(93).  Crying cannot do anything to stop this so she ahd to take action for what was right.  They only cared for themselves.  Not the students.
Yasmin did not want to go down that easily.  So she decided to act like a lawyer and embarked on a journey that takes heart and soul. Especially highs and lows.
In her room for the next several months, she began researching laws for students.  Her interest in the concept rights became a hobby and eventually an obsession.
She later got copies of the application and the clauses were targeted for her.     
Later on, her father mentioned about a Muslim civil- liberties organization called Council on American Islamic Relations or CAIR.  She gave a lengthy e- mail about her situation.  CAIR's civil- rights coordinator called the school one day about Yasmin.  the coordinator's response to the principal was an "insult" in the principal's perspective.
Yasmin and her father eventually got to talk with the attorney of CAIR about her case by showing her evidence.  The attorney was offering them to help oonly if they paid the attorney 20,000 dollars.  It was a lot of money and her father decided against it because of his low incomed job and saving his money for Yasmin's medical school future.  Also for providing the needs for her siblings.  She had no choice but to respect his wishes.
The next day she watche the movie, I am Sam.   Michelle Pfeiffer's role was to play the "pro bono" lawyer for Sean Penn.  Pro bono meant that attorneys offer at least 50 hours of service for the good of the people and that it contained new lawyers fresh out of college according to her father.  This sparked a light for her case so she went on to the computer and found the website of Advocates for Children, a new York organization with the goal of protecting students in academics.  She immediately faxed her situation to the organization immediately and finally received a call from Jerry Yan, a member of the organization.
She got to meet Yan who was a staff of the organizaion.  yasmin showed all her evidence and her story and Yan got angry about the school for doing something like this.  He asked her to sign to take the case and that Yan did not care about the budget and he would take care of it.
Yan said that "most of the racism happens to the most vulnerable members in our public schools."(109).  Yan also found the school's argument unconvincing with the offer of staying in the basement because it was difficult to understand how it can express school spirit.  Also there has been a history of excuses for students with positions like Jewish students were excused for their religious obligations and Greeks were excused from another Student Organization because of Orthodox Easter.  With a memo and legal precedent, Yan called the school for using its policy unconstitutionally.  Yan also said that their was a discrimination complaint from the internal  discrimination procedures of the Department of Education.  The school finally learned its lesson and Yan's job was done.  It was a sigh of relief for Yasmin.
Yasmin eventually ran for school President and won by a revote and won by 7 votes of the election.  She and COSA remained friends and Yan became the general counsel to Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer.  Yasmin remained close with COSA because they put the past behind them and developed mutual respect for each other.
Yasmin decided to go against her father's wishes to go to Medical school and become a doctor.  She decided to attend law school.
Yasmin may have been a Muslim woman but she beat the odds.