Something bad happened in Dunedin last month that still echoes through the town.
On Wednesday, February 9, Huda Al Jamaa (17) and two friends were verbally abused and physically attacked by three fellow pupils at Otago Girls’ High School.
A grainy video shot on a cellphone, widely distributed on social media, shows it play out in disturbing detail.
"Two of the girls held me and one hit me and after I fell on the ground, she ... was still hitting my face and my body," Al Jamaa, who was treated at hospital for concussion, later told news media.
Al-Jamaa’s hijab, her Muslim head covering, was ripped off.
Her attackers tried to do the same to two of her friends.
"My hijab ... is my culture and my religion," Al Jamaa later said.
"My hijab is everything for me and I love my hijab, and those other girls love their hijabs."
The Police were brought in. So too was the Ministry of Education.
Principal Bridget Davidson affirmed it was vital all pupils "know their identities, languages, religion, and culture are recognised and affirmed in our school."
The school took strong, but confidential, disciplinary measures.
What does that disturbing, shameful event mean? Three days before the third anniversary of the Christchurch mosque shootings, what does it signify about racial and religious prejudice, particularly Islamophobia, in Dunedin and New Zealand?
To the two unnamed organisers of a global petition that gained more than 72,000 signatures — including those of sportsman Sonny Bill Williams, model Bella Hadid and former Prime Minister Helen Clark — it was about acts of hatred and racism at a particular school they alleged had not supported its Muslim girls.
A member of Al Jamaa’s wider family sees it quite differently.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, she says the event has been traumatic for Al Jamaa and other Muslim pupils.
"Huda is fine now. She is going back to school and to her normal life. As you know she isn’t looking to bring these problems back, nor does her family wish to," Al Jamaa’s relative tells The Weekend Mix.
"For sure, she didn’t like what happened to her. It was a shock for her and ... every Muslim girl at our school.
"Personally, I was hurt and scared for myself and my friend. We were off school for some days."
But, she says, the school has always been supportive and the attack is not representative of the city or the country.
"All the students and staff were so supportive of us. Many of the prefects have shown us love and support and ... they have allowed us to be who we are and we didn’t need to do anything to fit in.
"They were also so supportive of our community at the school even before this happened. On March 15, the school had many agencies and many consultants come to our school to support us through that time."
Al Jamaa’s relative says the families of those attacked were "angry and scared" until they had spoken with the authorities.
"All the families agreed to work together with the school to get rid of bullying and stereotyping to create a better environment for everyone."
She has not experienced any Islamophobia during her five years in New Zealand, most of which has been in Dunedin.
"To be honest, most of the New Zealanders have shown us love and support and stood by our side."
Less rosy, is the view of Dr Lux Selvanesan, president of the Dunedin Multi-Ethnic Council.
He was shocked by the school attack, which he had not seen coming.
"We have been doing quite a bit of activity around inclusion and social cohesion," Dr Selvanesan says.
"We do connect with the Dunedin Youth Council, which is primarily high school students."
Asked whether it seemed like indiscriminate bullying or targeted Islamophobia, he says, "The way it happened, we might not be able to say it was just a bullying incident".
Dr Selvanesan does hear new settlers talk about occasional xenophobic incidents.
"But generally all the former refugees I have spoken to say Kiwis are good, New Zealand is a great country."
At the same time, any city would have "ignorant people who are fearful of the unknown", he says. "Do individuals with Islamophobia exist? I would say, yes. Is Dunedin an islamophobic city? I would say, no."
Dr Mohammed Rizwan, however, sees what happened at the school as symptomatic of a darker, deeper malaise.
The chairman of the Otago Muslim Association believes Islamophobia is widespread in Dunedin, and increasing.
He cites two incidents — in the month before the school attack and two weeks after — of strangers yelling racial slurs at Muslim women on Dunedin streets. Both incidents were reported to the Police. They are just the most recent additions to a litany of Islamophobic incidents from throughout the city, region and country, stretching back to, and beyond, the March 15, 2019, shootings that killed 51 people, Dr Rizwan says.
"Physical attack ... verbally abused ... People spitting in front of you and throwing objects.
"And then those cowards who throw slurs at you while driving past. Vandalising homes and business and writing racial remarks with spray paint on cars and fences.
"[We are] not sure what Muslims have done to deserve this much hatred."
Dr Rizwan concedes attitudes are not helped by news of violence committed in the name of Islam.
"Do not believe in the so-called Islamic groups in other countries who are terrorising people in the name of Islam. Quite the contrary, what they are doing is against the teaching of Islam . . . and they should not call themselves Muslims."
But he also sees a deeply ingrained discrimination against Muslims in New Zealand.
A perfect example, he says, are the supermarket knife attacks last year, one in Dunedin and the other in New Lynn, Auckland.
In the Dunedin case, the non-Muslim man was labelled mentally unstable. But in the New Lynn case, the man was described as a Muslim terrorist.
"The Muslim attacker was in fact actually mentally unstable," Dr Rizwan says.
"There was no reason to publicise his faith, which unfortunately made all the Muslims appear as terrorists, once again."
Dr Rizwan’s prognosis is grim.
"No matter what the Muslim community try to do in order to create awareness about the reality of Islam, unfortunately Islamophobia is so deeply rooted within the society that no amount of work or effort will be able to remove those roots."
Can anything, then, be done to make Dunedin everyone’s home town?
Those close to, and more distant from, the Dunedin school attack say, yes.
Even Dr Rizwan says we certainly have to try.
Al Jamaa’s father, Ibrahim Aljomaa, speaking at an emotional meeting of the Dunedin Muslim community and government politicians two weeks after the attack, called for everyone to "help build a better future".
The consensus among those spoken to by The Weekend Mix is that tackling ignorance to address all forms of bigotry, including Islamophobia, is key to that future.
"Education, education, education," Taieri MP Ingrid Leary, who played a leading role in the community meeting, says.
"The way the last two weeks unfolded reinforced my belief that racism is born from ignorance, because people don’t know what they don’t know," Leary says.
"While some non-Muslim members of our community have genuinely and sincerely questioned whether members of our Muslim communities are being too sensitive, my own view is that those people have never experienced racism, racial profiling and unconscious bias."
Education should start with young people, Dr Selvanesan says.
"So we can build a future for the city and the country."
Dr Rizwan urges non-Muslims not to be scared but to "learn about Islam and what it means to be a Muslim".
He says Islam’s core values can be summarised in one word — peace.
"The word Islam itself is derived from the word peace."
Dr Rizwan says Islam teaches that every life is sacred and all people have equal worth.
He quotes the words of Allah, God, in the Muslim holy book, the Quran, as an example.
"If anyone killed a person — unless it be for murder or for the spreading of mischief in the land — it would be as if they killed the whole of humanity; and if anyone saved a life, it would be as if they saved the life of the whole of humanity."
Islam promotes equality as well as freedom of speech, thought and conscience, Dr Rizwan says.
"Allah says in the Quran, ‘There is no compulsion in matters of faith’."
In some instances, culture overtakes religious core values, resulting in actions that stray far from Islam’s teachings, he says.
"Some very well-known examples of this include terrorism, corruption, the oppression of women and the stifling of precious human freedoms that we may see happening in some Muslim majority environments."
True Islam values diversity and decision-making based on "mutual consultation", Dr Rizwan adds.
"Even here in Aotearoa New Zealand ... we have a population of approximately 65,000 Muslims who hail from over 60 ethnic groups."
If the solution to Islamophobia is individual and educational, it is also communal and systemic, those grappling with the issue say.
"There needs to be continued collaboration between different organisations to tackle these issues, combining everyone’s efforts to uproot this hatred towards others," Dr Rizwan says.
"The Government needs to provide funding and resources to all the organisations who are deeply concerned and have the manpower and are willing to tackle these issues."
He wants the Government to view Islamophobia as a crime deserving "harsh consequences".
Dr Selvanesan is calling for a government-led, multi-ministerial approach.
"The Ministry of Social Development ... Te Puni Kokiri ... the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the Ministry of Education. We should bring them all together to really look into how we can change this from the core."
The strategy should be co-designed, with community and youth representation, he says.
"I have made my recommendations to all those concerned and I hope it is taken up."
Ms Leary says the Government has made a start by accepting all 44 recommendations that came from the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the terrorist attack on Christchurch Masjidain on 15 March 2019.
She wants to see intercultural resources being piloted in Auckland and Wellington schools rolled out in Dunedin.
There needs to be a "culture of curiosity and collaboration" in state agencies, including schools and ministries, she says.
"Until people are able to test their assumptions and beliefs, nothing will truly change.
"I am determined that nothing like what happened to Huda happens to anyone else in our city.
"It’s not just about ending racism but moving to a place where everyone feels they fully belong."
The recently established Ministry for Ethnic Communities has been working closely with ethnic communities and public sector agencies "to reduce the discrimination felt by many of our ethnic population," Priyanca Radhakrishnan, the Minister for Diversity, Inclusion and Ethnic Communities, says.
Muslim communities have identified the need for educational reform to address structural racism and improve cultural competency of teaching staff, Radhakrishnan says.
Pauline Cleaver, of the Ministry of Education, says the New Zealand Curriculum is being "refreshed" to include content on equality and tolerance.
"Racist, sexist, or discriminatory behaviour has no place in any of our schools or kura and will not be tolerated," Cleaver says.
Radhakrishnan says there is work with Police to better identify, record, and manage hate crimes and be more responsive to victims. The Ministry of Justice will also develop a national action plan against racism.
"In my capacity as the Associate Minister for Social Development and Employment, I lead the Government’s work ... across different sectors that will build social cohesion.
"While we recognise there is still a way to go, our Government is committed to ensuring everyone in New Zealand is safe from discrimination.
"We all have a role to play to end all forms of discrimination, including Islamophobia."
Will it succeed?
Reflecting on the Dunedin school attack, almost three years after the March 15 mosque shootings, Dr Rizwan is concerned that all the efforts so far "fell on deaf ears".
"People need to realise that the colour of one’s skin, or the type of faith they belong to, does not make them inferior to others.
"People need to change their perception of the world and realise that all mankind are created equal."
