What would you do with a chance to talk to the people who hold your future in their hands? What would you do if you were able to change the future? Lawmakers frequently make decisions that not only impact communities but also individuals.
White Station High School’s (WSHS) Muslim Student Association (MSA) was given the opportunity to talk face-to-face with Tennessee legislators in Nashville this past February. The MSA is a space for Muslim students to come together in one community at WSHS and share their experiences.
“It’s important to be able to connect with other people of my religion at school, and [the MSA] helps me feel like there’s someone else going through the same thing,” Saaliha Clark (10) said. “It’s great being at White Station, but it’s [also] nice to have a community.”
MSA was able to take this trip to Tennessee’s capital with the help of the American Muslim Advisory Council (AMAC), an organization based in Nashville and dedicated to promoting civic engagement and community.
“[The AMAC] are very amazing,” Zahra Altareb (11) said. “I don’t know of any other [organization] that has as much impact in Tennessee. [It is] an organization that truly tries to get the Muslim community engaged civically and supporting them legally.”
With the help of AMAC, the MSA was able to talk to Tennessee legislators about issues personal and important to them, including ones that affect the Muslim community and other ethnic groups. For example, one proposed bill would prevent any other language besides English from being offered for people taking the driver’s permit test.
“As a Muslim community, even though Islam is a religion and there’s many cultures within Islam, a lot of the issues, politically speaking, that affect Muslims affect them as one group rather than all of the individual ethnicities and nationalities that make up Muslims,” Altareb said. “There was a bill being proposed that would limit the free speech of students, specifically when they would be talking about Gaza under the guise that it was anti-semitism. That was something we were against because we want to be able to have free speech and it was important for our MSA to voice our concerns. Not only as Muslims but also as youth.”
For high schoolers, encountering lawmakers can be intimidating, with expectations of formality and rigidity. In reality, being accompanied by many other high school-aged teenagers allowed for more casual and open conversations.
“I expected [the trip] to be a lot scarier than it was,” Clark said. “There were so many people also doing it and the leadership was pretty good. It didn’t feel so daunting. It was really fun … I thought it was going to be talking to them one-on-one and super formal.”
The MSA has hosted events such as a Ramadan presentation and an observation of World Hijab Day, and they have participated in culture night and club fairs. These events are open to all students, with the goal of educating and bringing awareness to the Islamic faith. For many Muslim students, the club is a way to build strong relationships and community.
“The club is like a friend group,” Clark said. “It doesn’t really feel like a club. Because we go so often and it’s the same people every time, we really get to know people and we can bond on a deeper level than another club.”
