1 In 4 Women Wearing Hijab Report Being Shoved On NYC Subway

Urban graffiti with face of woman in hijab living in area of immigrants on Septemper 1, 2015.

A new report by the New York City Commission on Human Rights highlights the harassment of Muslim, Arab, South Asian, Jewish, and Sikh New Yorkers around the time of the 2016 election. The report analyzed 3,105 surveys which asked respondents in the five boroughs about incidents of bias, harassment and hate crimes between July 2016 and late 2017 in seven different languages.

Carmelyn Malalis, Chair of the New York City Commission on Human rights, said she hopes the agency's findings will help religious communities who feel they've been discriminated against to find the courage to file complaints. An overwhelming number said they did not report harassment because they didn't trust local government. “[Now] you can point to something concrete and say there's data to support this,” she said.

Rama Issa of the Arab American Association, agreed. “It’s incredibly important for organizations like ours to have numbers reflecting our reality that’s happening on the ground, "She said. "We feel validated by the reports of the survey.”

KEY FINDINGS:

  • Nearly two in five (38.7 percent) survey respondents reported experiencing verbal harassment, one in ten (8.8 percent) reported being the victim of physical assault, and nearly one in six (16.6 percent) said they experienced some form of racial, religious, or ethnic discrimination-related problem in their employment in either a current job or while seeking a job.
  • One in four (27 percent) Muslim Arab women who wear a hijab reported being intentionally pushed or shoved on a subway platform.
  • Sikh New Yorkers under the age of 35 have nearly twice the chance of experiencing verbal harassment than other survey respondents.
  • 80 percent of Jewish survey respondents said they were “very” or “somewhat” bothered by anti-Semitic vandalism or property damage.
  • One in five (19 percent) South Asian survey respondents said they had experienced employment discrimination.
  • Overall, nearly 71 percent of survey respondents said they did not report bias incidents to a community-based organization, a faith-based organization, NYCCHR, or the NYPD, citing concerns their reports would not be taken seriously, fear of retaliation, and because previous reporting did not result in action.