Strangers step in to defend Muslim woman berated in front of her son for wearing a hijab

Trigger warning: This story contains themes of racism and Islamophobia that some readers may find distressing

Customers and employees at a grocery store came forward to defend a Muslim woman after a white woman started verbally attacking her for wearing a hijab. Zardana Bashir was with her son a the grocery store when a White woman tried to cut in front of her in the checkout line at a local grocery store in Santa Monica, before launching into an Islamophobic tirade. The video of the racist attack was posted on TikTok. Zardana patiently tried to talk to the White woman, "Can I ask you why you hate me? Just because I am wearing a headscarf?" The White woman continued making racist comments at her and making comments about her hijab. She called Zardana a "f**king Middle-Easterner who thinks she's f**king privileged," reported Comic sands. Zardana repeatedly tells her to stay 6 feet away from them, citing the social distancing guidelines and tells her to step away from her son. 

Customers and employees who got wind of what was happening, stepped up to back up Zardana and told the White woman off. When one Black woman at the store heard what the White woman was shouting, she interjected, saying, "Don't talk to her like that." Within no time, the customers at the store had rallied around the Muslim woman. A couple also offered to walk the woman and her son to her car, just to ensure she can leave the store without the fear of being attacked.

Zardana captured the incident on video and posted it on TikTok, writing, "What kills me the most was my son witnessing his mother get verbally abused by a racist. I'm so embarrassed for breaking down and crying but no child should see their Mom being attacked....no child should be traumatized like this." Zardana also thanked all those who stood up for her at the grocery store. "The heroes that came to my rescue are genuine people," wrote Zardana, before adding that it proved to her that it was at that moment that she felt humanity is great. You can hear Zardana's voice crack with emotion at the end of the video. 

She also confirmed that she planned to take legal action against the White woman. "She didn't seem to mind that a child was nearby and continued her attack, he began to yell for me," wrote Zardana in the description of a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds for taking legal action. "I was in such shock, if I hadn't started recording, I wouldn't remember much of what happened, and I ended up having a panic attack where I couldn't breathe towards the end. Thankfully, she was asked to leave and a few bystanders helped me in the process."

Zardana said the trauma of the incident had left lasting effects on her child, including the fear of going back into the store for the fear of running into the woman. She also posted a video of the incident. "I tried to assure him we will never run into people like that. The next few days would start to concern me, as my son asked to sleep in my bed and didn’t want to leave my side even during the day. I also noticed him trying to cheer me up and keep me happy and it brought tears to my eyes," she wrote. She also recalled the time she was first attacked over her religion. "The first time it happened to me I was traumatized for years but when it comes to my son I will do anything to get him help," she wrote. In one of the captions in the videos posted on her TikTok account, she wrote, "Thanks to you Karen, I’m going to wear my hijab loud and proud."
 

You can watch the video posted by Zardana here: