Muslim girl says she's being bullied at Cesar Chavez Middle School in Hayward

Lilian Kim Image
ByLilian Kim KGO logo
Thursday, March 24, 2016
Muslim girl says she is being bullied at Hayward school
A 7th grader at Cesar Chavez Middle School in Hayward says she's being bullied because she's Muslim.

HAYWARD, Calif. (KGO) -- A 7th grader at Cesar Chavez Middle School in Hayward says she's being bullied because she's Muslim. The girl's mother met with school and district administrators on Wednesday.

This 7th grade girl is simply fed up. She says this bullying has been going on for years.

"I've been bullied for a long time and I don't want anyone stressed the way I had," said Nikki Hussein.

Nikki, 13, says she hopes sharing her story will help put an end to the bullying she's been facing at the school.

"He pulled my scarf to the side, in Arabic we call it hijab. After that he called me a terrorist and he asked me twice, are you a terrorist? And I said no," said Nikki.

Nikki says this same boy has been taunting her since the third grade. She says the school did nothing about it then so she chose to forego her hijab for a few years, until last fall, when she decided to wear it again.

The Hayward Unified School District says they're looking into why the issue wasn't dealt with from the beginning, and while they won't go into detail about this latest incident, they do say it's been addressed.

"We will be striving to make sure that anti-bullying is a sentiment and as an action that's lived by all students and communities in this school," said Hector Garcia, Hayward Unified School District Area Administrator.

But in light of what's going on in the world, Nikki isn't convinced the bullying will stop. Nevertheless, she has a message for the boy who's been harassing her.

"I invite him to learn about my religion and to know that terrorism does not represent me or my religion or anything else. That's all I want to say to him," said Nikki.

A simple request from a 13-year-old girl who just wants to be left alone.