Sawsan Morrar, a multimedia journalist at the University of California at Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism, was chosen as a 2017 White House Correspondents’ Association Scholar.
Those who tune in to watch this year’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on Saturday will hear my name called as I take the stage to accept a journalism scholarship. They won’t see my portfolio of work, and they will likely forget my name. But they’re sure to notice and remember one thing about me: my headscarf.
Some may call it symbolic that a Muslim American journalist will be recognized at the annual dinner the same year that President Trump declined to attend. Trump is breaking from a long tradition of presidents meeting with the award recipients.
And as I prepare to attend, I know some at the event may not perceive me as a fellow reporter who, like them, relishes the thought of meeting journalists I admire. Muslims don’t have the luxury of being a fusion of their achievements, interests and uniqueness. Rather, in the eyes of others, we are only Muslim.
I’ve faced this challenge before. After doing some pre-reporting over the phone, I encounter surprise when I meet my subjects in person — Who is she, they wonder? Where is the reporter? Often an interview subject, government official or employer will grow cool once it becomes clear I am a Muslim.
On hearing that I will attend the dinner, a seasoned journalist asked what I think about Trump — not because I am a reporter, but because I am a Muslim who has made the conscious decision to wear my faith. Another journalist asked me whether the frequency of my negative experiences in the field has increased since Trump took office.
Just last month, while traveling to Malaysia on assignment, I was asked to board an empty plane only to be met by three Department of Homeland Security agents on the jet bridge. They took me through an inconspicuous, concrete stairway and asked me repeatedly who was funding my trip and why. Was it so hard to believe that a Muslim woman wearing a headscarf was sent to report on climate change?
posted by f.sheikh
If she doesn’t want her headscarf to run her show, then she shouldn’t wear it. Pretty simple. She is obviously going for the sympathy vote. I have had enough of all this…
I hate it when someone “steals” a comment I was just about to make. I completely agree with Ms. Troyano. You wear a hijab, go on stage and not want to be recognized as a Muslim?? That’s like Beyonce going on stage and complaining that people recognize her as underdressed!! I would sympathize with Ms. Morrar if, because of her being a Muslim she is automatically considered less capable but apparently she is not; she is getting an award “in spite of being a Muslim”. So what is she griping about?