Meet Ms. Wall, the Hijabi non-Muslim

A short while ago in a land close, close to home a young woman named Spencer Wall made a unique decision.

She didn't profess the Shahadah (the Muslim declaration of faith) or change her religion from Christianity to Islam.

She did however decide to dress like a Muslim woman for a whole year, and that includes donning the Hijab, the headscarf worn by devout Muslim women.

A 20-year old senior from West Texas, Spencer Wall now goes to class and meets the same people she used to except now she looks, well, a little different.

Ms. Wall makes it clear, "I'm not representing Muslim women or the Muslim community, I just want to know what it’s like to walk in their shoes for a while."

The reaction she has since gotten from some of her own hometown folks, the like of which she would have never otherwise expected, is rather revealing.

The unfortunate incidents include unwelcome and intimidating stares, people refusing to be served by her, and being addressed with derogatory slurs.

Like Muslim-American women today, Spencer has learned to take it all in her stride.

And the one remark she hears more than anything else?

"So, where are you from?" - a telling reflection of contemporary American psyche that still sees the American Muslim as the quintessential immigrant.

But that'll change, sooner or later - just like it has for everyone else.
For more info: Read the rest of Spencer Wall's story for yourself in The Daily Texan.