SZA says she was 'so scared' to wear a hijab growing up after 9/11
SZA recently revealed what it was like growing up as a Muslim post-9/11 in the United States and trying to be true to her faith.
In an interview with Muslim Girl, the New Jersey-raised singer spoke about her and her father's encounter with hate crimes, along with her being scared to embrace the Islamic religion in school, especially after the 2001 terrorist attacks that occurred in New York.
"I stopped covering after 9/11 because I was so scared. This was like elementary school, middle school," she said. "I regret so much — like, being afraid or caring what people said about me."
SZA said that some of her "direct" experiences with Islamophobia growing up included being "chased home by children at school and getting my hijab snatched." She also said that "someone threw a brick in my dad's mosque."
In high school, however, she did put her hijab back on and received criticism from her classmates for doing so.
"They were like, 'What is this? You don't live your life properly. You're not really Muslim. Shut up.' I always let somebody dictate how I was," she said.
The "Kiss Me More" singer also expressed a desire to wear her hijab full-time, including during concerts.
"We played Malaysia and Indonesia, and it was really comforting to be able to cover up for those shows. I didn't feel like anybody would judge me or was going to say that I was being fake. It was just part of the custom, where I'm amongst my own people and they just accepted me as whatever," the 30-year-old artist said.
"You don't have to be perfect. And I just really love that. I always go back and forth about, like, should I cover? Because I don't want to be a part-time coverer."
SZA, who has also fallen victim to racial profiling as a Black woman, said that while she hasn't "been a direct victim of Islamophobia in so long," she can still empathize with the "intense" feeling of "being put in imminent danger because of people assuming from the way you look."
"I guess it's like the same kind of intense that people treat me differently based off of looking like a Black woman," she said, adding, "Even though I'm also Muslim, it's a different type of targeting when it's about your aesthetic and your ethnicity."
"They're really not mad at your faith. They're mad at the way you look and the way you live," she said.
However, she's now in a place where she can use her platform to help prevent other Muslims from experiencing Islamophobia.
"I think that I want to be able to use whatever privilege to educate them so that they don't do it to other people," she said, adding, "I see the hate. I feel it. I think it's super ignorant and disgusting."
She continued: "But I'm also really passionate and excited about debunking any misconceptions or just exemplifying what the most beautiful attributes of Islam are, which are peace and love and acceptance of all things and wholeness, and oneness."