Lesbians wear hijab too, I thought to myself as I overheard two middle-aged White guys talking about how gays and lesbians, with their talk of gay marriage, were a threat to society. Those same goons looked at me funny as I boarded the number four OC Transpo bus bound for the Capital University campus at Hurdman Station in the City of Ottawa's east end. Another day in the province of Ontario, I thought grumpily as I put on my headphones.
The name is Aminata Ismail and I'm a young Muslim woman living in the City of Ottawa, Ontario. I was born in the City of Montreal, Quebec, to a Somali immigrant father, Abdirashid Ismail, and a White Canadian mother, Juliette Champlain. My parents are divorced, and I was raised by my mother's side of the family. For the longest time, I was one confused gal. My mother's relatives are French Canadians, practicing Catholics one and all, and they disapproved of her marriage to a Black Muslim man from Somalia.
My mother's parents were thrilled when Mom divorced my father, but they got more than they bargained for when the judge granted her full custody. I, the mixed-race daughter who is a constant reminder of my mother's fondness for the forbidden fruit, was stuck with them. Lots of White families are revolted by the fact that lots of White women are reproducing with Black men, and my mother's family was no exception. They definitely weren't kind to me, let's just leave it at that. I was determined to leave my mother's house as soon as I could.
At the age of eighteen, I left the City of Montreal for the capital region of Canada, never to return. Seriously, I don't miss Montreal or the rest of la belle province. Ontario, here I come. While in college, I embraced Islam, the faith of my fathers, and rejected the Whitewashing and western lies commonly found in today's Judeo-Christianity, much to my mother's amazement. I met plenty of Somali students at Capital and they were friendly and welcoming towards me. I was like a long-lost sister for them.
As much as I love my Islamic faith, there are certain elements within it that I find more than a bit disturbing. I was raised by my French Canadian family and never thought of it as a blessing until my friend Fatima, a pretty Somali gal I met in my civil engineering ethics class, told me that she was circumcised. I thought such things only happened in the continent of Africa and certain parts of the Arab world. Man, I was totally wrong!
My friend Fatima Abdullahi stunned me with this revelation. Apparently, even though Fatima was born and raised in the City of Ottawa, she wasn't spared from the barbaric cultural practices of the Somali people. Nothing in the holy book of Islam mandates female circumcision but you can't tell that to the Somali people. One summer, Fatima's parents sent her to stay with her aunt Hodan in Mogadishu, and while there, they circumcised her. That poor thing.
After Fatima Abdullahi shared this with me, I found myself feeling both disgusted and angry. Female circumcision is a thorny issue in lots of communities and many Muslims get mad when people bring it up in polite conversation. Me? I am the daughter of two worlds. I am half Somali and half White. I am a proud Muslim woman but I am not the type to foolishly embrace random cultural practices like the strict gender separation that Saudi society adheres to, or the female circumcision practices that so many Somalis are so fond of. Glad I was spared from such nonsense. Thanks but no thanks.
