Elk Grove student assaulted for being Muslim. Community rallies as police seek suspect
Nearly 100 students, parents and school officials gathered at Pleasant Grove High School two days after a Muslim student was assaulted on campus. The meeting about the incident prompted a visit from the mayor of Elk Grove, the Council on American-Islamic Relations and other community leaders, who rallied in support of the student.
The attack happened Wednesday while Sabah Elias, 17, was attending a tutoring session after classes. Elias, who was wearing a black shirt representing the Muslim Student Association (MSA) club on campus, said she was followed into a bathroom by a person wearing a mask. That person, she said, verbally attacked her for being Muslim before throwing a bucket of water at her.
Elias, who was not injured, said she was shaken up by the incident.
“I was in shock at that time, and I was in tears, and so overwhelmed with what happened,” Elias said. “I felt humiliated.”
Elias said she ran to the parking lot to drive home, calling her parents to tell them about the incident. But her concerned parents encouraged Elias to go back and report what happened to campus officials. The school immediately reported the incident to the Elk Grove Police Department, who responded minutes after the incident. The suspect in the assault was not found; it’s not known if the attacker was a student.
“We have been actively investigating since it was reported to us,” said Officer Jason Jimenez, spokesman for Elk Grove Police. “When any reports like this are brought to our attention, we take them seriously and investigate them thoroughly.”
The next day, Pleasant Grove High Principal Taigan Keplinger sent a letter home to parents informing families of the incident. Keplinger also said in Thursday’s letter that bullying, hate speech and hateful acts have no place at the school.
“We must do everything we can to demonstrate the importance of being more knowing, understanding and accepting of others and disavow hate, capture the incredible power of our collective diversity, creativity and intelligence,” read Keplinger’s letter.
On Friday, the school held the open gathering for students, parents and the civic leaders to discuss how they could move forward as a community. Also in attendance was Elias, who was applauded for coming forward after the incident.
“We came to realize that this person, whoever they are, acted this way because of ignorance.” Elias said. “The closure we were looking for was not just holding this person accountable for their actions. Instead, the greater closure we were looking for is how we can all be a part of the solution to the grander problem our community is facing, racial and social intolerance.”
Several students at the meeting called for more activities and opportunities on campus that would educate students on various cultures and beliefs. The campus’ Muslim Student Association, which was formed recently but before the assault took place, said learning from the incident would bring the community closer.
Gabriel Sandoval, a theater teacher and adviser to the MSA, said the club’s members were calling for a demonstration to stand in solidarity with Elias and to show the suspect how the community came together to fight hate.
“There are people on this campus that care about you, so please stick up for each other,” Sandoval said.
Students from clubs on campus, including the Gay Straight Alliance as well as other Elk Grove high schools, attended in solidarity.
“What happened to Sabah happens to a lot of brown students,” said Naema Ali, an Elk Grove High School student at the meeting. “Sabah took what happened and turned it into something amazing. This (meeting) was needed in Elk Grove”.
CAIR released a report in October that showed 40 percent of California Muslim students say they’ve been bullied — nearly twice the national average. The report found there was “minimal improvement in school environments for Muslim students” and nearly half of the Muslim 12th-graders, like Elias, reported being bullied — the largest group age group to report bullying.
In 2016, AB 2845 addressed bullying against South Asian, Muslim and Sikh students. Two years later, CAIR’s California chapter sponsored AB 2291, a law that requires schools to offer annual training to teachers and counselors to create a safe learning space for Muslim, LGBTQ, immigrant and other students who may be subject to bullying.
But some students and parents at the meeting Friday night were concerned that current policies didn’t go far enough.
“If the educators here aren’t teaching right, then students won’t learn (unity) from home or from here,” said Jude Farhat, who graduated from Pleasant Grove two years ago and said she was repeatedly harassed by students for wearing hijab.
“We really can’t think that unity is something that we will accomplish just by talking about,” said Khalid Elias, Sabah’s father. “It has to be a curriculum that we teach and mandate in our school districts. It has to start at a very early age, and we have to talk about it if we really want to maintain the integrity of our nation.”
Elk Grove Mayor Steve Ly attended the meeting and told the crowd that police would continue their investigation. Ly said he would be discussing this incident with school board members.
“Don’t tolerate this, call it for what it is,” Ly said to the crowd of students. “I am here today to stand in solidarity with the students here. What I heard was wrong, and we really are stronger together.”