Hello populace of reddit thinkers, let me set the scene:
I am a young white female muslim revert in southeastern Iowa who wears full hijab/niqab (face veil). I happen to love trains and tractors. I have attended old threshers in mt pleasant in 2023 and 2024 with my husband (he blends in) and had minimal issues. I never felt concerned and only the expected amount of stares and a few comments were experienced, but zero harassment, which was lovely.
Things have become a bit more tense politically since then.
I have been thinking to bring my friends, but am concerned whether a group (5-10) of clearly identifiable muslims, some of whom are of color, would be less safe than just two white individuals. By safe I don’t necessarily think there’s a serious threat to life (of course we’re always careful), but moreso I’d feel terribly responsible if there were a hijab spit on or pulled off or something racist said in front of a child.
I humbly request some thoughts on the matter, and if this would be a reasonable invite to extend or irresponsible and recklessly inconsiderate? It’s hard for me to gauge how extreme the beliefs are of the regular on the ground people we encounter and how likely they would be to react in fear (like they might feel invaded by the ‘crazy extremist muslims in their space’), of course fear is dangerous and sometimes violent. In Iowa city there were just last week the white genocide posters going around.
My past experiences at old threshers have been friendly and overall great for context, but that’s just small little me with my bubbly personality and bright colors, not a group of veiled women and their men and kids.
Thank you all.