海角大神

When Zaineb Abdul-Nabi made an appearance on the Oscars鈥� red carpet and stage last weekend, my Twitter and Facebook feeds erupted with surprised and thrilled comments.聽

鈥淲ow there鈥檚 a hijabi on The Oscars鈥� stage! Represent!鈥澛�

鈥淗ijabi Oscars presenter FTW!鈥澛�

鈥淗ijabi love! Beautiful Muslim woman representing at The Oscars!鈥� 聽

Ms. Abdul-Nabi, a 22 year-old-from the Bronx, N.Y., who is a student at the University of Michigan, was selected as one of six students who won the聽鈥淭eam Oscar鈥澛爊ational film competition.

Thousands of college students submitted short videos along with an essay demonstrating how they plan on contributing to the film industry.

Abdul-Nabi鈥檚聽video聽is less than a minute long, but clearly highlights her hard work, creativity, and promise as an upcoming filmmaker.聽

Her choice of background music, the eclectic scenes and faces in the video, and her narration on her drive and ambition are uplifting and powerful.聽

Indeed, it is wonderful and exciting that a Muslim woman, who happens to wear the hijab, won this competitive process and is possibly the first 鈥渉ijabi鈥� to ever walk the Oscar stage. And yes, she looked nothing short of radiant on the red carpet, and spoke thoughtfully in her interview with Robin Roberts.聽

But why is there such a fixation on her attire and the hijab she dons? Some went so far as to suggest that she merely won because of her hijab and that this was a classic case of Hollywood鈥檚 selective tokenizing.聽

But doing so invalidates Abdul-Nabi鈥檚 accomplishments and reduces her notable talent. On Twitter and Facebook, I watched many of her friends reply to comments by giving name to Abdul-Nabi. They were quick to identify her as 鈥淶aineb, the talented and hardworking filmmaker鈥� rather than the nameless hijabi so many wanted to claim.聽

Can we please get over the whole 鈥渇irst hijabi, Muslim woman to do such and such鈥� trend in the media and elsewhere? Can we focus more on these women鈥檚 achievements, hard-work, skills, and contributions rather than what they are wearing?聽

There is no correlation between a person鈥檚 hijab and talent-level. Whether to celebrate or dismiss, we must resist the urge to focus only on the hijab, as doing so disregards one鈥檚 talents. It is easy, I know, when certain groups have been excluded and made nearly invisible for so long, but to show actual support, begin by learning peoples鈥� names and what got them to where they are.聽

American Muslim women have been essential contributors to their communities in all sorts of ways 鈥� whether as teachers, filmmakers, doctors, community organizers, and so on. They go through everyday struggles and are often聽discriminated against聽because of their identities.聽

Yes, showing support for them is essential, but let鈥檚 not undermine the work they have been doing for a long time by brushing aside their talent and suggesting that their biggest accomplishment in their field is their identity or being first, rather than the quality of their work.聽

I asked Abdul-Nabi about her remarkable experience and she said it was an honor to be at the Oscars.聽

Although now her work is on the technical side of filmmaking, she hopes one day she will be producing or writing films.聽

Her passion, she said, is highlighting 鈥渙rdinary鈥� people who are often misrepresented in the media.聽

鈥淚n a sense, I get it is a big honor: a big honor as a woman of color, a Muslim woman, and an Arab woman. It's an intersecting part of my identity, so when people single it out on Twitter, I don't find it shocking 鈥� it鈥檚 only one part of my identity people choose to highlight,鈥� she said. 鈥淎t the end of the day, I know it鈥檚 not my hijab or color that represent me. All of those things aren鈥檛 solely what makes me who I am. It鈥檚 up to me the way I choose to combat those labels.鈥�