Schools must support students not fan the flames of hate, harassment, and bullying. It is never okay for a school to throw a child under the bus and to allow parents to harass and bully a student. East Williston School District and The Wheatley School failed Huda by misleading the public about her graduation speech, contributing to her harassment and bullying, and refusing to condemn the harassment and bullying she faced from parents.

Huda is a 17-year-old American Muslim Pakistani student. On June 20th, Huda gave a graduation speech that was approved by the school principal (Dr. Feeney). Email records prove that Huda submitted her speech to Dr. Feeney on June 19th. He acknowledged receiving it via email, printed it, and the speech was on the podium for Huda when it was her time to speak. The speech that Huda read was the same speech she emailed to Dr. Feeney.

In the speech, Huda asked her classmates to seek out knowledge about international issues plaguing the world, including the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and Uighur Muslims and global warming:

“Educate yourself about international dilemmas, including the ethnic cleansings of Palestinians and Uighur Muslims. Families are continuously torn apart and real human lives are being lost but ignored. Educate yourself on the widespread issues that plague our planet and threaten our very existence in the long run: consider global warming with the gravity that it needs to be looked at with. And never stop speaking about these issues until they are resolved.”  

During her speech, attendees reported that some parents booed and chanted “we support Israel.” Afterwards, parents harassed and bullied Huda and her family. At one point, one parent is caught on video asking the student, “what about Hamas?”  

Another parent made the anti-immigrant statement, “go back to Pakistan!” Another male adult parent became so aggressive with his yelling and gestures that security and a police detective had to escort him away from the family.  

At the graduation ceremony, Dr. Feeney apologized to Huda and stated that “the blame is all mine” because he allegedly failed to review the speech before he approved it.  

Later that day, however, Dr. Feeney and Superintendent Kanas sent emails to the school community blaming Huda for ruining the graduation ceremony. Dr. Feeney also mislead the public and said that Huda's was not approved and that she diverted from her approved speech. This false information caused more hate and harassment by parents towards Huda.

To date, the School District and The Wheatley School continue to falsely claim that Huda diverted from her approved speech.

As a result of the harassment and bullying, Huda had to go to the hospital for anxiety. Due to fear for her safety, she couldn't attend prom with her classmates. She is fearful about her future because of the harassment and bullying by parents.

The School District failed to protect Huda. Instead of supporting a vulnerable Muslim student, they chose to target, vilify and smear her to the entire school community. The School District has not apologized to Huda and her family, they have not condemned the Islamophobic, anti-immigrant, and anti-Palestinian attacks against her, and they have not held any parents accountable for the harassment and bullying.

We must support Huda and the School District must make things right for Huda and her family. All students deserve the same rights and privileges. Schools must protect all students and not a select few.