Some Muslims are changing the way they dress to avoid post-Paris hatred

In the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris, some Muslims are changing the way they dress out of fear that they will become targets of retaliatory violence.

Anti-Muslim rhetoric has reached a fever pitch in the U.S. since the attacks. The presidential campaign is littered with calls to track and register Muslims or shut down the places where they worship and congregate. Then there is the issue of potential Syrian refugees, who have found themselves roundly shunned.

There has been a raft of anti-Muslim incidents across the country in the past week as well.

So it’s perhaps not too surprising that multiple people interviewed by McClatchy on Friday said that they had been looking over their shoulder more in the past few days. Here’s what one young Muslim told the news service:

Sidra Mahmood, 25, who studies at the Qalam Institute, an Islamic seminary, said she was furious that the actions of “these lunatics” in Paris had disrupted her life all the way in Arlington, Texas. Hoping to look less obviously Muslim, she changed her headscarf this week from the traditional hijab to a turban-style wrap that’s popular even among non-Muslims.

Another young woman, Uzma Hussain, told McClatchy that she has had to “change her routine” since the attacks, avoiding the gym and other places where she thinks she will attract too much suspicion.

There is every sign that the climate of hostility to Muslims will continue. Even before the Paris attacks, polls showed a majority of Americans describing Islam as incompatible with American values.