Offensive remarks can fuel anger at society, some say `They judge you just because you're wearing a scarf'
A darker side of Toronto's diversity is emerging on school campuses in the aftermath of arrests in an alleged terrorist plot involving at least five suspects younger than 18. Most of the other 12 are in their late teens or early 20s, which raises the question: How could young people brought up in our own backyard, in a place that seemingly affords them every opportunity, be motivated to carry out a potentially horrific act of terrorism in Toronto?
While speculation has focused on mosques and prayer halls as possible places of indoctrination, students across Greater Toronto are suggesting that alienation might just begin at school. One of the accused is Saad Khalid, 19, a former student at Meadowvale Secondary School in Mississauga. He and two other former Meadowvale students charged in the case — Fahim Ahmad and Zakaria Amara — were known by some of the teenagers the Toronto Star talked to there this week. The current students declined to be identified, in part because of an announcement made by a school administrator strongly encouraging them "to refrain from talking to reporters."
But white students, as well as those of South Asian or Middle Eastern descent, painted a picture of a divided student body, with a so-called "brown corner" at one end of the school where Muslim teens hang out, often speaking in their mother tongue. They also pointed to the trend among some Muslim students to take on a more visibly orthodox appearance as they progress through Meadowvale. |