OAK LAWN, Ill. – About two dozen women teachers at Richards High School donned Muslim hijabs at school this week to spark conversations about the religion and Donald Trump’s travel ban on countries with terrorist ties.

Two teachers at the school came up with the idea to celebrate World Hijab Day – “a day for us to walk in their shoes, to experience it, which I feel I did,” Health teacher Allison Williams told the Chicago Tribune.

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Teacher Joyce Cruse said she wrapped her head with the Muslim religious scarf to bring her history lessons “to the present” for her students.

“I say to my students, ‘Who would I most not want to be in America at this moment?’” she said. “And at this moment I wouldn’t want to be a Muslim woman who wears the hijab.”

Williams found out about World Hijab Day on Facebook and helped arrange the event at Richards High with French teacher Kelly Karstrand.

Several teachers said they were also inspired to participate by Trump’s temporary travel ban on non-citizens from five terrorist-linked countries in the Middle East and Africa. Karstrand contends the teacher hijab day is about “tolerance” and celebrating “differences.”

“Being a world language teacher, this was an awesome opportunity for me because we’re always talking about different cultures around the world and tolerance for differences, all kinds of differences,” she told the Tribune. “My students were overwhelmingly supportive.”

Cruse contends the religious celebration had nothing to do with politics, though she seems to have a clear position on Trump’s travel ban and wearing the hijab gives her a reason to discuss it.

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“There are a number of our students who know people who are affected by the ban, and know people who have been personally affected by violence in places like Syria,” Cruse said.

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“When Allison sent the email, I thought I will stand with my Muslim students because I stand with all of my students, whether they are gay or straight or a different religion,” she said. “I want them all to feel accepted.”

History teacher Rahaf Othman, whose family came to America as refugees in 1981, used personal experience to share her opinion about Trump’s months-long travel ban.

“If this ban had been in place then, we wouldn’t be here, we might be dead,” she said.

Othman said she and other teachers have been talking to students a lot about Trump’s travel ban.

“In our ELL (English Language Learner) program, those students have been here the shortest amount of time. On Monday (Jan. 30) we had a really tough conversation,” she told the Tribune. “One of our students, her mother lost her green card and was sent back. This girl probably will not see her mother again for a long time.

“Another girl said her dad was supposed to come back in two weeks and that now they’re trying to figure out what they can do because if he tries to come back he may not be let in and he may lose his green card,” Othman said.

For others like special education teacher Rasheedah Fitzpatrick, the hijab day gave her the opportunity to link Black History Month to the Muslim religion, and share her unique perspective with all her students.

“I wore the hijab to show my solidarity and to inform students that Islam is not just a religion for Arabs. African Americans make up a very large part of that population,” she told the Tribune.

“I want to be an example,” she said. “I may be the first person they know who is both Muslim and African American.”

Richards High School made no mention of the teacher hijab day on its Facebook page.