This site is where you can find the latest news in Noor's fight against discrimination in sports.
We're catching energy from powerful
stories of women everywhere. Like Noor, who was DQ'd at a high school track meet for wearing her hijab. Fast forward to now, and this activist + college student is passing state legislation that protects athletes from discrimination. Citing her mom as her main inspiration, Noor is now motivating other incredible women around the world.
W. Studios Fifty/50 Shorts presented by Google: Let Noor Run, featuring Director Shayla Harris, Noor Alexandria Abukaram and Yolanda Melendez
"You have to do your best and let your actions speak, not their thoughts." -- Yolanda Melendez
"Senate Bill 181 passed unanimously in the State Senate today! This is the end of the beginning, SB 181 will now move to the house to be debated and voted on again then Insha'Allah signed by the governor to become a law! Also, peep my newest accessory. Not only did the president of the senate co-sponsor the bill today, but also gifted me his gavel that finalized the vote for SB 181 to move out of the senate." -Noor Abukaram
Her hijab, the veil she chose to wear as a Muslim woman, violated the Ohio High School Athletic Association’s (OHSAA) rules.
Her time—her personal best at that moment—didn’t count. “It was like a nightmare came true,” Abukaram told Sports Illustrated. “My race is supposed to be under my control, but that control was taken away from me because of my hijab, something I hold so close to my heart. I felt so let down by the sport that I had trained so hard to run in. It was humiliating and embarrassing and upsetting.”
"People need to know that this is not a freak accident that happened to me here in Toledo. It happens every single day with Muslim athletes. So with Let Noor Run, it's going to eventually become the hub of discrimination in sports. That way people can see the numbers and they can know that it's not just something that happens in a blue moon." -Noor Abukaram
Noor stood on stage with Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir, a former University of Memphis basketball player, and Amaiya Zafar, who was the first boxer to wear a hijab in a sanctioned fight.
