SACRAMENTO – A Sacramento young Muslim girl has been honored by a leading US Muslim advocacy group and Muhammad Ali’s daughter for embodying the Muslim champion’s stand against hate and advance for justice.

“He taught us there were people all over the world taking a stand and fighting for what they believe but you don’t hear it because nobody knows their name,” said Hana Yasmine Ali, the champ’s second youngest daughter,

Ali was talking at the Sacramento Valley Council on American Islamic Relations’ banquet “Advancing Justice, Challenging Hate,” Detroit Free Press on Sunday.

During the event, Yasmine Nayabkhil, a sixth-grader from Natomas, received CAIR’s Courage and Inspiration Award before a multicultural crowd of 750 at California State University, Sacramento.

She was described as “a symbol of resolve of Muslim Americans against discrimination and injustice.”

Yasmine’s dilemma started when she came to her fifth-grade class at Two Rivers Elementary School last spring wearing her hijab.

Facing severe bullying, she held her ground at school and later testified before both Assembly and Senate committees in favor of Assembly Bill 2845.

“Everything changed,” she testified. “Often people called me a terrorist, said I was an old woman and called me ugly … nobody else was being mean to anybody else and calling them names.”

Yasmine said her mother picked her up early from school after she broke down in tears.

“Yasmine’s a very strong, courageous girl, and nobody on either side of her family wears a hijab. It’s something she chose to do,” said her mother, Valerie Nayabkhil.

“It’s what my heart told me to do,” said Yasmine, then 10.

The new measure seeks to bolster anti-bullying victims by ensuring that school districts share local and state resources with teachers and administrators. The measure is on Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk.

“This is the story of a brave 10-year-old girl who’s father is a Muslim and whose mother is Christian,” said CAIR civil rights attorney Saad Sweilem.

“She had Assembly members in tears.”

Standing up to Hate

Hana Yasmine Ali

Challenging hate at her school, Yasmine, transferred to another school with greater diversity, saying she plans to become a human rights activist.

“I hope that it’s going to encourage more Muslim kids to stand up for themselves. But I think teachers should be educated more about people of all religions,” she said in an interview.

“I want teachers to learn how to handle situations just like mine, and there should be a strict no-bullying policy at all schools. It doesn’t matter if they’re Christian or Muslim.”

Amid increasing anti-Muslim rhetoric, reports of anti-Muslim bullying are becoming more common, Sweilem said.

“It’s usually either hate speech or hijabs getting pulled.”

CAIR helped write the measure along with Asian Americans Advancing Justice and the Sikh Coalition.

“It’s good a thing for all children coming out of a bad situation,” said Yasmine’s mother, adding that she and her husband, an Afghan immigrant, teach both Muslim and Christian religions.

“We’re proud of the choice she made on her own,” she said.