Salaam School in Milwaukee Offers Sports and Dance for Muslim Girls

February 4, 2006

Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

http://www.jsonline.com/news/metro/feb06/389987.asp

On February 4, 2006 the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported, "Twenty girls hustled into the Salam School gym one recent afternoon, grabbed six basketballs and took shots... The Salam Stars [a Muslim girls basketball team] were preparing for their first-ever basketball season of playing with area non-Muslim teams. Many of the girls will be on the court for the first time in mixed company and will be dressed from head-to-toe as their religion requires... The challenge players face in adhering to traditional values while playing sports illustrates the larger reality for a growing number of Muslims in America, who are negotiating their way through the conflicting territory of an old faith and a new culture that is often at odds with that faith... An estimated 2 million to 6 million Muslims live in America. The Pluralism Project at Harvard University, which seeks to raise the awareness of religious diversity through research, lists 1,831 mosques and centers in the United States. A handful of mosques exist in Wisconsin, but the Salam School is the only organized institution in Wisconsin that offers several sports programs for Muslim girls."