America’s largest Muslim advocacy group is outraged and demanding an investigation after a Muslim high school student in California was mistakenly identified as “Isis Phillips” in a her high school yearbook.
Bayan Zehlif of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., was surprised Friday when she opened the yearbook for Los Osos High School, only to find a very different name was given beneath her school photo.
I guess I’m Isis in the yearbook… pic.twitter.com/hMc0dVu8dM
— βΔΨΔΠ (@BayanZehlif) May 7, 2016
The misprint immediately created a backlash, with Zehlif and her family suggesting the name was an intentional slur connecting her to the Islamic terror group ISIS.
But the school has a perfectly benign explanation for the misprint. Trevor Santellan, a student who worked on the yearbook, told ABC7Isis Phillips is the real name of another student, who transferred out of Los Osos earlier this year. A cursory Google search backs that up, locating an Isis Phillips who lives in Rancho Cucamonga.
Zehlif and others aren’t buying it and are convinced the misprint is a vicious, unprovoked hate attack.
“The school reached out to me and had the audacity to say that this was a typo,” Zehlif said in a Facebook post. “I beg to differ, let’s be real.”
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has issued a statement declaring the “Islamophobic” misprint represents a physical danger to Zehlif.
“The student and her family were deeply embarrassed after seeing the picture in the yearbook and have suffered a great deal of emotional and psychological distress,” CAIR said in a statement sent to The Daily Caller News Foundation. “It is unlikely that the student will return to school until the issue is resolved appropriately.”
CAIR added its lawyers are investigating the situation, suggesting it may consider suing the school unless “appropriate measures” are taken.
Los Osos halted the yearbook’s distribution and is working with a publishing company to remedy the error, but officials say they can’t fully investigate the matter until Monday since most staff are gone for the weekend. The school year books committee has also issued an apology via Twitter:
— LOHS Yearbook (@LosOsosYearbook) May 7, 2016
This apology has only generated further backlash, with numerous Twitter users accusing the yearbook committee of “failing to keep your students safe.”
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