Wrapped tightly around her head, without softly draping fabric to distract her all through conferences at her tech startup, Dilara Sayeed’s hijab is American in additional methods than 1.

Her hijab, or Muslim headscarf, has a sleek, Specialist profile that is mostly found inside the U.S.

Plus the spirit with which Sayeed, a previous Democratic applicant for the Illinois abayas Residence of Representatives, wears her hijab is American as well. When Sayeed’s Indian-born father questioned her conclusion to cover her hair at age 19, expressing, “You’re in the usa now; you don’t have to do this,” Sayeed’s comeback was the things of a highschool civics class:

“It’s simply because I’m American that I can choose to protect, Daddy.”