At the start of 2016, Junior Alexandra Hennessy wanted to do something to stop the growing Islamaphobia problem in our nation. Along with Hannah Shraim, a student from Maryland, Hennessy created a campaign with a hashtag that could trend across all social media accounts. #IStandWithMuslims encourages people to upload photos that show their support for the equality of Muslims.

This past Tuesday, Hennessy’s work was published on Global Student Square, which according to their website is “a youth lead iniative to globalize and democratize journalism by connecting student journalists all over the world.” Below is the article that was featured on Global Student Square.

Had Enough Hate? Join #IStandWithMuslims

Two students. Between us, 690 miles, six states, and two religions. One tweet. And then, suddenly, one voice.

Last December, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump called for a complete and total shutdown of all Muslims from entering the United States.

It struck us — two high school students living hundreds of miles apart and not yet friends — as terribly wrong.

Alex is a Roman Catholic, and a junior at York Community High School in Elmhurst, Illinois. For Alex, Trump’s comment was a signal of rising Islamophobia in the country, and the need for strong interfaith dialogue to counter this dangerous rhetoric.

Hannah is Muslim, and a senior at Northwest High School in Germantown, Maryland. For Hannah, Trump’s tweet marked a significant change in anti-Muslim bigotry — from an offhand comment by a publicity-loving celebrity to a movement that could one day become law and shut American Muslims like her out of American society.

And that’s why we’re picking today — Super Tuesday, a day when Americans are going to the polls in 12 states and one territory to pick the next president — to launch #IStandWithMuslims.

Since the Paris attacks last Nov. 13, ThinkProgress, an American political news blog, has documented 65 personal assaults, protests, shootings, incidents of harassment, and attacks on Muslim places of worship.

Unfortunately, these aren’t just headlines in a newsroom — they reach right into our classrooms as well.

According to a November 2015 report entitled Mislabeled: The Impact of School Bullying and Discrimination on California Muslim Students, 55 percent of Muslim high school students in California have experienced religious-based bullying. Additionally, one in five Muslim students in California reported discrimination from a faculty member. No matter your faith or your politics, these acts are unacceptable.

Through the support of Global Student Square, an international student journalism network, we’ve teamed up to launch a social media campaign with the hashtag #IStandWithMuslims. The campaign is a response to the alarming rise in Islamophobia in the U.S. and around the world.

We seek to educate students on the true values of Islam from the voices of Muslim students themselves, and to foster dialogue about peace, unity, and mutual understanding. Our goals are to amplify the voices of Muslims and Non-Muslims alike.

Educating each other will be key. According to a recent Pew Research poll, though Muslims comprise 22 percent of the global population, they make up less than 1 percent of the U.S. population. Because Muslims are a religious minority, many non-Muslim students may not be aware of the problems and concerns their Muslims peers confront on an everyday basis.

What do we hope to show? That Muslims live contrary to the fear-mongering rhetoric surrounding us — they are ordinary, law-abiding, red-white-and-blue-wearing Americans that deserve the rights to acceptance and tolerance.

Also, while other #IStandWithMuslims hashtag campaigns exist, we seek to amplify those other voices with a unique youth perspective.

What we want to say to Muslim students in Illinois, Maryland, and wherever our hashtag can reach is simple:

We are your friends.

We are your allies.

And together we can build an environment that welcomes all.

Click here to join our photo news challenge for #IStandWithMuslims.

— Hennessy is a student at York Community High School in Elmhurst, Illinois. Shraim is a student at Northwest High School in Germantown, Maryland. Opinion columns published on GSS represent the views of the author only and not Global Student Square. Contact them at [email protected].