Honoree Rachel Griffin Accurso attends Glamour Women of the Year at The Plaza on Nov. 4, 2025, in New York City. (Dimitrios Kambouris / Getty Images for Glamour)
By Samuel Short July 10, 2026 at 1:04pm
A popular kids’ channel host on YouTube just said that hijabs — head coverings worn by Muslim women — are “beautiful” when she decided to comment on a kindergarten graduation in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Ms. Rachel, who has over 20 million subscribers on YouTube, has content targeted toward young children. Although secondary to her YouTube success, the content creator enjoys a sizeable following on social media platform Instagram, where she currently has over 5 million followers.
It was here on Wednesday that Ms. Rachel commented on a recent video shared by the social media X account End Wokeness, later shared by President Donald Trump, of school children singing with the girls in the class wearing the hijab.
End Wokeness posted the footage June 12, but it was not until Monday that Trump shared it via social media platform Truth Social.
According to Bring Me The News, the footage comes from Gateway STEM Academy in St. Paul, Minnesota. The school’s official YouTube channel posted the graduation in its entirety on June 10. The class, audience, and speakers largely appear to be Somali or have Somali ancestry.
Were it not for the English spoken in the footage, the viewer would believe this ceremony was happening in Somalia. According to The New Arab, Trump’s actions got the attention of the Council on American Islamic Relations, an organization notorious for going after critics of Islam.
The Minnesota chapter of CAIR said of the president’s social media activities, “By using his global platform to amplify anti-Muslim bigotry and target Muslim children at this elementary school, President Trump is putting lives at risk.”
Would you let your child or grandchild watch this person’s content?
It was in this context that Ms. Rachel posted to Instagram saying, “Hi to the Kindergarteners in Minnesota — Congrats on your kindergarten graduation!
“I saw some of you wore a hijab to your graduation. I am glad you wore something meaningful and special to you and your family. I think hijabs are beautiful,” she added.
“Different kids wear different things that are part of their cultures and religions, such as hijabs, kippahs, or necklaces with a cross. Some kids don’t wear anything that is from their religion or are not religious.”
The post was later reposted to X.
I don’t think those kindergarteners chose to wear the hijab, Rachel. pic.twitter.com/nkg11AQG1A
— Max 📟 (@MaxNordau) July 8, 2026
There’s nothing “beautiful” about it. In Muslim culture, women refusing to veil put themselves at risk of harm.
In February 2019, a 19-year-old living in Sweden beat his 14-year-old sister when she refused to cover her head, according to a report from Breitbart News.
A 16-year-old in Algeria, Katia Bengana, was walking home from school one day in February 1994. She had received death threats from Muslim men for refusing to wear a hijab and knew she was taking a risk by being out in public without it.
She was shot and killed. Amnesty International said that Muslims gave women in Algeria an ultimatum: wear the hijab or your life is in danger.
The hijab as a head covering or burqa — a full covering of the body — varies in application from country to country, but the Islam-critical site The Religion of Peace notes that coverings are a part of Sharia Law, a legal system utilized by Muslims based on the Sunnah, a collection of traditions about the life of Islam’s prophet, Muhammad.
That’s all to say, it’s highly unlikely these little girls chose to wear hijabs.
They come from Muslim families where they have little choice in anything.
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Sam Short is an Assistant Professor of History with Motlow State Community College in Smyrna, Tennessee. He holds a BA in History from Middle Tennessee State University and an MA in History from University College London. The views expressed in his articles are his own and do not reflect the views or opinions of Motlow State Community College.
