A Minnesota public school kindergarten graduation featured young girls wearing hijabs, drawing attention after President Trump shared video of the ceremony on Truth Social. YouTube entertainer Ms. Rachel, whose full name is Rachel Accurso, then posted on Instagram Wednesday praising the head coverings.
“I saw some of you wore a hijab to your graduation,” Accurso wrote. “I think hijabs are beautiful.”
Trump shared the video without a written caption, but paired it with a screenshot from the End Wokeness account on X, which described the footage as coming from “a public school in St. Paul, Minnesota. Every girl is in a hijab… in kindergarten.”
The video shows students in graduation robes and caps singing during the ceremony. Many of the girls are wearing hijabs.
Accurso did not mention Trump by name in her post. She wrote that children wore different items meaningful to their “cultures and religions, such as hijabs, kippahs, or necklaces with a cross,” and concluded that regardless of what children wore, “we all belong.”
“No one’s hurtful words can take away our worth and our value!” she added.
The children’s content creator has a significant following among young American families. Her channel targets toddlers and early-learners and she is a regular presence in millions of American households.
Accurso has become a prominent voice on immigration-related issues, visiting the Delaney Hall immigration detention facility in Newark, N.J., in June to meet with detained families. She has also publicly advocated for Palestinian children during the Israel-Hamas conflict and faced calls from advocacy groups for an attorney general investigation into her public statements.
Trump has repeatedly focused on Minnesota’s Somali community, directing federal agencies to investigate fraud cases in the state and deploying immigration enforcement officers to the region earlier this year.
Accurso’s Instagram post encouraged children to report hurtful remarks to a trusted adult and told her audience they are “always welcome in my classroom.”
