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Executive Editor: Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Chronology of Islam in America (2016)
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
April 2016
Muslim Americans are model citizens, according to a new poll
April 1: A survey, from the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, shows that though Muslims living in America are facing more violence than ever, they are actually among America's most model citizens. What exactly does that mean? Well, in a land founded on religious freedom, Muslims are among the most religious and patriotic citizens: 42% of Muslims attend services regularly compared to 45% of Protestants. And 87% of Muslims say religion is important to their lives, compared to 94% of Protestants. That Muslims would continue to show religious pride and attend service is a testament to their faith, especially when 2015 was the worst year for mosque attacks on record. When it comes to identifying as a patriot, 85% of Muslims "have a strong American identity," just like 84% of Protestants. They are also just as likely as other Americans to identify strongly with their faith — 89% of Muslims, 84% of Jews, and 95% of Catholics and Protestants shared the sentiment. While Republican presidential candidates continue to discuss "radical Islamic terrorism" in debates, most American Muslims actually reject violence by a much higher margin than other groups. Sixty-five percent of Muslims oppose the targeting and killing of civilians by military groups, much higher than other religious groups. Additionally, the survey found zero correlation between Muslim religious identity, mosque attendance and attitudes toward violence. Muslims make pretty great neighbors, too. Thirty-eight percent of Muslims work with neighbors to solve problems, almost equal to the percentage of Jews (40%) and Catholics (42%) who do so. And while a much lower number of Muslims are registered to vote, among those who are eligible and registered, 85% plan to vote (which is still lower than most groups.) However, given the Islamophobia in the current political climate, it's understandable. A combined 27% of non-voting Muslims said that they don't like the proposed candidates or the candidates don't represent them. Finally, even though more than half of Muslims report experiencing discrimination on the basis of their religion in the last year — compared to 5% of Jews, 4% of Catholics and 2% of Protestants — they are the most optimistic about the future of America. Despite facing rampant Islamophobia, 63% of Muslims believe America is on the right track. [MIC.COM]
‘We all think you’re a terrorist’:
Texas schoolboy says teacher humiliated him with anti-Muslim hate speech
April 2: The family of a Muslim child is upset because they say the 12-year-old’s teacher called him a terrorist in front of his classmates, KHOU reports. Waleed Abushaaban, an honor student at a middle school in Fort Bend County, Texas, said the class was watching a movie on Thursday when his teacher directed the hateful words his way. “We were in the class watching a movie,” Waleed told KHOU, “and I was just laughing at the movie and the teacher said, ‘I wouldn’t be laughing if I was you.’ And I said why? She said, ‘because we all think you’re a terrorist.'” Abushaaban said the class was watching the soccer film, Bend It Like Beckham, after completing testing when the comment was made. He said the teacher’s comment prompted the other students to start mocking him. “They were like, ‘oh I see a bomb!’ and they started all laughing and making jokes,” he told the station. “I was upset and I felt like I was put in the corner and like everybody was just looking at me.“ The school district has removed the teacher from the classroom while it conducts an investigation. But Abushaaban’s parents and local Muslim leaders want her fired. Last year, 14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed was arrested when he brought homemade clock to school. Teachers and school police accused the child of making a “hoax bomb.” Mohamed was cleared and in the midst of outcry over the incident. [Raw Story]
Muslim family kicked off flight demands apology from United Airlines
April 2: Muslim family of five from Libertyville wants an apology from United Airlines after the family was removed last month from a plane at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. The removal came after the parents requested an additional strap for their youngest daughter's booster seat, according to Ahmed Rehab, executive director of Chicago's Council on American-Islamic Relations. Rehab said the family was ordered to exit the plane for security reasons. When the mother and father repeatedly asked the flight crew why they were being removed, they were told to exit "peacefully," return to the gate and await further instructions, Rehab said. United Airlines said in a statement that the family was asked to leave a SkyWest flight, operating as United Express from Chicago, "because of concerns about their child's safety seat, which did not comply with federal safety regulations." [Chicago Tribune]
Pittsburgh Islamic community combats political rhetoric
April 3: In December, shortly after the San Bernardino shooting, presidential hopeful Donald Trump called for a nationwide ban on all Muslims entering the country. A February Pew poll showed that 40 percent of Americans now support blunt messages about Islam like Trump’s — even if that message is critical. “People are going to look back in history and be embarrassed that this was a part of American history,” Wasi Mohamed, executive director of the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh, said. WESA’s Essential Pittsburgh program featured representatives from the Pittsburgh chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh (ICP). Mohamed, from the ICP, and Safdar Khwaja, from CAIR, answered questions from a live audience at the Community Broadcast Center about contemporary Islam and its role in Pittsburgh and the country. The World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh co-sponsored the broadcast. “Most recently, there have been a lot of overseas conflicts and some of [those conflicts] have migrated into our homeland here — either through media or the internet,” Khwaja, the local CAIR president, said, “which has placed people in an inquisitive mode, in a, sort of, very concerned mode.” The Islamic Center has taken a community approach to combating anti-Islamic rhetoric in Pittsburgh this year, hosting open dinners for people of all faiths and participating in public panels. Since Mohamed became executive director last year, he said about 10,000 people have visited for outreach and information events and tours. [New Pittsburgh Courier]
Muslim Americans are making their presence felt in the presidential campaign
April 3: The political future of the American Muslim vote seems anchored in the Democratic Party after years of enduring Islamophobia and bigotry from the Republican Party. This year’s election cycle marked the return of American Muslims to national politics after more than a decade of political dormancy. In many ways it has already exceeded the political participation of the 2000 elections, when Muslims formed a sought after voting bloc in support of the Republican, George W. Bush. Led by a new generation that came of age after 9/11, Muslims have shifted their support to the Democratic presidential candidates seeking the outsized voting power of political minorities to help defeat an increasingly white, male and overwhelmingly evangelical Christian Republican party. Today’s Muslim voters are overwhelmingly Democratic, and increasingly leaning towards Bernie Sanders. Along with outright Republican hostility, the changing nature of the national debate over race and the increasing diversification of younger generations of Americans have emboldened American Muslims to be more vocal in their politics and engage with it at a grassroots level. “A lot of people I talked to about Bernie Sanders, they would say, Bernie who?’” said Ahmed Bedier, founder of United Voices for America, a non-profit, and of the Facebook group Muslim Americans for Bernie Sanders. Bedier has helped with the Sanders campaign in his personal capacity, so as not to violate the political neutrality. Political organizers like Bedier support Sanders for more reasons than his defense of Muslims. They too share the notion that the economic and political system is rigged to benefit the top 1 percent of society, and they have been motivated by the belief that two or more seemingly unrelated sociopolitical issues exist because they originate from many of the same systemic problems. [AlterNet News]
Frustrated with campaign rhetoric, Muslims turn to political activism
April 3: For months, the two leading Republican candidates have tried to prove they're tough on Muslims. Donald Trump famously introduced the idea of a temporary ban on Muslim immigration, and then, last month, the businessman-turned-politician said he believes "Islam hates us." Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has often insisted President Obama should use the words "radical Islamic terrorism" and, last week, Cruz issued a statement that called for patrolling Muslim neighborhoods. This political rhetoric is horrifying many Muslims, but it's also had unintended side effects — encouraging them to get out to vote and work with other minority communities. Muslims make up just one percent of the U.S. population, but, in the 1990s into the early 2000s, they were often loyal Republicans. But some Muslims now say they don't see a place for them in the current party. "This election's coming across as a pick-your-poison election," said Minhaj Husain, who lives in suburban Waukesha County — solidly Republican terrain just outside of Milwaukee. Husain says, in his view, the Republican Party has deteriorated in recent years. "I used to be a big Ron Paul supporter, big libertarian," said Husain, but then he adds — there's no room for someone like Paul in the current Republican Party. So, this cycle he intends to vote for Bernie Sanders. His wife Asma Sukhera, 36, said she's appalled, not just by what some GOP candidates are saying, but, by how many fellow Americans seem to agree with them. "More people are latching on to this ideology of separatism, banning Muslims ... building a wall, these ideas are so anti-American, and so against everything that we grew up believing in," she said. [NPR]
Dallas anti-Muslim protest features masks and lots of guns
April 3: A tense, armed protest in front of a South Dallas mosque had police out in force Saturday afternoon. It happened in front of the Nation of Islam mosque. Anti-Muslim demonstrators, dressed in fatigues and masks and most of them armed, were easily outnumbered approximately 10 to 1 by the mosque supporters, some of whom were also armed. Mosque supporter Purlie Gates was very upset about the protest. "These people came to our community under false pretenses. Could we do the same thing? Could we make some allegations about a group in Highland Park and arm a militia and say we are going to go over there with arms and protest? That would have been stopped at city hall. The police would have stopped that," said Gates. Dozens of police officers stood in between the two groups and also perched on rooftops to ensure nothing more than verbal jabs were exchanged. The was no violence and no arrests. [CBS News]
Trickle Down Islamophobia In Texas Public Schools
April 4: Last Friday, a 12-year-old Fort Bend ISD student told reporters his teacher called him a terrorist because he’s Muslim. Which, unfortunately, isn’t even all that surprising now, especially when you consider the tenor of state and national politics — or the fact that Islamophobia keeps popping up around Texas public schools. It wasn’t that long ago that a teacher at HISD’s Daily Elementary School appeared on local cable access TV saying things like, “every normal human being in the world thinks that goat-fucking Muslims and boy-fucking Muslims are the evil of the world.” The teacher, who remains unapologetic, eventually resigned from the district. Then there was the Lamar ISD high school teacher last year who gave students a bizarre lesson on “radical Islam,” describing the religion this way: “Islam is more of an ideology than a religion. It is also an ideology of war.” There was even a section about what to do if taken hostage by “radical Islamists.” Consider also the small group that protested the opening of HISD’s new Arabic immersion school last August. Students walking into the building faced signs like, “Everything I ever cared to know about Islam was taught to me by Muslims on 9-11-2001.” The very next month, police in Irving arrested Ahmed Mohamed after school officials mistook his clock for a bomb. Police walked the 14 year old out of the school in handcuffs. It was also Irving where armed protestors, some wearing masks and assault rifles, patrolled outside a mosque to, as one sign read, “Stop the Islamization of America.” It happened in a state where lawmakers instruct their staff to ask visitors on Texas Muslim Capitol Day “to renounce Islamic terrorist groups and publicly announce allegiance to America and our laws.” A state where officials compare Syrian refugees to a pit of venomous snakes and openly joke about nuking “the Muslim world.” A state whose senator, now a top contender for the GOP presidential nomination, says law enforcement should “patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods.”On Friday, the family of Waleed Abushaaban, a seventh-grader at First Colony Middle School, urged Fort Bend ISD officials not only to fire the teacher who they say called their son a terrorist, but also to begin offering religious sensitivity training to teachers and students. Abushaaban says his class was watching a movie last Thursday afternoon, and when he started laughing, “the teacher was like, ‘I wouldn’t be laughing if I was you. … Because we all think you’re a terrorist.” Abushaaban says kids in class began to taunt him, saying things like, “You have bombs.” While Fort Bend ISD officials on Friday called the incident an “isolated event," recent history makes it look like anything but. [Houston Press]
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