www.amperspective.com Online Magazine
Executive Editor: Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Chronology of Islam in America (2018)
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
July 2018
America has a Muslim problem?
July 7: June 2018 was an especially bad month for the status of Muslims in America. First, we learned that a new study showed that many Americans view Muslims in the United States as insufficiently “American,” and almost 20 percent would deny Muslim citizens the right to vote. Then, the Supreme Court upheld President Donald Trump’s decision to institute a ban on immigrants, refugees and visa holders from five majority-Muslim countries in a 5-4 decision.The synergy of these two pieces of information is critical because it reveals a common attitude that Muslims pose a threat to U.S. security whether they are U.S. citizens or not. And while these attitudes do break down heavily across party lines, it is noteworthy that the study of U.S. perceptions of Muslim Americans conducted by Dalia Mogahed and John Sides for the Voter Study Group indicated that even 12 percent of Democrats would consider denying Muslim citizens the right to vote. Their study also showed that 32 percent of Democrats favor targeting Muslims at U.S. airport screenings to ensure the safety of flights. That figure compares with 75 percent of Republicans. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority SCOTUS opinion upholding the travel ban. He emphasized that, despite ample evidence of President Donald Trump’s animus towards the Muslim community, the ban was a security issue and not an example of discrimination, “Because there is persuasive evidence that the entry suspension has a legitimate grounding in national security concerns, quite apart from any religious hostility, we must accept that independent justification.”As made clear by Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s dissent, where she referenced the court’s 1944 decision to uphold the internment of Japanese Americans, the practice of claiming national security needs in order to implement discriminatory policy is nothing new in this country. She argued that the court's decision "leaves undisturbed a policy first advertised openly and unequivocally as a 'total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States' because the policy now masquerades behind a façade of national-security concerns." Taken together the Supreme Court decision and the voter study reveal a mainstreaming of Islamophobia. Whether aimed at Syrian refugees or U.S. citizens, these attitudes, policies and practices underscore the reality that America really has a Muslim problem — a problem seeing Muslims as human beings deserving of dignity, human rights and respect. [Sophia McClennen - Salon]
America’s real problem is Islamophobia
July 7: While bigotry toward a wide range of groups has been normalized in the Trump era, there are particular features of the targeting of Muslims as security threats that are noteworthy. As Moustafa Bayoumi, author of "How Does it Feel to Be a Problem," explained it to me, the key turning point was obviously the attacks of 9/11/2001. Since then, he said, there has “been a relentless drive to delegitimize Muslim American citizenship.” In addition, he pointed out that for many non-Muslim Americans, there is a tendency to think of a Muslim citizen as a Muslim first, rather than a fellow American, an attitude buttressed by the fact that “U.S. support for policies targeting Muslims has been substantial and consistent.” But here’s the thing. Fear of Muslims was not simply a spontaneous response to the events of 9/11. The current attitude of suspicion, fear and intolerance of the Muslim community was purposefully orchestrated. A team of researchers that studied the roots of Islamophobia in the United Sates following 9/11, published as "Fear Inc.," identified seven charitable groups that provided $42.6 million to Islamophobic think tanks between 2001 and 2009. Their research was further able to show a direct line from Islamophobic think tanks, like the Richard Mellon Scaife foundation, to media influencers and politicians. They cite one example from 2010 when then Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich warned a conservative audience at the American Enterprise Institute that the Islamic practice of Sharia was “a mortal threat to the survival of freedom in the United States and in the world as we know it.” Gingrich went on to claim that “Sharia in its natural form has principles and punishments totally abhorrent to the Western world.” What they show, moreover, was that Gingrich’s remarks mimicked the language of conservative analyst Andrew McCarthy, who co-wrote a report calling Sharia “the preeminent totalitarian threat of our time.” Today in the Trump era, the systematic production of Islamophobic stories discovered by the Fear, Inc. team of scholars seems quaint. Buzzfeed reporters Hannah Allam and Talal Ansari found that since 2015, Republican officials in 49 states have openly attacked Muslims with words and proposed legislation. To top it off, it is not only Trump in the executive spouting of Islamophobic drivel, he has surrounded himself with Islamophobes. His national security adviser, John Bolton, was formerly chair of the Gatestone Institute, a nonprofit that hypes the threat of Islam through debunked stories about “Muslim mass-rape gangs” and attempts to create an “Islamist Colony” in the United Kingdom. [Sophia McClennen - Salon]
Dehumanized both Muslims and Mexican immigrants
July 7: Nour Kteily and Emile Bruneau have found, in a study of U.S. perceptions towards Mexicans and Muslims, “Americans blatantly dehumanized both Muslims and Mexican immigrants.” They further found “that the degree of blatant dehumanization was uniquely associated with support for exclusionary policies proposed by Donald Trump and some of his Republican peers.” They were also able to show that those attitudes directly led to more hostile and violent attitudes towards the dehumanized communities. This series of connections explains why, for instance, we have had a rise in hate crimes towards Muslims living in the United States. A 2017 Pew Research study found that hate crimes against Muslims in the United States had surpassed post 9/11 levels. The only explanation for that rise is the systemic effort to further alienate and disenfranchise Muslim Americans while also demonizing all Muslims across the globe. And that is where the real threat lies. The combination of Islamophobic perceptions and policies that has swept the United States in the last years has created a hostile and threatening environment for Muslims. In a Pew Research Center survey conducted in early 2017, 75 percent of Muslim American adults say there is “a lot” of discrimination against Muslims. Moreover, half of U.S. Muslim adults say that in recent years it has become more difficult to be a Muslim in the United States. All of this gets worse with the legitimization of Trump’s travel ban, which As Moustafa Bayoumi, author of "How Does it Feel to Be a Problem," points out is also dividing families, sowing fear, and creating an atmosphere of insecurity and anxiety all of which is causing Muslim Americans to feel further alienated and marginalized. The research by Kteily and Bruneau reveals an even more disturbing facet to the dehumanization of a minority community. They show that dehumanizing groups helps promote support for hostile policies targeted at these groups. But even worse, they also show that by making minorities feel dehumanized, “they also further the very danger they purport to safeguard against.” This means that hostile and violent perceptions and policies exacerbate and aggravate group conflict and potential for violence. It is time to recognize that the real Muslim threat in this country is to their well-being. And until we take their security seriously, none of us will be safe. [Sophia McClennen - Salon]
Anti-Muslim Bias Incidents, Hate Crimes Spike in Second Quarter of 2018
July 12: The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today released an update on anti-Muslim incidents nationwide in the second quarter (April-June) of 2018. CAIR’s quarterly report indicates that anti-Muslim bias incidents and hate crimes are up 83 and 21 percent respectively, as compared to the first quarter of 2018. Incidents involving government agencies, including the FBI and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, have also risen by 60 percent in this time period. For the second quarter of 2018, CAIR received 1006 reports of potential bias incidents, with 431 of these reports determined to contain an identifiable element of anti-Muslim bias. The 2018 second quarter report records denial of religious accommodation as the number one type of bias incident. Many of these cases have occurred at an incarceration or detention facility, making this the number one location of anti-Muslim bias incidents in the second quarter of the year. This is the first time that detention facilities have been among the top five locations of bias incidents since CAIR has kept records of anti-Muslim discrimination. “We believe the wrongful treatment of inmates and detainees is connected to the overall spike in bigotry targeting American Muslims and other minority communities since the election of Donald Trump as president,” said Zainab Arain, coordinator in CAIR’s Research and Advocacy Department. Bias incidents are defined as cases in which there was an identifiable element of discrimination. Hate crimes are criminal offenses against persons or property, or incidents that can be charged as such under relevant state or federal statute. The most prevalent trigger of anti-Muslim bias incidents in 2018 remains the victim's ethnicity or national origin, accounting for 33 percent of the total. For the 341 cases in which a victim’s ethnicity or national origin was identified, the most frequent was “Middle Eastern/North African” at 39 percent. The second most common was “Black/African-American” at 17 percent. At 14 percent, “South Asian” was the third most commonly targeted ethnicity. Seventeen percent of incidents occurred because of an individual being perceived as Muslim. A Muslim woman’s head scarf (hijab) was a trigger in 16 percent of incidents. The report dataset is drawn primarily from the intakes CAIR conducts each year. With each case, civil rights and legal staff seek to ensure the highest possible level of accuracy. CAIR has reported an unprecedented spike in bigotry targeting American Muslims and members of other minority groups since the election of Donald Trump as president. [CAIR]
Jury convicts Texas mosque arsonist who wanted to 'terrorize' Muslims
July 16: A 12-member jury in Victoria, Texas, today announced they'd found the man accused of setting the fire to a Texas mosque guilty. The trial of Marq Vincent Perez, who was indicted last year of a hate crime related to the Jan. 28, 2017 fire at the Victoria Islamic Center, began last week at the federal courthouse. It took the jury about three hours of deliberations before finding him guilty of three felony counts including damage to a religious property, use of fire to commit a federal felony and possession of a destructive device related to an earlier incident. U.S. District Judge John D. Rainey will decide Perez's sentence at an Oct. 2 hearing. The date could coincide with the opening of the newly built mosque. [www.wtsp.com]
Record number of Muslim Americans make bids for elected office
July 16: Around 90 Muslim Americans launched campaigns for national or statewide offices this election cycle, a number that Muslim groups and political observers say is unprecedented in the post-9/11 era. Many, however, have faced anti-Muslim backlash. From Congress to state legislatures and school boards, Muslim Americans spurred to action by the anti-Muslim policies and rhetoric of President Trump and his supporters are running for elected offices in numbers not seen since 9/11, say Muslim groups and political observers. There were as many as 90 Muslim Americans running for national or statewide offices this election cycle, a number that Muslim groups say was unprecedented, at least in the post-9/11 era. But recent primaries have whittled the field down to around 50, a number that still far exceeds the dozen or so that ran in 2016, said Shaun Kennedy, co-founder of Jetpac, a Massachusetts nonprofit that helps train Muslim American candidates. Among the candidates to fall short were California physician Asif Mahmood, who placed third in last month's primary for state insurance commissioner, despite raising more than $1 million. And in Texas, wealthy businessman Tahir Javed finished a distant second in his Democratic primary for Congress, despite an endorsement from Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer of New York.Nine candidates for Congress are still in t he running, according to Jetpac's tally. At least 18 others are campaigning for state legislature and 10 more seek major statewide and local offices, such as governor, mayor, and city council. Even more are running for more modest offices like local planning board and school committee. [Associated Press]
Santa Clara Recognizes August as Muslim Appreciation and Awareness Month
July 17: The City of Santa Clara has recognized the month of August as “Muslim Appreciation and Awareness Month” through its presentation of a proclamation to the American Muslim community tonight at a city council meeting. Originally Assemblymember Bill Quirk (D-Hayward) introduced a resolution in 2016 to proclaim the month of August as "Muslim Appreciation and Awareness Month.” He reintroduced the resolution in 2017 and again this year with Assemblymembers Ash Kalra and Kansen Chu as co-sponsors of HR 118. "I am proud to celebrate the first ever Muslim Appreciation and Awareness Month by honoring generations of Muslim Americans for their many social, cultural, and economic contributions to California," said Assemblymember Quirk. “While in recent years, we have seen the highest number of cases involving hate incidences, racial profiling and school bullying, we have also seen many elected officials stand in solidarity with marginalized communities and work together to uplift all,” said CAIR-SFBA Government Relations Coordinator Sameena Usman. “The Bay Area’s diverse Muslim community continues to make significant contributions with lasting positive impact felt globally.” [CAIR]
Fliers Posted in Bridgewater, Surrounding Area by White Supremacist Group Identity Evropa
July 18: The New Jersey Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NJ) today condemned the distribution of fliers promoting Identity Evropa, a white supremacist group, in Bridgewater, Somerville, Morristown and other areas. According to Bridgewater resident Stacey Friedlander, a member of the “Not In Our Town – Bridgewater/Raritan” Facebook group posted a photo of a utility pole near Route 202/206 and Burnt Mills Road in Bedminster with the Identity Evropa poster. In addition, Friedlander said, several people did some research and found that the group’s Twitter feed contained pictures bragging about their coverage in the area, including at the mall, the Hills Shopping Center in Bedminster, the Somerville Public Library and other areas in and around Somerset and Morris counties. According to the ADL website, Identity Evropa is a white supremacist group focused on preserving white American culture and promoting white European identity. The group, the website said, spreads its message on the Internet, and by distributing fliers, posters, banners and stickers. The group, the ADL website said, has participated in protests against Muslims and immigration, and joined events organized by other white supremacist groups. An event was held Monday evening at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Somerset Hills, where about 20 local residents chose locations to post their own flyers about reporting hate crime incidents, while also discussing contacting local officials about taking a public stand against bias and hate incidents in the area. A second event is being held by Pat Sodolak, of We The People NJ-07, Wednesday in Basking Ridge. It will focus on strategizing ways to respond and create a response guide. According to the CAIR press release, CAIR-NJ said it has seen an unprecedented spike in bigotry targeting American Muslims, immigrants and members of other minority groups since Donald Trump was elected president. They recently released a report, the release said, showing an unprecedented rise in bias-motivated incidents linked to the election. In addition, in April, CAIR-NJ condemned the racist vandalism of a campaign poster with a Nazi swastika in South Plainfield. [www.tapinto.net]
NYPD Continues to Focus Surveillance on Muslims
July 19: Muslims are the focus of more than 80 percent of intelligence investigations into political activity by the New York City Police Department, Documented has learned. Despite years of scrutiny, community outrage, lawsuits and additional oversight, the department remains focused on targeting Muslim Americans. A source familiar with the department’s intelligence activity told Documented that the NYPD’s intelligence bureau continues to mostly target Muslims. In 2011, the Associated Press revealed that the police department had unconstitutionally infiltrated Muslim student groups, religious bookstores, hookah bars and other places to spy on people. The stories sparked public outrage and several high-profile lawsuits, including Raza v. City of New York and the recently settled Hassan v. City of New York. It led to the dismantling of the demographics unit, which was responsible for the spying program, in 2014. Despite the uproar and the ensuing lawsuits, the Office of the Inspector General found in 2016 that the NYPD was still largely targeting Muslims with its surveillance operations. In a report, the Office of the Inspector General for the NYPD wrote, in a footnote, that 95 percent of the investigations conducted by the NYPD’s Intelligence Bureau it reviewed, targeted people who were associated with Muslims or individuals associated with Islam. Documented has learned that the Intelligence Bureau continues on a similar pattern. More than 80 percent of the department’s investigations into political activity are still targeting Muslim people or organizations. [Documented]
Terror attacks by Muslims receive 357% more press attention, study finds
July 20: Terrorist attacks committed by Muslim extremists receive 357% more US press coverage than those committed by non-Muslims, according to new research from the University of Alabama. The researchers controlled for factors like target type, number of fatalities, and whether or not the perpetrators were arrested before reaching their final statistic. Terrorist attacks committed by non-Muslims (or where the religion was unknown) received an average of 15 headlines, while those committed by Muslim extremists received 105 headlines. The findings, which are illustrated below, were based on all terrorist attacks in the US between 2006 and 2015 according to the Global Terrorism Database. The disparity in media coverage is particularly out of sync with the reality given that white and rightwing terrorists carried out nearly twice as many terrorist attacks as Muslim extremists between 2008 and 2016. [The Guardian]
The plot to massacre Muslims the US media 'ignored'
July 20: In 2015, the Muslim community of Islamberg, in upstate New York, discovered that a Tennessee minister, Robert Doggart, was plotting the deadliest attack on US soil since 9/11 against their village. Yet many Americans have never even heard of him, and the community feels its fears over safety have been ignored. No terrorism charges were brought against Doggart. No national news outlets covered his arrest. One month after he was taken into custody, a judge released him on bail. As Doggart’s case went before an all-white jury, the Guardian’s new documentary, White Fright, dissects the US’s segregated system of national security, the media’s role in exacerbating terrorist threats, and the failure of society to protect vulnerable communities from racist attacks. [The Guardian]
2018: January February March April May June
July August September October November December