Imam Bachir of Islamic Center of the Quad Cities fame may have been lucky enough to not have experienced any discrimination or severe prejudice for his religious belief. That, sadly, is not a shared experience for all Muslims in the country.
An article from the National Public Radio (NPR), O'Hare International, for example, has seen an increase in reports of discrimination targeted towards the Muslim-American communities since the Supreme Court upheld President Trump's travel ban from early in his presidency. In fact it was a 25% increase in Chicago, which, I might add, has a one of the largest Muslim communities in the nation. But that’s nigh nothing when compared to the cities Dallas and Atlanta have seen an increase by 50% and 70% respectively. That same article cited a report from ISPU (don’t ask who ISPU is) reported that Jewish and Hispanic people were the least likely to hold Islamophobic views and that white evangelicals were the most likely. It also found (hold your breath) that people who hold Islamophobic views probably don’t know any Muslims themselves. All that can be found at www.npr.org/local/309/2019/05/03/720057760/study-shows-islamophobia-is-growing-in-the-u-s-some-say-it-s-rising-in-chicago-too The Associated Press also reported on a series of seminars hosted by Greenville Avenue Church of Christ in Richardson, Texas, not far from Dallas, whose advertisement flyers referred to several dangerous “isms,” including some religions like Judaism, Atheism, and Islamism, as well as alcoholism, liberalism, and emotionalism. While few would argue that alcoholism is dangerous, it is itself dangerous to refer to any belief systems, including religious beliefs, as dangerous. The leader of the congregation did apologize for the phrasing, though he did not claim fault for the interpretation but instead said it wasn’t his intention to offend anyone and that anymore words carry much meaning and one must be very careful when saying something. Take that as you will, that he was simply unaware of his words’ effects on others or that he doesn’t feel responsible for what was said. The AP article is linked here: apnews.com/article/2faab89bdf3d440387f3413395f1df5f
2 Comments
Will Lawson
2/6/2021 09:54:10 pm
The statistics, from dallas, and Atlanta were extremely interesting, because they were so high. It is sad to see that this is still happening, and I am sure that it is not easy to be proud of your faith in America. It seems that the US has kind of built in hate to muslims, and many other groups. This has caused a lot of backlash, from many different groups. Overall great article!
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Braydi Mascari
2/9/2021 07:16:38 am
This is very interesting, I knew that the Islam religion was being discriminated but I haven't seen these numbers and they're pretty crazy to think about. Discrimination against the Islam religion has always been high because of ISIS and 911. To see those statistics go up after a travel ban is crazy.
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