Philadelphia Interfaith Center campaigns against anti-Muslim ads

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Thursday 16 Apr 2015 - 12:37 Makkah mean time-27-6-1436 Muslim in America (Image from care2 ) Philadelphia, US (IINA) - The Interfaith Center of Greater Philadelphia is using a Care2 petition to stand with Muslims and openly reject bigotry until the ads are removed, Care2 news reported. The petition simply allows members of the community to say, “These ads do not speak for me. I reject this hatred, I stand with you, and I value you for enriching our shared community.” This step comes after the Muslim community was under unprovoked attack in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, through a series of hateful advertisements on SEPTA buses. While the buses have changed their policy to prevent any political or public-issue advertising, they’re being forced to run the anti-Muslim ads until the end of the month when the new policy takes effect. Many Americans don’t realize that their Islamic neighbors are still at high risk for victimization by hate crimes. In fact, a Muslim person is still five times more likely to be the victim of a hate crime today than before September 11, 2001, according to the FBI. A local store in Maine was vandalized this week with anti-Muslim graffiti, and members of the religious community their report being the victims of regular personal harassment via social media. Also Muslim students aren’t even safe in American schools. A high school economics teacher is under fire for distributing hate speech in her own classroom. On the other side security presence had to be increased this month (April) at the Islamic Center of Irving in Texas after receiving a series of “disturbing” phone calls and messages. Gallup finds that 52 percent of Americans even agree that the West doesn’t respect Muslim societies. Of Muslim Americans, 60 percent say that Americans are generally prejudiced against them. This isn’t an unfair assumption given the mounds of hateful anti-Muslim rhetoric that swirls in conservative American political circles. SM/IINA