Islamophobia in the US: Report

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Sunday 07 Jun 2015 - 12:41 Makkah mean time-20-8-1436 Photo: Reuters/file Washington, (IINA) - The recent spate of Islamophobic incidents in the West, mainly in the US, does not augur well for the safety and security of millions of American Muslims, according to the Express Tribune. One feels reassured by the responses to some of these incidents at the institutional level, with the US Supreme Court giving a ruling in favour of a Muslim woman’s right to don the headscarf at her workplace and an airline apologizing to a Muslim passenger for the behaviour of a flight steward. However, the conduct of institutions strikes a rude contrast with that of the public in the US who, despite being the most democratic polities, seem to have become increasingly wary of Muslims and Islam. Moreover, the very democratic nature of these societies, in the wake of such unhealthly mindsets, may have the potential to adversely influence the behaviour of institutions as well, and this is worrying. Recently, about 250 mostly-armed anti-Muslim demonstrators, many wearing T-shirts bearing a profanity-laced message, denouncing and deprecating Islam faced off against a crowd of roughly the same size defending Muslim sensibilities in front of a Phoenix mosque. The incident occurred after two Phoenix residents carrying assault rifles were killed by the police outside a cartoon-drawing contest in suburban Dallas. The organizer of the protest claimed that he had received threats from ‘terrorists’ on Twitter, and that he and his family no longer felt safe in their home. Although the event was marked by inflammatory messages and a tangible divide between the two sides, it wasn’t without some reconciliation. However, one of the members of the group defending the mosque was quoted as saying: “A lot of them, they’ve never met a Muslim, or they haven’t had interactions with Muslims. So when you sit down and talk like rational people, without all these slogans, without being bigots, without bringing guns, they will find out that they’re talking to another human.” SM/IINA