• Home
  • ¿Por Qué?
  • Multimedia
  • Twist
  • Teach
    • Glosario
  • Share
    • Cuentanos tu experiencia
  • Coexist
  • Red
    • Colaboradores
    • Activities
  • en
  • es
Twist Islamophobia
Share 0

How can we fight Islamophobia in America?

By Fundación de Cultura Islámica · On 14 March, 2017


With demographic anxiety and political rhetoric fueling discrimination and hostility, the Ford Foundation—together with the New York Community Trust, the New York Foundation, and Philanthropy New York—hosted a discussion on “Confronting Islamophobia in America Today.” Leaders from the nonprofit, government, social service, and philanthropic sectors came together to discuss the major issues affecting these minority communities, and to strategize about how to advance inclusion. Here are some highlights from the day’s conversations.

We are at risk of failing a generation of American Muslims

Participants agreed that discrimination and bigotry are worse for American Muslims today than they were in the months following 9/11. And as Linda Sarsour, executive director of the Arab American Association of New York, stressed, there is now a generation of young American Muslims who don’t have any reference to a pre-9/11 America, who only know and experience an America “that doesn’t love them, doesn’t embrace them, [and] doesn’t think they belong here.” If the “acceptable bigotry” we’re seeing continues—if more Americans don’t speak out against Islamophobia, and if policymakers and government continue to fall short in providing support for the community—we will fail this generation of young American Muslims.

Tackiling anti-Muslim bigotry can’t be the only priority

Typically, we see the needs of American Muslims framed in one of two ways: in terms of national security reform, or anti-Muslim bigotry. Leaders are constantly stamping out prejudice-fueled fires, diverting attention and resources from equally pressing problems facing the community: issues like poverty, illiteracy, and the threat of deportation. Communities need an approach that addresses all of those issues, and resources to help develop the kind of educational and leadership programs that can build resilience amid conflict.

American Muslim’s identities are complex, and about more than being Muslim

At a time when most young Americans have the luxury of time to discover who they are, Muslim youth are often presumed to be representing their community, and bear the burden of responsibility that comes with that. Too often, that means other parts of their lives—everything from going to the movies to struggling with poverty—are invisible. “We always have to know what’s going on because we constantly need to justify or explain ourselves and our [Muslim] ideologies and beliefs,” said Hebh Jamal, a 16 year-old New York City high school student and member of the Arab American Association of New York (AANY). (Jamal was featured in a recent New York Times article on this issue and the psychological, emotional, and social toll of anti-Muslim bigotry on young American Muslims.)

Bigotry has roots in widely accepted policies

While terrorist attacks and global tensions unquestionably incite prejudice, there are other insidious drivers at work—namely, more than a decade of policies that officially sanction the marginalization of American Muslim communities. Official forms of discrimination pervade law enforcement, schools, and immigration policy, institutionalizing a system of bias that makes bigotry against Muslims acceptable in this country. As Fahd Ahmed, executive director of DRUM South Asian Organizing Center, powerfully argued, if the police are “indiscriminate against [American Muslim] communities, how can we expect the public to be any different?”

Source: Ford Foundation

islamophobiaUSA
Share Tweet

You Might Also Like

  • Coexist

    Islamophobia in Britain, a concern for all of us

  • Share

    La Guardia Mora Podcast

  • Share

    Gaza: when politics matter more than lives

No Comments

Leave a reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Search

Videos

  • Outside the Box: Islam in university campuses

    5 April, 2021
  • Role modelling and multiculturalism: “the Salah effect”

    22 December, 2020
  • Symposium “Tackling Gendered Islamophobia in Europe”

    22 September, 2020

Find us in Facebook

Actividades

  • To be a young Muslim woman in Spain today

    17 March, 2023
  • Quiz La Islamoteca, a new game to dismantle prejudices about Islam

    28 January, 2022
  • Symposium “Tackling Gendered Islamophobia in Europe”

    22 September, 2020

Archives

  • Home
  • ¿Por Qué?
  • Aviso Legal
  • Política de privacidad
  • Política de cookies
  • Contacto

Categories

  • Activities (21)
  • Coexist (43)
  • Multimedia (53)
  • Share (97)
  • Teach (79)
  • Twist (91)
  • Uncategorized (1)

Tags

Coexistence Europe history Human Rights Islam islamophobia media prejudices racism Refugees tolerance USA videos women

Latest news

  • ‘Convivencia’, what is it all about? (Part I)

    2 April, 2025
  • Literature and the construction of historical memory: A review of Children of Gebelawi

    13 March, 2025
  • We don’t call it “Notre-Dame”, we call it “Their Lady”

    1 February, 2025
  • Syria, a new transition for its people

    10 January, 2025

© 2015 Fundación de Cultura Islámica | web by Trixma

Gestionar el consentimiento de las cookies
Utilizamos cookies propias y de terceros para fines analíticos y para mostrarle publicidad personalizada en base a un perfil elaborado a partir de sus hábitos de navegación (por ejemplo, páginas visitadas).
Funcional Always active
El almacenamiento o acceso técnico es estrictamente necesario para el propósito legítimo de permitir el uso de un servicio específico explícitamente solicitado por el abonado o usuario, o con el único propósito de llevar a cabo la transmisión de una comunicación a través de una red de comunicaciones electrónicas.
Preferencias
El almacenamiento o acceso técnico es necesario para la finalidad legítima de almacenar preferencias no solicitadas por el abonado o usuario.
Estadísticas
El almacenamiento o acceso técnico que es utilizado exclusivamente con fines estadísticos. El almacenamiento o acceso técnico que se utiliza exclusivamente con fines estadísticos anónimos. Sin un requerimiento, el cumplimiento voluntario por parte de tu proveedor de servicios de Internet, o los registros adicionales de un tercero, la información almacenada o recuperada sólo para este propósito no se puede utilizar para identificarte.
Marketing
El almacenamiento o acceso técnico es necesario para crear perfiles de usuario para enviar publicidad, o para rastrear al usuario en una web o en varias web con fines de marketing similares.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
Preferencias
{title} {title} {title}