US Muslims Face Prejudice: Senators

CAIRO – Anti-Muslim discrimination and prejudice are on the rise since 9/11, with attacks targeting their faith and property, a US Congress hearing has been told, the USA Today reported on Wednesday, March 30.

“Regrettably, while nearly a decade has passed since 9/11, we continue to see a steady stream of violence and discrimination targeting Muslim, Arab, Sikh and South Asian communities,” Thomas Perez, the assistant attorney general for civil rights, told a Senate hearing on anti-Muslim discrimination.
There has been a “disturbing trend of violence against members of these communities.”
Justice Department estimates show that anti-Muslim attacks have been on the rise since the 9/11 attacks.
There have been 800 incidents of violence, threats and vandalism against Muslims since 2001.
Estimates show that 14 percent of religious discrimination is reported against Muslims.
Last month, a playground outside a mosque in Arlington, Texas, was set ablaze.
A Muslim taxi driver was stabbed by a passenger last year for being a Muslim.
“The most frequent complaint is bullying in schools,” Perez said.
In Staten Island, a Muslim high school boy was beaten and called a “terrorist”.
“Parents worry, ‘Will my child be next?'” Farhana Khera, president of Muslim Advocates, said.
Since 9/11, US Muslims, estimated between six to seven million, have become sensitized to an erosion of their civil rights, with a prevailing belief that America was stigmatizing their faith.
Anti-Muslim frenzy has grown recently over plans to build a mosque near the 9/11 site in New York, resulting in attacks on Muslims and their property and an increase in anti-Muslim hate speech.

Bigotry

Condemning the anti-Muslim bigotry, Senators reiterated that Muslims are part of the American fabric.
“We continue to solicit and receive the support of many Muslim Americans who love this nation and work with our government to protect it,” Democratic senator Dick Durbin, chair of the Senate judiciary subcommittee chair, said.
“At the same time, many law-abiding Muslim Americans face discrimination and charges that they’re not real Americans simply because of their religion.”
Democratic Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin, who called the hearing, agrees.
“American Muslims are entitled to the same constitutional protections as other Americans,” Durbin said, adding that this is an issue of “not just free exercise of religion but freedom of speech.”
Tuesday’s hearing follows uproar caused by a hearing championed by Republican Senator Peter King about what he described as “radicalization” of American Muslims.
King, the chairman of the US House of Representatives’ Homeland Security Committee, claimed that US Muslims are being radicalized by Al-Qaeda operatives, accusing Muslim leaders of not cooperating with law enforcement authorities in fighting terrorism.
It also follows a growing trend by lawmakers to seek a ban on the practice of Shari`ah in several US states.
“These ‘anti-Shari`ah proposals are wild manifestations of an increasingly rabid Islamophobia which aims to cause division and mobilize the fear vote in 2012,” said Muhammed Malik, a Muslim-American community advocate in Florida.
“That such measures are being introduced speaks volumes about how many of our politicians are more interested in distracting the public’s attention away from more important issues, such as improving our economy and ending racial profiling.”

Source: OnIslam