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American
Muslim women pay their respects to the victims of September 11
attacks
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WASHINGTON,
August 22 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Nearly 57 percent of
American Muslims polled by an Islamic organization in the U.S., say they
have experienced bias or discrimination since the deadly September 11
attacks and 87 percent say know of a fellow Muslim who experienced
discrimination.
On
the other hand, the poll, conducted in late July and Early August 2002,
by the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR),
included 945 individuals and said that more than three-in-four American
Muslims (79 percent) also experienced kindness or support from friends
or colleagues of other faiths.
That
kindness often took the form of verbal reassurances, support during the
anti-Muslim backlash following the attacks and even offers to help guard
local mosques, said the report published Wednesday, August 21, on
CAIR’s website.
The
most frequent forms of bias experienced by the respondents were verbal
abuse, religious or ethnic profiling and workplace discrimination.
Commenting
on the results of the poll, Nihad Awad, CAIR Executive Director said:
“The results of this survey show that while we have all gone through a
traumatic year in our nation's history, there is hope for the future if
Americans who support and practice tolerance challenge the vocal
minority who seek to divide our nation.”
The
poll also showed 48 percent of the respondents saying that their lives
changed for the worse in the year following the attacks and the 16
percent who said their lives changed for the better often cited a
deepened knowledge of Islam made necessary by requests to explain their
faith to others.
The
report said that nearly 67 percent of respondents said the media have
grown more biased against Islam and Muslims and 45 percent of
respondents said that Fox was the most biased and that PBS, BBC and ABC
were worthy of praise for their coverage.
When
asked to name the political party that best represents the interests of
the American Muslim community, more respondents named the Democratic
Party (16 percent) and Green party (5 percent) than the Republican Party
(3 percent).
Yet
36 percent of Muslim respondents said they voted for George W. Bush in
the last presidential election, said CAIR. (Thirteen percent voted for
Ralph Nader and 9 percent voted for Al Gore.)
Muslims
from more than 40 different states (and the District of Columbia)
responded to the survey, with the most responses coming from California,
Texas, Virginia, New York, Michigan, Maryland, Ohio, Florida, New
Jersey, Illinois, and Pennsylvania. (In descending order.)
There
are an estimated seven million Muslims in America and some 1.2 billion
worldwide. Islam is one of the fastest growing religions in America. 
