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"We believe the biggest factor contributing to anti-Muslim feeling and the resulting acts of bias is the growth in Islamophobic rhetoric," said Iftikhar. |
CAIRO — Discrimination and hate crimes against Muslims in the United States have increased by almost 30 percent in 2005, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said in its annual report.
"We believe the biggest factor contributing to anti-Muslim feeling and the resulting acts of bias is the growth in Islamophobic rhetoric that has flooded the Internet and talk radio in the post-9/11 era," CAIR Legal Director Arsalan Iftikhar said in a press release sent to IslamOnline.net.
"The Struggle for Equality" report outlines 1,972 incidents and experiences of anti-Muslim violence, discrimination and harassment in 2005, the highest number of civil rights cases ever recorded by the organization..
The figure is a 29.6 percent jump over the preceding year's total of 1,522 cases, said the leading advocacy group.
CAIR received 153 reports of anti-Muslim hate crime complaints, an 8.6 percent increase from the 141 complaints received in 2004.
Overall, nine states and the District of Columbia accounted for almost 79 percent of all civil rights complaints in 2005.
They are (in descending order): California (19 percent), Illinois (13 percent), New York (9 percent), Texas (8 percent), Virginia (7 percent), Florida (6 percent), District of Columbia (5 percent), Maryland (4 percent), Ohio (4 percent) and New Jersey (4 percent).
CAIR began documenting anti-Muslim incidents following the 1995 attack on the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.
Charged climate
The prominent US Islamic civil rights group blamed the surge in anti-Islam bias on a charged atmosphere and talk shows.
"We have witnessed, one more time, an increase in the anti-Muslim discrimination, hate crimes and bias," said CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad.
"This is due, in our research and understanding, to the negative and politically charged climate against American Muslims, and Islam in general."
In August, a USA Today/Gallup poll showed that 39 percent of Americans said they feel prejudiced toward Muslims.
Ibrahim Hooper, CAIR national communications director, also pointed the finger at the internet and talk shows.
"Pretty consistently, what we are seeing is a rise in the level of anti-Muslim rhetoric in our society, unfortunately," he said.
"I think that is fed by two main sources: The Internet, where we are seeing just a flood of hate rhetoric on the Internet, and also on talk radio. You can't turn on a talk radio station nowadays without hearing very negative, bigoted comments about Islam on a daily basis."
Muslim leaders have repeatedly complained that a lot of conservative radio and television shows warn Americans of "militant Islamism, "radical Islamism" and Muslims in general.
In several cases, prompt action by US Muslim leaders have forced radio hosts critical of Islam to offer on-air apologies and backtrack on their racist remarks.
Initiatives
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| "You can't turn on a talk radio station nowadays without hearing very negative, bigoted comments about Islam on a daily basis," regretted Hooper. |
Iftikhar, the report's author, said it also outlines CAIR initiatives taken in the past year to decrease anti-Muslim prejudice.
The report cites CAIR's coordination of a fatwa by US Muslim scholars repudiating terrorism and religious extremism, the"Not in the Name of Islam" public service announcements and the"Explore the Quran" and"Muslims Care" educational and volunteerism campaigns.
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) thanked CAIR for its "steadfast dedication to ameliorating the civil rights of American Muslims."
"By all accounts, racial profiling, harassment, and discrimination of Muslim and Arab Americans have increased since 9/11," he said in a statement.
"We cannot allow xenophobia, prejudice, and bigotry to prevail, and eviscerate the Constitution we are bound to protect."
A recent survey by Quinnipiac University Polling Institute found out that most Americans support enforcing racial profile against people who look "Middle Eastern" at airports and train stations.
Amnesty International repeatedly said that racial profiling by US law enforcement agencies had grown dramatically in the wake of the terrorist attacks.
Five years after the terrorist 9/11 attacks, several American Muslims told IOL they still face discrimination and stereotyping because of their Islamic attires or identities.
Though there is no scientific count of Muslims in the US, the six to seven million is the most commonly cited figure.
Click to read CAIR's 2006 report
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