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SearchToday in Islamophobia: In Germany, child care centers are granted police protection after upsurge in anti-Muslim anger, and an op-ed demands Boris Johnson engage with Muslim communities in Britain. In India, Bollywood filmmakers urge the prime minister to stop mob attacks on minorities. Our recommended listen of the day is a NPR story by Leila Fadel on the overrepresentation of Muslims in state prisons. This, and more, below:
United States
Muslims Over-Represented In State Prisons, Report Finds | Recommended Listen
Muslims make up about 9% of state prisoners, though they are only about 1% of the U.S. population, a new report from the civil rights organization Muslim Advocates finds. The report, released Thursday, is the most comprehensive count of Muslims in state prisons so far. read the complete article
A school board member’s Facebook post suggested his ‘life would be complete’ if Rashida Tlaib died
“My life would be complete if she/they die,” he wrote in a since-deleted post saved by the Council on American-Islamic Relations. The post was not an isolated incident for the Army veteran and supporter of President Trump. Earlier that month, Leonard had posted a video of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), who joined Tlaib as the first Muslim women in Congress, with the caption, “Terrorist . . . 100%.” Later in April, he published a meme about “Sharia Barbie,” a brown-skinned doll in a hijab with a black eye and a purple bottom lip. “Comes with jihab [sic], bruises, & Quran,” the text read. read the complete article
A baseless smear targeting Ilhan Omar made its way to Trump thanks to Fox and these far-right figures
President Donald Trump recently invoked a conspiracy theory alleging that Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) married her brother. The smear, which relies on “Pizzagate-levels of delusion,” is similar to the birther conspiracy theory that targeted former President Barack Obama. It has spread over the past three years on message boards, right-wing sites, social media, and Fox News, along with the help of a Trump campaign surrogate and a number of far-right figures, one of whom directly took credit for Trump invoking the conspiracy theory. read the complete article
Ilhan Omar: It Is Not Enough to Condemn Trump’s Racism
Throughout history, demagogues have used state power to target minority communities and political enemies, often culminating in state violence. Today, we face that threat in our own country, where the president of the United States is using the influence of our highest office to mount racist attacks on communities across the land. read the complete article
Surprise: Trump's Treasury Pick Said Obama was a Muslim who Took Orders from Terrorists
Now, the path to employment comes down to being able to answer one or more of the following questions in the affirmative: 1) Are you diametrically opposed to the mission of the agency at which you’ll be employed? 2) Are you willing to be slavishly devoted to Donald Trump? 3) Are you rich? 4) Are you racist? All of which is to say, it’s easy to see why Monica Crowley was hired to serve as Trump’s assistant Treasury secretary for public affairs, and—spoiler alert!—it’s not her deep knowledge of fiscal policy. read the complete article
United Kingdom
Boris Johnson wants Britain to laugh away his racism
Last year, anti-Muslim hate crime was soaring in Britain. You might have hoped that one of the country’s most prominent politicians would have called for calm instead of deploying racist rhetoric. Yet Boris Johnson, Britain’s new prime minister as of Wednesday, was unable to break the habit of his entire career in public life, and he again reached for the joke book. In August 2018, just a month after the release of those hate crime figures, Johnson remarked that Muslim women who wore the niqab looked like bank robbers and letter boxes. A British watchdog organization reported an immediate rise in harassment against Muslim women as a direct result of his comments. read the complete article
In the face of fear and loathing, British Muslims must play hide and seek with their identity to succeed
Islamophobia is a form of racism that is not well understood. Instead it is often ignored and increasingly even undermined, such as through the argument that claims of Islamophobia are a threat to free speech, or hinder the prevention of crime. Terrorism is an oft-cited example, or more recently “Asian grooming gangs”. As it happens, when the All-Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims proposed a new definition of Islamophobia following almost two years of consultation, Theresa May’s government used these very same reasons to kick it into the long grass. read the complete article
As Muslim women, we demand action from Boris Johnson
It’s extraordinary that a man who has been openly Islamophobic and racist is now representing us all on the world stage. Just last summer, Johnson vilified Muslim women who wear the full-face veil, describing their appearance as “bank robbers” and “letter boxes”, criminalising and dehumanising them in one fell swoop. Nor can anyone forget his “piccaninnies” with “watermelon smiles” comments. read the complete article
Germany
Child nurseries given police protection after anti-Muslim anger over removing pork from menus
Police in Germany have been forced to offer protection to a pair of childcare centres after they were heavily criticised for removing pork from their menus. It came after they sent a letter to parents saying: “Out of respect for a changing world, only pork-free meals and snacks will be ordered and served starting from 15 July.” Many parents assumed they were altering it for the school’s Islamic community, even though the word “Muslim” was not used and the religion was not mentioned. In fact, the decision had been taken because of climate change. read the complete article
Myanmar
The Rape of the Rohingya
[*CW: rape] When Myanmar categorically denied the army’s involvement in murder and arson, authorities had evidence to prove otherwise. From Teknaf, one could see the smoke rising from Rakhine, cell phone videos showed killing fields overflowing with bodies. Testimonies helped narrow down the time, the place, the extent of the atrocity—they told us who the bayonets belonged to and what uniform the perpetrators wore. As the first UN reports on the Rohingya crisis were written, it became apparent that the crime that would be hardest to prosecute was rape. When the UN alleged rape had been used as a weapon of war as early as 2017, Myanmar hit back, describing it as ‘wild claims’ unsubstantiated by evidence. read the complete article
India
Film-makers, historians urge Indian PM to stop mob attacks on minorities
A group of Bollywood film makers, historians and citizens have written to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to stop mob attacks on minority Muslims and others at the bottom of society. Among signatories of the letter were Anurag Kashyap, who is directing Netflix’s marquee show “Sacred Games”, and historian Ramchandra Guha. Critics accuse Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party of a deep-seated bias against Indian Muslims and say hardline groups allied to the BJP have become emboldened by his huge victory in the May elections. read the complete article