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SearchToday in Islamophobia: In India, violent protests against a controversial Muslim land law in the Indian state of West Bengal have killed at least three people and sent hundreds fleeing their homes during deadly weekend clashes, meanwhile in the UK, police have launched an investigation into what is being treated as an Islamophobic hate crime after 85 graves, many belonging to babies and young children, were desecrated in the Muslim section of a Cemetery in Watford, and in the United States, Wayne State University police “grabbed and pulled (and) forcibly removed” Arab and Muslim students from a peaceful “anti-genocide” demonstration earlier this month while denying others access, according to a complaint filed by the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Our recommended read of the day is by Farah Afify for Al Jazeera who writes that commitment to DEI initiatives in the employment sector being abandoned before Trump took office, noting that “numerous anecdotes revealed that employers across the board were violating their own DEI standards by taking adverse action against Muslim and Arab employees.” This and more below:
United States
US employers abandoned their DEI commitments long before Trump took office | Recommended Read
In the few months since President Donald Trump took office, the campaign against diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies has expanded at an unprecedented scale. Civilian and military officials have been removed from their positions with the justification that they were “diversity hires”. Webpages dedicated to historical figures with diverse backgrounds have been wiped out from government websites. Programmes aimed at improving diversity and inclusion have been terminated. Federal funding for schools has been conditioned on principals signing anti-DEI certificates. The private sector has followed suit. Company after company has announced they are putting an end to DEI targets and abandoning DEI programmes. But while these announcements were made in the past few months, the truth is that the process of abandoning commitments to diversity and inclusion began long before Trump took office. Last year, numerous anecdotes revealed that employers across the board were violating their own DEI standards by taking adverse action against Muslim and Arab employees. In May, Hesen Jabr, a nurse who had been tapped to receive an award from NYU Langone Health, was fired and accused of “ruining the ceremony” and “putting others at risk” after she spoke about the effect of the genocide on Palestinian women, including her mother and grandmother. In October, two Arab Muslim employees, Abdo Mohamed and Hossam Nasr, were fired for organising a vigil for Palestinians killed in Gaza that Microsoft claimed violated company policy – even though the organisers reportedly followed the company’s standard procedures for similar events. Earlier this year, we at the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) compiled the data we had gathered from complaints filed to us throughout 2024 and it confirmed what anecdotal evidence already pointed at: Islamophobia was raging at workplaces across the US. read the complete article
How Trump squandered his chance to win over Muslim & Arab Americans
When Donald Trump won the 2024 election over Kamala Harris, he did so with increased support from various minority groups that usually vote for the Democratic Party, including Latino voters, Black voters, young voters, and even Muslim voters. Although Muslims were arguably Enemy #1 during Trump's 2016 campaign, second perhaps only to Mexican immigrants, 2024 was different. Instead of constantly using American Muslims as a political punching bag, the Trump campaign tried to capitalise on the breach between them and the Biden-Harris administration. Long before President Biden's debate meltdown, Muslim voters had largely abandoned him due to his callous support for the genocide in Gaza. He vaguely promised to pursue peace abroad, including in Gaza. “Get it over with and let’s get back to peace and stop killing people,” he said about a potential ceasefire during an interview in April 2024. He went after the Democratic Party's embrace of Cheney, calling her a “war hawk” who “like her father, the man that pushed Bush to ridiculously go to war in the Middle East, also wants to go to war with every Muslim country known to mankind.” Just before taking office, Trump did what those voters had begged Biden to do: force Benjamin Netanyahu to finally accept a ceasefire-and-captive release deal in Gaza. With the genocide seemingly over thanks to him, Trump entered office with a historic opportunity to realign at least some of the voters who had abandoned the Democratic Party, including some American Muslims. All the president had to do was maintain the ceasefire in Gaza, avoid new forever wars in the Middle East, fulfil his stated support for free speech, focus his immigration restrictions on hardened criminals instead of everyday immigrants, and treat all Americans with respect regardless of their faith or race. Obviously, the Trump administration has gone in a completely different direction. read the complete article
Wayne State police are profiling Arab, Muslim students, CAIR complaint alleges
Wayne State University police "grabbed and pulled (and) forcibly removed" Arab and Muslim students from a peaceful "anti-genocide" demonstration earlier this month while denying others access, according to a complaint filed Tuesday with the Michigan Department of Civil Rights by the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. The alleged incident at the Student Center is one of eight outlined in a complaint against Wayne State police. The security officers also are accused of engaging in "ongoing systematic racial and religious profiling (of Arab and Muslim students) in an attempt to harass, intimidate and otherwise dispossess WSU students of their constitutionally protected rights of free speech and freedom of assembly and in abject violation of state and federal civil rights laws," according to CAIR. read the complete article
‘#1 Happy Family USA’ Is a Bittersweet Coming-of-Age Sitcom
A Muslim family in New Jersey facing bigotry after Sept. 11 doesn’t sound like a particularly fruitful sitcom premise. But Ramy Youssef has managed to make the subject matter grimly hilarious in his new animated series, “#1 Happy Family USA,” premiering Thursday on Amazon Prime Video. Created by Youssef and Pam Brady (“South Park”), the series is half coming-of-age story, with shades of “Big Mouth” and “Everybody Hates Chris,” and half brutal satire about Islamophobia in the early 2000s. It encourages viewers to find humor and humanity in outlandish scenarios stemming from what was a dark period for many American families. The premiere episode is set on Sept. 10, 2001. Youssef voices Rumi, an Egyptian American boy preoccupied mainly with impressing his attractive teacher (Mandy Moore), who has a thing for Michael Jordan. To that end: Rumi wears an oversized bootleg Bulls jersey that reads “Balls.” Poor kid. Of course, the next day, life for Rumi and his family suddenly changes. His father, Hussein (also voiced by Youssef), is a former doctor turned halal cart owner maniacally intent on assimilating. At the same time, however, his Princess Diana-obsessed mother, Sharia (Salma Hindy), is reconnecting with her faith and begins wearing a hijab — much to Hussein’s dismay. Rumi’s ambitious older sister, Mona (Alia Shawkat), is hiding the fact that she is gay, and an F.B.I. agent with an alcohol problem (Timothy Olyphant) moves in next door. “#1 Happy Family USA” manages to place story lines drawn from the pangs of early adolescence within the terrifying context of being a Muslim caught in a suddenly more xenophobic society — while also making fun of the peculiarities of the early 2000s. read the complete article
India
This Isn’t the First Time Modi Used Anti-Muslim Dog-Whistling. Here are Few of the Past Instances
In recent years, the Hindutva Right and BJP leaders have often used “puncturewalla”, a colloquial term for someone who repairs tyre punctures, as a slur against working-class Muslims in India. On Monday (April 14), Prime Minister Narendra Modi ostensibly criticised the Congress party’s policies regarding the Waqf Board and said, “If it had been used as per its purpose, then today, my Muslim youth would not have had to spend their lives fixing punctures on bicycles.” While pretending that he was merely implying that the Congress’s policies had left Muslims economically disadvantaged, he referenced the occupation in a way that perpetuates stereotypes about the community in line with the more direct slurs used by his supporters. Since his days as Gujarat’s chief minister, Modi has made a series of controversial statements about Muslims that have drawn widespread criticism for furthering anti-Muslim hatred and deepening communal divides in the country. His most notorious Islamophobic remarks include calling Muslims “infiltrators”, mocking their family size, referring to relief camps as “baby-producing centres” and repeatedly using dog whistles to vilify the community. Modi often uses coded language, but the intent and target are widely recognised by his supporters, analysts and even victims. read the complete article
Violent protests rock Indian state over controversial Muslim land law
Violent protests against a controversial Muslim land law in the Indian state of West Bengal have killed at least three people and sent hundreds fleeing their homes during deadly weekend clashes. Angry protesters in Murshidabad district of the eastern state set fire to shopping malls and cars, hurled bombs, and attacked a Hindu home, stabbing two people on Saturday, police said. Another person who was shot during the clashes succumbed to his injuries. Fresh violence broke out in the South 24 Parganas district of the state on Monday, with rioters setting vehicles on fire even as a large contingent of police remained deployed in the streets. The Indian parliament passed a controversial bill, the Waqf (Amendment) Bill 2024, that will make changes in the management of Waqf properties – assets donated by Muslims for religious or charitable purposes, like mosques, schools, or orphanages. The law would seek to make changes to the Waqf Boards, which oversee these properties, valued at Rs 1.2 trillion (£10.58bn) across 870,000 properties in the country, according to reports. Muslim groups and opposition political parties have condemned the law and said it aimed to alienate and discriminate against Muslims. Mr Modi and officials in his party denied the allegations and said the law is aimed at "pro-Muslim reform". read the complete article
United Kingdom
'Barbaric act': Scores of Muslim graves desecrated in UK hate crime
The UK police have launched an investigation into what is being treated as an Islamophobic hate crime after 85 graves, many belonging to babies and young children, were desecrated in the Muslim section of Carpenders Park Lawn Cemetery in Watford. Hertfordshire Police said on Tuesday that the criminal damage, discovered by a grieving family during a visit to the site, has caused profound shock and distress across the local Muslim community. Extra patrols are being conducted in the area, and police are appealing for witnesses or anyone with information to come forward. Wadi Funeralcare, which serves many Muslim families in the region, described the desecration as “heartbreaking” and said some of the graves were subjected to “unspeakable acts of disrespect.” read the complete article
Police to question Muslim Association of Britain chair over Palestine solidarity protest
The Metropolitan Police has summoned one of the key organisers of the UK's Palestine solidarity protests over an alleged public order breach that took place at a rally earlier this year. Raghad Altikriti, who chairs the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB), told Middle East Eye that she received a letter from the police requesting she attend a formal interview on Wednesday over a protest held in London on 18 January. Altikriti is one of several individuals who have been summoned by police over alleged public order offences. Letters were also issued to Stop the War coalition officers Lindsey German, Alex Kenny and Andrew Murray, and Friends of Al-Aqsa chair Ismail Patel. Altikriti described the upcoming police interview as an "act of intimidation" and claimed it was aimed at "making it difficult for people to speak out against this genocide." "We have a right to protest and it's important to defend our freedom to mobilise and speak up," she said. read the complete article