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SearchToday in Islamophobia: India’s government weighs implementing its own Muslim Ban, while Facebook purges several British far-right groups from its platform. A man in Texas hurls verbal abuse against a Muslim employee, while an op-ed details how Islamophobia made school experience “a nightmare.” Our recommended read for today is by Sabrina Siddiqui and titled “Trump’s attacks on Ilhan Omar aim to stoke fears ahead of the 2020 election.” This, and more, below:
United States
Trump's attacks on Ilhan Omar aim to stoke fears ahead of the 2020 election | Recommended read
While weathering numerous controversies, Omar has faced hundreds of death threats and emerged as a “perfect foil” for Trump and Republicans. All the while, Democrats have largely been split on whether to defend the embattled congresswoman and to what degree. For Muslim advocates across the country, the attacks against Omar are inextricably linked to her faith – and part of a mounting effort by the president and his allies to stoke fears anew ahead of the 2020 election. “Because of her identity as a black, Muslim woman, she is the poster child for the administration to attack,” said Hoda Hawa, the director of policy and advocacy at the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC). “This administration, and particularly this president, is using her to not only drive a wedge within the Democratic party, but [for] something more sinister: He’s using her to continue to foment fear and hatred against the Muslim American community.” That Omar has emerged as a target of Trump’s has come as little surprise to Muslim groups and anti-discrimination activists, who believe the president and his party are seeking to animate their supporters and drive a wedge through the Democratic party. read the complete article
Video | A man in Texas was arrested after going on an Islamophobic rant
Joey Derek Christian went on a racist and Islamophobic rant against a Muslim employee after he was unable to buy a phone. He was arrested after another customer called the police. He was fined $682 for public intoxication and disorderly conduct. The employee, Mohammed, says Christian should have been charged with a hate crime. read the complete article
'Ramy' puts fresh spin on Muslim experience
The quest for identity as a Muslim living in New Jersey only scratches the surface of "Ramy," a Hulu series that deftly combines comedy with drama, and which gradually peels back layers in ways as impressive as they are relatable. Far from a "Muslims are just like us" sitcom, comic Ramy Youssef's deeply personal show explores familiar themes in a fresh and at times poignant manner. Ramy -- a first-generation Egyptian-American -- is religious, if occasionally torn by the temptations and pressures associated with life in the US. The basic template would be timely enough, given the Islamophobia that remains very much alive in the current political climate. But "Ramy" capitalizes on its 10-episode format to go well beyond the struggles of its title character, with chapters that delve into other members of his family, and the fourth installment chronicling the impact of Sept. 11 on a young, school-age Ramy, whose friends suddenly ask, "Are you a terrorist?" read the complete article
College golfer in hijab out to blaze trail for Muslim girls
One of the top junior golfers in Northern California coming out of high school, Noor Ahmed was a starter in her first year at Nebraska and the No. 2 player most of this spring. She is believed to be the only golfer at the college level or higher who competes in a hijab, the headscarf worn in adherence to the Muslim faith. Arriving in Lincoln two years ago, Ahmed sensed hesitancy from teammates mostly from small Midwestern towns and unaccustomed to seeing a woman in a hijab. She didn’t feel embraced until an unfortunate yet unifying event roiled the campus midway through her freshman year. A video surfaced of a student claiming to be the “most active white nationalist in the Nebraska area,” disparaging minorities and advocating violence. The student, it turned out, was in the same biology lecture class as Ahmed. read the complete article
United Kingdom
Facebook bans far-right groups including BNP, EDL and Britain First
The ban, which came into effect at midday on Thursday, extends beyond the groups and individuals specifically cited as hate organisations: posts and other content that “expresses praise or support” for them will also be banned, as will users who coordinate support for the groups. The move is the latest in a series of crackdowns by Facebook, beginning in February when it banned the rightwing activist Tommy Robinson under the same rules, and continuing in March when it reversed a longstanding policythat had allowed “white nationalists” and “white separatists” to post on the site, provided they steered clear of promoting “white supremacy”. A further 12 individuals and accounts have been banned by the site: the BNPand its former chairman, Nick Griffin; Britain First, its leader, Paul Golding, and former deputy leader Jayda Fransen; the EDL and Paul Ray, a founder member of the group; Knights Templar International and the far-right activist Jim Dowson; the National Front and its leader, Tony Martin; and the far-right activist Jack Renshaw, a former spokesman for the proscribed terrorist organisation National Action. read the complete article
'Islamophobic bullying made school a nightmare'
Please don’t leave the house today. Not unless you really have to.” My dad is calling me from work to remind me to stay safe. He’s made the same call for the past two days after a gunman opened fire on two New Zealand mosques during Friday prayers. On that awful day in March, I sat at home in my student house in Nottingham, fighting back tears and watching on social media as the death toll steadily rose. It might sound like my dad is a bit overprotective – I’m 23, after all – but he knows that in the wake of such an awful attack, with tensions and fears running high, that I, a young Muslim wearing a hijab, could easily face abuse or worse. He made the same call to me in summer 2017, after the Finsbury Park mosque attack which killed one person and injured nine others. And again after two other terror attacks which happened that summer on Westminster and London Bridges. Sadly, it doesn’t seem to matter if Muslims are the victims or the perpetrators of an attack - we can still feel like easy targets. read the complete article
Mohamed Salah maintains his balance while Islamophobia persists
In retrospect, we can see that such incidents of shared tolerance and respect between fans and players were a rare example and distorted the actual picture – which is a gradual increase in reports of discrimination in football across the UK. A report published in February 2018 by Kick It Out, an organisation working to end discrimination in football, stated that the number of incidents of discrimination at the halfway stage of the 2017-2018 season had increased. The report cited a 59 percent increase in discriminatory incidents over the same period the previous season. The organisation recorded 282 incidents of discriminatory abuse in the professional game, amateur and lower leagues football, and on social media. These statistics do not account for unreported allegations of abuse, and analysts are concerned that the numbers will continue to rise. read the complete article
India
India’s Government Considers a ‘Muslim Ban’
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party wants to fast-track Indian citizenship for non-Muslim migrants from neighboring countries while pointedly excluding Muslims. This foolish idea may win the BJP votes in the current election, but at the cost of undermining interfaith harmony, seeding long-term domestic instability, and tarnishing India’s reputation for tolerance. At a campaign rally in West Bengal last week, BJP President Amit Shah likened Muslim migrants from Bangladesh to “termites” who “are eating the grain that should go to the poor.” He promised that a BJP government would toss out all “infiltrators,” except for Hindus, Buddhists and Sikhs. It’s one thing to welcome persecuted Hindus and Sikhs to their historic homeland, and quite another explicitly to reject persecuted Muslims merely for their faith. In a constitutionally secular, multireligious nation like India, upholding the principle of nondiscrimination matters. Mr. Shah’s remarks may apply only to illegal migrants, but they end up legitimizing a combustible idea: that only followers of so-called Indic religions can be truly Indian. This echoes the hard-line Hindu nationalist view that the country’s 172 million Muslims and 28 million Christians live in India only on sufferance. read the complete article
Kerala CEO Recommends Action Against State BJP Chief For Anti-Muslim Remarks, Police Files Case
Kerala Chief Electoral Officer has recommended “appropriate action” against BJP state chief. The Kerala police had on Wednesday filed a case against PS Sreedharan Pillai for his derogatory remarks, The NewsMinutereported. Pillai had allegedly made anti-Islam remarks during an election campaign meeting in Attingal Lok Sabha constituency on April 14. “Our Rahul Gandhi, Yechury, Pinarayi and all are saying that, after getting there... the dead bodies... which caste, which religion... if they are Islam then there will be a few signs... if only you remove the dresses only then it can be found out... so after doing all that, we should come back is what they say,” Pillai had said, according to Meena’s report to the poll body. read the complete article
China
How Chinese internet trolls go after Beijing's critics overseas
Hidayat has just such a story. He has not heard from his father-in-law, Adil Mijit, a popular comedian and entertainer, for over five months. Hidayat has publicized this story, and many others like it, on a Facebook page, Talk to East Turkestan (TET), to thousands of followers. The English "East Turkestan" is a translation of a term used by some Uyghurs for the territory the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) refers to as Xinjiang. Facebook (FB) is banned in China, as are Twitter (TWTR) and Reddit — accessing them requires jumping the Great Firewall, the country's vast censorship and surveillance apparatus. Despite this, these sites appear to be becoming a key battleground of Chinese influence, as a growing army of internet trolls assemble on Chinese forums and in Facebook groups to attack voices they perceive to be hostile to Beijing's interests. read the complete article