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SearchToday in Islamophobia: Linda Sarsour reflects on the power and risks of being a Muslim activist, while Australian diplomats call on to help Uighurs in China. Family of road rage victim in Indiana believe that it could have been a hate crime, and a troubling report finds that ‘cow vigilantes’ killed at least 44 people in India between May 2015 and December 2018. Our recommended read of the day is by Alex Kotch, who writes on America’s biggest charities funneling money to hate groups. This, and more, below:
United States
America’s Biggest Charities Are Funneling Millions to Hate Groups From Anonymous Donors | Recommended Read
Donors Trust, Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund, Schwab Charitable Fund, and Vanguard Charitable are donor-advised funds that provide individual donors with accounts and contribute their money, attributed to the funds, to the nonprofits of the donors’ choice. These kinds of funds allow donors to keep their charitable money in one place and to save on taxes. They also help these donors keep their names secret by eliminating paper trails at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the organizations receiving the funds that could tie them to their donations. A Sludge analysis of recent tax filings shows that, from mid-2014 through 2017, these four donor-advised funds combined to give nearly $11 million to 34 groups that the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) considers to be hate groups, according to its 2017 hate map. These hate groups include 12 anti-LGBT groups, 12 anti-Muslim groups, eight anti-immigrant groups, one white nationalist group, and one radical traditional Catholic group. read the complete article
[CW: abuse] Family believes road rage shooting that killed man could be hate crime
Metro police believe sometime before 8 p.m. Saturday, Mustafa Ayoubi drove southbound on I-465 on Indy's northwest side. Then, just before the West 38th Street exit, the road rage started, according to police. Ayoubi's family told Eyewitness News he drove into the Lakeview Crossing at Eagle Creek Apartments to get away from the other driver. “I said to him respect, please respect, go away, please go away,“ said Niraj Bhatt, a friend of Ayoubi. Late Monday afternoon, witnesses told Mustafa Ayoubi's family about racial slurs that were made after the road rage incident. read the complete article
Opinion | Linda Sarsour reflects on the power — and risks — of being a Muslim activist
Being a Muslim American activist, I’ve been targeted by the right wing in a way that is very dangerous. I’ve tried to shelter my kids. One day my daughter asked, “Mom, you think that you’ll get shot?” I was, like, Whoa. Of course, I’m like, “Nope. That’ll never happen in America.” But there’s a lot of risk. I always think to myself: What if I didn’t do this work anymore? It would send a message to people in my community that it’s not safe. That I have come to terms with the fact that we’re just never going to be wholly free. That this country’s just never going to accept us for who we are. And I don’t want to send that message. I haven’t given up on my country. I believe in the potential. I believe in the Constitution.I believe that this is the land of religious freedom and that that applies to Muslims. And if I have to make it apply to Muslims with the work that I do, I’m going to do that. And it’s going to require that my family and I have these hard conversations. read the complete article
Chicago Cubs to partner with Muslim groups amid backlash to owner's Islamophobic emails
The Cubs and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said in a joint statement late Monday that the two sides recently held a “productive meeting,” and developed concrete steps for the team to take moving forward. Those steps include taking part in anti-bullying and anti-hate efforts, and including prominent Muslims in team traditions. The organizations said they discussed the history of Muslims in America, and members of CAIR "raised doubt about the family and organization’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion" after reading emails from Joe Ricketts, the patriarch of the family that owns the team. The Cubs and members of the Muslim community will hold additional meetings in the future to solidify details of the outreach efforts. read the complete article
In Milwaukee, Muslim girls’ basketball team courts a broader understanding
At 14-4, the Stars entered this week’s sectionals as underdogs, but they have shown that being Muslim and crushing it on the court is as normal as apple pie. As the only Muslim team in the league, and sometimes the first Muslims some people outside Milwaukee see when the team plays road games, the Stars are tasked with responsibilities that go beyond playing solid defense or taking care of the ball. Jeers from the bleachers and whispered slurs on the court are common. “We just have to keep a level head,” Safiya Schaub, 17, said. “Because of what we are wearing, we represent more than our school. We represent the Muslim community in Milwaukee, maybe in the U.S. We have that level of responsibility on our shoulders.” read the complete article
India
Cow Vigilantes in India Killed at Least 44 People, Report Finds
A new report from Human Rights Watch unveiled this week examines Hindu nationalist vigilante attacks and said 36 of the dead were members of India’s large Muslim minority. About 280 people have been injured in more than 100 attacks between May 2015 and December 2018. Members of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, which supports policies to protect cows revered by the country’s majority Hindus, have “increasingly used communal rhetoric that has spurred a violent vigilante campaign against beef consumption and those deemed linked to it,” the group said. read the complete article
Canada
Opinion | Let Muslim women wear whatever they want
Defending women’s freedom to dress while simultaneously calling for a hijab ban promotes conditional freedom of choice for women, whereby only those who conform to certain ‘Québécois values’ are seen as deserving of fair treatment. If Charest is genuinely concerned with women’s autonomy, perhaps she should listen to the experiences of women who choose to wear the hijab. Clothing is integral to self-expression, and you can learn a lot about a person from the way they dress. When a Muslim woman chooses to wear a hijab, she freely expresses her culture, values, religion, and identity—something that feminists should celebrate. No woman should have to choose between accurately representing her identity and being able to live comfortably in Quebec. Feminists should not support a ban on any kind of clothing, especially gendered clothing like the hijab. read the complete article
Opinion | Ignoring Islamophobia doesn’t make it go away
Near the end of January, Quebec premier, François Legault ruled out the idea of dedicating a day to anti-Islamophobia, saying, “I don’t think there is Islamophobia in Quebec, so I don’t see why there would be a day devoted to Islamophobia,” according to the Montreal Gazette. The National Council of Canadian Muslims’s (NCCM) Executive Director, Ihsaan Gardee, told Global News, “[…] taking the ostrich approach and putting your head in the sand is not going to solve a problem or make it go away.” We at The Concordian wholeheartedly agree with the NCCM’s executive director’s statement. Islamophobia is a real and ongoing problem in Quebec. Denying its existence and prevalence is not only wrong, it’s promoting a lie. read the complete article
China
Chinese 'Muslim tracker' surveillance system monitoring movements of 2.5m people in Xinjiang
Police checkpoints and security cameras have been recording the location data of residents of the Xinjiang region, according to a Dutch cybersecurity expert, who uncovered an online database containing names, photos, ID card numbers, birth dates and employment details of people monitored. Victor Gevers said the database was left unprotected for months by facial-recognition technology company SenseNets Technology. He said he believed the database was "built and operated for only one goal". "It's a 'Muslim tracker' funded by Chinese authorities in the province of Xinjiang to keep track of Uyghur Muslims," he tweeted. read the complete article
Australia
Australian diplomats called on to help Uyghur family, wife and child stuck in China
A Uyghur Australian man who fears for the safety of his wife and son is calling on the nation's diplomats to help them get out of China to avoid persecution. The man, who cannot be named for security reasons, successfully made an urgent application to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) late last year to have his son recognised as an Australian citizen. The Australian father has not been able to see his wife, who is also a Uyghur, since before she gave birth to their son at the end of August 2017, after he travelled to Australia to earn money for the family. The man's only contact with his family and young son has been via Chinese messaging platform "WeChat". read the complete article
United Kingdom
Racist ‘muslim rape gang’ stickers with sick slogans saying ‘mass immigration is white genocide’ are plastered on homes sparking police investigation
One of the hate-filled messages reads: "Second-generation? Third? Fourth? You have to go back." And another features a series of images with the repeated slogan that "diversity" means: "no white countries, no white cities, no white neighbourhoods, no white people". A woman also claimed to have found similar stickers on lampposts near a local school which read: "Say no to Muslim rape gangs", "beware of anti-white rape gangs" and "beware of what is coming. read the complete article