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SearchToday in Islamophobia: As high school educators help girls resist Islamophobia in Canada, a Michigan pastor is blasted for plans to host anti-Muslim event. In Rakhine, Rohingya villages are razed for government buildings. Our recommended read for today is by Madeline Peltz on FOX News’s ingrained Islamophobia. This, and more, below:
United States
Fox suspended Pirro over her anti-Muslim bigotry against Rep. Ilhan Omar. The problem goes deeper than that | Recommended Read
Fox’s Jeanine Pirro, host of Justice with Judge Jeanine, recently admitted on a hot mic that the network had recently suspended her. Pirro was referring to when her show was off the air for two weeks after she made bigoted comments about Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), questioning her ability to be faithful to the Constitution because she wears a hijab. Fox News had put out a statement condemning the remarks but never acknowledged that Pirro was officially disciplined. read the complete article
Michigan church, Islamophobic pastor blasted for plans to host anti-Muslim 9/11 event
U.S. and state representatives called on a Bloomfield, Michigan, church – whose pastor has called himself an Islamophobe – to cancel an anti-Muslim event planned around this week's 9/11 anniversary. Bloomfield Hills Baptist Church will host a two-day event called "9/11 forgotten? Is Michigan surrendering to Islam?" on Sept. 11-12. The church's pastor, Donald McKay, told Fox 2 last week that "Islam is a growing threat in the United States of America," and that although he doesn't speak for his church, "we don't hate Muslims, we hate the ideology they are identified with." "I am an Islamophobe, I wear that badge proudly," McKay told Fox 2. read the complete article
A shaken mosque welcomes Beto O'Rourke in New Hampshire
Before Mr. Trump, the President of Islamic Society of New Hampshire welcomed gatherings of 500 people or more to nighttime prayer during the holy month of Ramadan. The annual observance saw a full parking lot outside the Manchester mosque. Attendance dipped following the election of Mr. Trump, Ewiess told CBS News, then nearly halved in March following two consecutive terrorist attacks at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. "I see it with my own eyes in the numbers," Ewiess exclaimed. "People are afraid." The mosque welcomed Beto O'Rourke this past Friday. After taking off his shoes, O'Rourke he addressed members of the mosque, who were seated in a semi-circle. read the complete article
A Sound-and-Art Show Fills a Void for Muslims in Brooklyn
Oral historians associated with the Brooklyn Historical Society spent last year traversing the borough, recording interviews with dozens of Muslims. The intention was to preserve the conversations to fill what the institution admits was a gaping cultural hole in its famous archives. They collected 54 oral histories, which amount to over 100 hours of audio, publishing the conversations online for public listening. Many interview subjects were born and raised in Brooklyn. Others immigrated here from about a dozen countries, including Pakistan, Morocco and Trinidad and Tobago. read the complete article
When Islam Is Not a Religion in America
CT: American evangelicals are often concerned that Christians have their religious liberty threatened around the world, often in Muslim-majority nations. The focus of your book is Muslim religious liberty, threatened in the United States. What sorts of challenges do Muslims face in America? Uddin: I think it’s important to point out that the book doesn’t just look at attacks on Muslims. The book looks broadly at the attack on religious freedom, seen through the prism of attacks on Muslims. I discuss violence against churches, synagogues, and Sikh temples. But in terms of threats to Muslim religious freedom specifically, I look at the nationwide anti-mosque controversy, which started in earnest after the so-called “Ground Zero mosque” fiasco. From there, it spread to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, which was the first community to be affected while attempting to build a mosque. That’s where the claim was made that Islam is not a religion. read the complete article
Canada
How high school educators can help girls resist Islamophobia
I recently completed my PhD and am now a counselling psychologist and researcher. My research looks at the resilience techniques used by oppressed people. I worked with six minoritized Muslim female youth in high school in a photovoice, participatory action research project. Photovoice uses photography and group dialogue as a way for marginalized people to deepen their understanding of a community issue. The visual images and accompanying stories become tools to help reach policy- and decision-makers. I chose to call my interviewees “girls” instead of “participants” or “subjects” because I aim to humanize their particular experiences and because of the historically negative gendered language around the word “girl.” The girls’ determination to challenge issues at school, such as racism, Islamophobia, mental health stigma and sexism was inspiring to me. read the complete article
Myanmar
Villages destroyed for government facilities
Entire Muslim Rohingya villages in Myanmar have been demolished and replaced by police barracks, government buildings and refugee relocation camps, the BBC has found. On a government tour, the BBC saw four locations where secure facilities have been built on what satellite images show were once Rohingya settlements. Officials denied building on top of the villages in Rakhine state. In 2017 more than 700,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar during a military operation. The UN has described it as "textbook ethnic cleansing". Myanmar (also called Burma) has denied large-scale killings by its forces. read the complete article