SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
'Off the Charts' Violence Against Muslims Ravaging US Communities
New data confirms anecdotes of rising Islamophobic violence reflect nationwide trend
Dec 18, 2015
From an attack on a hijab-wearing sixth grader in the Bronx to the arson of a mosque near Palm Springs, reports of hate crimes targeting Muslims are more than troubling anecdotes but rather reflect a measurable nationwide rise in Islamophobic violence, according to two separate studies released this week.
Researchers with the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University (CSU) found that anti-Muslim hate crimes have tripled in the wake of the Paris and San Bernardino attacks.
According to The New York Times, which obtained the study ahead of its public release, there has been an average of 12.6 "suspected hate crimes" against U.S. Muslims per month for the past several years. But since the Paris attacks in mid-November, that monthly number has climbed to 38 attacks that are "anti-Islamic in nature."
Such crimes include arson and vandalism of mosques, shootings, and death threats.
"We are seeing an unbelievably toxic, anti-Muslim environment in our society that is being encouraged and exploited by public figures like Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Rick Santorum, and others."
--Ibrahim Hooper, Council on American-Islamic Relations.
"The terrorist attacks, coupled with the ubiquity of these anti-Muslim stereotypes seeping into the mainstream, have emboldened people to act upon this fear and anger," CSU researcher Brian Levin told Times reporter Eric Lichtblau.
While the researchers said the attacks have not quite reached the levels seen in the immediate aftermath of the September 11th, 2001 attacks, they identified similarities in the climate, including attacks on Sikh people falsely believed to be Muslim.
The university's data corroborates a report released this week by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which noted a severe rise in attacks on mosques, including vandalism, destruction, and intimidation.
CAIR said the 29 documented attacks on Mosques in 2015 is the highest annual number the advocacy organization has recorded since it began keeping track in 2009. The group noted that "November 2015 was the most significant spike, with a total of 17 mosque incidents, with all but 2 of those incidents occurring in the wake of the November 13 Paris terror attacks."
These attacks are not happening in a vacuum.
"We are seeing an unbelievably toxic, anti-Muslim environment in our society that is being encouraged and exploited by public figures like Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Rick Santorum, and others," Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesperson for CAIR, told Common Dreams. "This is leading to fresh incidents of hate crimes nationwide."
Hooper described the violence as "off the charts," adding: "I don't think we've seen the end of it."
Fresh incidents this week underscore the trends highlighted in both reports.
All schools in Augusta County, Virginia, were closed on Friday after a world geography class taught a lesson on Arabic calligraphy--which then prompted a racist and Islamophobic backlash.
And in Grand Rapids, Michigan, this week, a Sikh store clerk was reportedly called a "terrorist" and then shot in the face by an individual demanding money from the register.
Over the past month, people across the United States have staged rallies, vigils, and speak-outs against rising Islamophobic violence, including a mobilization in New York under the banner of "Human Rights Trump Oppression." Large numbers are expected to gather at a demonstration on Friday in San Francisco, organized by the Arab Organizing and Resource Center, calling for the "upholding of the dignity of communities."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Sarah Lazare
Sarah Lazare is the editor of Workday Magazine and a contributing editor for In These Times. She is a former Staff Writer at Common Dreams. She comes from a background in independent journalism for publications including The Intercept, The Nation, and Tom Dispatch.
civil rightshate crimesreligionben carsonin wake of parisrick santorumdonald trumpislamophobiamuslims
From an attack on a hijab-wearing sixth grader in the Bronx to the arson of a mosque near Palm Springs, reports of hate crimes targeting Muslims are more than troubling anecdotes but rather reflect a measurable nationwide rise in Islamophobic violence, according to two separate studies released this week.
Researchers with the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University (CSU) found that anti-Muslim hate crimes have tripled in the wake of the Paris and San Bernardino attacks.
According to The New York Times, which obtained the study ahead of its public release, there has been an average of 12.6 "suspected hate crimes" against U.S. Muslims per month for the past several years. But since the Paris attacks in mid-November, that monthly number has climbed to 38 attacks that are "anti-Islamic in nature."
Such crimes include arson and vandalism of mosques, shootings, and death threats.
"We are seeing an unbelievably toxic, anti-Muslim environment in our society that is being encouraged and exploited by public figures like Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Rick Santorum, and others."
--Ibrahim Hooper, Council on American-Islamic Relations.
"The terrorist attacks, coupled with the ubiquity of these anti-Muslim stereotypes seeping into the mainstream, have emboldened people to act upon this fear and anger," CSU researcher Brian Levin told Times reporter Eric Lichtblau.
While the researchers said the attacks have not quite reached the levels seen in the immediate aftermath of the September 11th, 2001 attacks, they identified similarities in the climate, including attacks on Sikh people falsely believed to be Muslim.
The university's data corroborates a report released this week by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which noted a severe rise in attacks on mosques, including vandalism, destruction, and intimidation.
CAIR said the 29 documented attacks on Mosques in 2015 is the highest annual number the advocacy organization has recorded since it began keeping track in 2009. The group noted that "November 2015 was the most significant spike, with a total of 17 mosque incidents, with all but 2 of those incidents occurring in the wake of the November 13 Paris terror attacks."
These attacks are not happening in a vacuum.
"We are seeing an unbelievably toxic, anti-Muslim environment in our society that is being encouraged and exploited by public figures like Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Rick Santorum, and others," Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesperson for CAIR, told Common Dreams. "This is leading to fresh incidents of hate crimes nationwide."
Hooper described the violence as "off the charts," adding: "I don't think we've seen the end of it."
Fresh incidents this week underscore the trends highlighted in both reports.
All schools in Augusta County, Virginia, were closed on Friday after a world geography class taught a lesson on Arabic calligraphy--which then prompted a racist and Islamophobic backlash.
And in Grand Rapids, Michigan, this week, a Sikh store clerk was reportedly called a "terrorist" and then shot in the face by an individual demanding money from the register.
Over the past month, people across the United States have staged rallies, vigils, and speak-outs against rising Islamophobic violence, including a mobilization in New York under the banner of "Human Rights Trump Oppression." Large numbers are expected to gather at a demonstration on Friday in San Francisco, organized by the Arab Organizing and Resource Center, calling for the "upholding of the dignity of communities."
Sarah Lazare
Sarah Lazare is the editor of Workday Magazine and a contributing editor for In These Times. She is a former Staff Writer at Common Dreams. She comes from a background in independent journalism for publications including The Intercept, The Nation, and Tom Dispatch.
From an attack on a hijab-wearing sixth grader in the Bronx to the arson of a mosque near Palm Springs, reports of hate crimes targeting Muslims are more than troubling anecdotes but rather reflect a measurable nationwide rise in Islamophobic violence, according to two separate studies released this week.
Researchers with the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University (CSU) found that anti-Muslim hate crimes have tripled in the wake of the Paris and San Bernardino attacks.
According to The New York Times, which obtained the study ahead of its public release, there has been an average of 12.6 "suspected hate crimes" against U.S. Muslims per month for the past several years. But since the Paris attacks in mid-November, that monthly number has climbed to 38 attacks that are "anti-Islamic in nature."
Such crimes include arson and vandalism of mosques, shootings, and death threats.
"We are seeing an unbelievably toxic, anti-Muslim environment in our society that is being encouraged and exploited by public figures like Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Rick Santorum, and others."
--Ibrahim Hooper, Council on American-Islamic Relations.
"The terrorist attacks, coupled with the ubiquity of these anti-Muslim stereotypes seeping into the mainstream, have emboldened people to act upon this fear and anger," CSU researcher Brian Levin told Times reporter Eric Lichtblau.
While the researchers said the attacks have not quite reached the levels seen in the immediate aftermath of the September 11th, 2001 attacks, they identified similarities in the climate, including attacks on Sikh people falsely believed to be Muslim.
The university's data corroborates a report released this week by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which noted a severe rise in attacks on mosques, including vandalism, destruction, and intimidation.
CAIR said the 29 documented attacks on Mosques in 2015 is the highest annual number the advocacy organization has recorded since it began keeping track in 2009. The group noted that "November 2015 was the most significant spike, with a total of 17 mosque incidents, with all but 2 of those incidents occurring in the wake of the November 13 Paris terror attacks."
These attacks are not happening in a vacuum.
"We are seeing an unbelievably toxic, anti-Muslim environment in our society that is being encouraged and exploited by public figures like Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Rick Santorum, and others," Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesperson for CAIR, told Common Dreams. "This is leading to fresh incidents of hate crimes nationwide."
Hooper described the violence as "off the charts," adding: "I don't think we've seen the end of it."
Fresh incidents this week underscore the trends highlighted in both reports.
All schools in Augusta County, Virginia, were closed on Friday after a world geography class taught a lesson on Arabic calligraphy--which then prompted a racist and Islamophobic backlash.
And in Grand Rapids, Michigan, this week, a Sikh store clerk was reportedly called a "terrorist" and then shot in the face by an individual demanding money from the register.
Over the past month, people across the United States have staged rallies, vigils, and speak-outs against rising Islamophobic violence, including a mobilization in New York under the banner of "Human Rights Trump Oppression." Large numbers are expected to gather at a demonstration on Friday in San Francisco, organized by the Arab Organizing and Resource Center, calling for the "upholding of the dignity of communities."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.