Muslims are living in an environment of
extreme demonizing and dehumanizing by American media. Hatred against
Muslims is further promoted by a well-funded Islamophobia network as
identified in a report “Fear Inc.” by The Center for American
Progress. Fanning Islamophobia has serious consequences on the well
being of people. Many Muslims and even people who appear as Muslims
have been murdered by people who later confessed to killing “Muslim”
as a revenge against “terrorism”. During February and March 2015,
Washington based Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR)
documented multiple Islamophobic attacks, ranging from graffiti at an
Illinois school “All Islam will be killed in this school” “F***
Arabs”, “Kill all the Arabs”; notes left in public in Revere,
MA, saying "We must kill all Muslims in America"; and a
high school in Washington State being vandalized with graffiti
"Muslims get out" and a Hindu temple in the same town
vandalized with Nazi Swastika and "Get out" sign. A mosque
was burned to ground in Houston, TX, on February 12, 2015, in an
alleged Islamophobic attack. A retired Houston firefighter tweeted
“Let it burn...block the fire hydrant”.
In the context of rising Islamophobia
in the country and the murders of three Muslim youth in Chapel Hill,
Horowitz's speech added insult to injury. His talk at UNC has
mobilized Muslims students in Chapel Hill and their allies to launch
#NotSafeUNC campaign. UNC students have shared stories such as, UNC
faculty's insensitivity toward Muslim students psychological trauma
in the wake of Chapel Hill tragedy, or UNC security guard suspecting
a Muslim woman for carrying a bomb to the Dean Dome. Farris Barakat,
brother of Chapel Hill murder victim Deah Barakat, supported
#NotSafeUNC campaign by tweeting that his brother was murdered
because "freedom of speech has been used to defame Muslims
through lies. Speak up."
A broad movement that challenges all
forms of oppression is essential to ending Islamophobia. UNC
community organized an action titled “People of Color Takeover ofthe Quad” on April 24, 2015, that mobilized diverse allies –
Muslims, Palestinians, African Americans, Asians, LGBT activists,
feminists, Triangle area social justice activists and many more. One
of the actions included dropping a banner on Saunders Hall to
rechristen it “Hurston Hall”, thus changing its name from a KKK
leader to the first Black student at UNC as part of the
#KickOutTheKKK campaign.
As members of Muslims for Social Justice and a network fighting racism and Islamophobia in North
Carolina, we fully support UNC community in their fights against
bigotry and oppression. Hatred will win only if demagogues divide us
by fear. As a coalition of forces working against all forms of hatred
– either based on race, ethnicity, gender, religion or sexual
orientation, we will not let the forces of hate prevail.
