Report says Islamophobia on the rise

(RNS) A new report asserts that anti-Muslim prejudice has worsened in
recent years, but argues the trend could be reversed with greater
community outreach.

The report, "Same Hate, New Target: Islamophobia and its Impact in
the United States," was released Thursday (June 23) by the Council on
American-Islamic Relations and the University of California Berkeley's
Center for Race and Gender.

While the report said there are no comprehensive figures to quantify
the problem, anti-Muslim discrimination is broken into several
categories, including hate crimes, workplace issues, schools, public
accommodation, mosque vandalism and religious "profiling."

"When we say there are campaigns against Islam and Muslims, a lot of
people dismiss it as conspiracy theories," said Ihsan Bagby, a professor
of Islamic studies at the University of Kentucky and a CAIR board
member.

"But this proves that there are concerted campaigns against Islam
and Muslims."

Kamran Memon, a civil rights attorney in Chicago who represents
Muslims in discrimination cases, said Islamophobia is not "a PR problem
that can be solved with good marketing."

"We need to acknowledge that people have legitimate fears that can
only be turned around with serious engagement," Memon said.
The report lists figures it believes to be countering Islamophobia,
including comedian Jon Stewart and New York City Mayor Michael
Bloomberg, as well as perceived anti-Muslim offenders, including GOP
presidential candidate Newt Gingrich.

The report defined Islamophobia as "close-minded prejudice against
or hatred of Islam and Muslims," and said it is "not appropriate to
label all, or even the majority of those, who question Islam and Muslims
as Islamophobes."