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Magazine BY:Ayesha Qadeer
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Table of Contents Speaking Out on Racism as a Company Leader America’s Long Overdue Awakening to Systemic Racism Reflections on Race and Racism
COVID-19, RACISM HEAD-ON
The Race Issue in the world RACISM BEYOND PERSONAL PREJUDICE AND HATE TO SYSTEMIC RACISM:
Islamophobia in Europe
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Speaking Out on Racism as a Company Leader
Wharton management professor Stephanie Creary offers advice for penning a substantive public statement and stresses the importance of walking the talk. -
was recently interviewed by a Financial Times reporter about the “risk” for companies in publicly addressing racism, injustice, and the events of the last two weeks. I invited the reporter to reconsider her perspective to focus on “what good” could come from speaking openly on these issues. I’m offering what I shared with her as advice to corporate leaders, who I believe are trying to at least do some good by creating these statements.
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Be Real Say how you are feeling (e.g., tired, appalled, angry) and how others around you are feeling. Say what you understand, but also admit what you may not yet understand. Be Compassionate •Use the words “Black” and “African American” to describe the people you are talking about and addressing in your statement. •Use the names of those who have been senselessly killed in recent months (George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor) and threatened by racism (Christian Cooper). •Remind everyone that we have been here before. There is a long history of racism, injustice, and discrimination in the U.S.: Martin, Michael Brown, Trayvon Philando Castile, Eric Garner, and others are recent reminders. •Recognize that the pandemic we are currently experiencing is disproportionately and negatively affecting these same communities.
Be Unapologetic You have employees and customers who are looking to you to speak with conviction about your zerotolerance policy for racism and injustice. Please remember them when racists start threatening to take their business away from your company. Don’t cater to the racists.
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Do Something Different
Say what you will do in your own company to make sure that your employees and your customers feel safe, welcomed, and valued. Start by creating facilitated spaces for people to share how they are feeling and to propose how they think we might do better. But don’t expect your Black/African-American colleagues to do all of the work. Let them volunteer if they want. If you do nothing after saying something, your words will not matter.
1.PROFESSIONAL ISSUES What you probably didn’t know about racism in the workplace Hosted by Sabine Vollmer
August 3, 2020
Many businesses have issued public statements saying they won’t stand for racism. Is that enough to ensure an organization does not discriminate? No, says Stephanie Creary, an identity and diversity scholar and professor of management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. The culture of a workplace, be that in a company or an accounting firm, determines how employees and customers are treated, Creary said. To assess how racism is a factor requires open, frank conversations and leaders willing to listen and learn what they probably didn’t know.
America’s Long Overdue Awakening to Systemic Racism
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For many who have spent their lives fighting for racial equity, these nationwide protests and moment of reckoning have been a long time coming In Lafayette Park, just steps away from the White House, a wealthy hotelier ran a second business selling enslaved men and women to the highest bidder. He kept them in a brick cell beside his mansion, and at night an observer recalled hearing “their howls and cries.” Today in the park there is no plaque, no bench and no monument, to paraphrase Toni Morrison to memorialize the human lives brutalized there throughout much of the 19th century. After a hard-fought Civil War, the institution of chattel slavery was legally abolished as the U.S. nominally attempted to make racial violence a thing of the past.
These days, in the public space situated across from the White House, one is likely to encounter instead an odd mix of office workers on lunch break and MAGA -hat-wearing tourists mingling around the hotelier’s former mansion, known as Decatur House. Or at least, that was the scene before the past three weeks turned Lafayette Park into a crucible for the fight over the still-present legacy of slavery in America: systemic racism.
Just before 7 p.m. on June 1, a deployment of local, state and federal forces, armored head to toe in riot gear, unleashed rubber bullets and sprayed tear gas onto a crowd of peaceful demonstrators gathered in the park to protest under the mantra “Black Lives Matter.” Moments after the crowd was forcibly dispersed, screaming as their eyes burned from the gas, President Donald Trump strolled out of the White House flanked by senior members of his Administration, triumphantly holding up a Bible so the press could snap a few photos.
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Since then, the debate over systemic racism has spread across the nation and around the world Trump’s Administration has repeatedly denied that discrimination against black Americans is embedded in the political, economic and social structure . of the country. Trump believes there are “injustices in society,” his press secretary said, but she brushed aside the notion that antiblackness Is intrinsic to U.S. law enforcement. His National Security Adviser, Robert O’Brien, said racist police are just a “few bad apples,” adding, “we need to root them out.” Attorney General William Barr warned against “automatically assuming that the actions of an individual necessarily mean that their organization is rotten.”
But, for all that’s good about America, something is rotten. The protesters in Lafayette Park on June 1 may have been galvanized by the disturbing video of the murder of George Floyd suffocated to death beneath the knee of a Minneapolis police officer just a week prior.
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But at the core of their movement is much more than the outrage over the latest instances of police brutality. Centuries of racist policy, both explicit and implicit, have left black Americans in the dust, physically, emotionally and economically. The U.S. may think it has brushed chattel slavery into the dustbin of history after the Civil War, but the country never did a very good job incinerating its traumatic remains, instead leaving embers that still burn today: an education system that fails black Americans, substandard health care that makes them more vulnerable to death and disease, and an economy that leaves millions without access to a living wage. Politicians, activists and everyday people can and should debate what to do about this reality, but it is a reality, one evident in volumes of data, research and reporting, not to mention the lived experience of millions of African Americans each and every day. What is helping make this moment historic is that over these past weeks and months, much of the rest of the U.S. appears to have woken up to this truth too.
The crowds of protesters from Seattle to Miami include not just black youth, but a diverse array that looks something like the country itself. In 2015, in the wake of unrest in Ferguson, Mo. just half of Americans said they believed racial discrimination to be a “big problem,” and, in 2016, only a third considered black Americans more likely to suffer from police brutality, according to Monmouth University polling. Today, by contrast, more than 75% of Americans say discrimination is a big problem and 57% understand that African Americans are more likely to suffer from police violence than other demographic groups are, a recent Monmouth poll found. More broadly, the notion of “systemic racism,” once confined to academic and activist circles on the left of the . spectrum, has become the phrase du jour, with Google searches for the term rising a hundredfold in a matter of months and mainstream conservatives like former President George W. Bush joining historically moderate Democrats like Joe Biden in embracing the term to call for a national reckoning.
This spreading recognition highlights an ever starker dividing line in America. On one side, a growing majority of the country is increasingly ready to repudiate its history of structural racism. On the other, many of those in power, especially at the White House, are eager to deny it. This is no surprise. By definition, systemic racism is embedded deep and wide across American society and, therefore, can’t easily be rectified. But, for many of those who have spent their lives fighting for racial justice, this is a moment of reckoning that has been a long time coming. “Not everything that is faced can be changed,” James Baldwin the black author and activist wrote in the manuscript of his memoir Remember This House, “but nothing can be changed until it is faced. During Barak Obama’s first presidential campaign, many Americans were outraged when news broke that the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama’s pastor, had uttered the words “God damn America” for “killing innocent people,” “treating our citizens as less than human” and failing “the vast majority of her citizens of African descent.” Obama condemned the comments and reminded the public that, actually, the U.S. had made great progress, even while acknowledging far more was needed.
Reflections on Race and Racism After an earth-shifting week that has brought into stark relief the experiences of racism and racial violence that many of us and our communities navigate every day as people of color, it is even more clear that the work of dismantling racism is overdue. It is overdue in our society, in library and information services, and at the American Library Association (ALA), which exists to ensure that libraries, learning, and information access are available to all.
The future of libraries rests on the ability to stem racism and the divides it creates and exacerbates. ALA’s future, then, rests on its ability to guide the field in the building of institutions and policies that promote racial equity, confront racism, and fully recognize that the future of our nation rests in the fundamental truth that Black Lives Matter. Only then can we truly honor and atone the memory of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery—and the far too many names that follow theirs.
Because the presence of racism, bias, and bigotry in any of our LIS institutions limits our reach and the possibility of realizing the full promise and potential of an equitably informed public, we must go beyond hashtags, statements, and committees and do the hands-on work needed to systemically uproot racism. This requires that we be willing to confront racism in our communities and in our own homes. We must get our own houses in order. At ALA that means our internal operations and decision making, as well as our external structure and engagement with membership, must bear out the goal of true racial equity and inclusion. To that end, I invited several ALA staffers and member leaders to reflect on this moment. You’ll find their responses below.
From Richard E. Ashby Jr., president of the Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA):
Richard E. Ashby Jr. Today, I stand alongside fellow librarians from all over the world addressing the injustices plaguing our society. We have been held down by systemic racism far too long. We are sacrificed and assassinated daily. The senseless murders of countless Black men and women, with the most recent being George Floyd, will not be tolerated. We need unity now more than ever before. Mental, physical, and spiritual acumen is needed to address the aftermath of disease, violence, and rioting, as we prepare to open our libraries.
Wanda Kay Brown
As a Black librarian, I know I have a calling and that I am not just a librarian. I realize my professional title has meaning. It means that I stand on the shoulders of my ancestors and have crossed barriers that many believed could never be crossed. I serve as a leader to the community at large, and especially to children. I am a proud African American and culture keeper. I realize society looks to me and to my colleagues for information and guidance to empower their lives. We stand together as professional librarians and children of the diaspora. The time has come to galvanize our profession and our organizations for the betterment of our communities. The time has come for us to unify in accordance with the dreams and hopes of pioneers and contemporaries of this calling. I am a product of soldiers of equality: Dr. E. J. Josey was a soldier, Pura Belpré was a soldier, Loida GarciaFebo is a soldier, Wanda Kay Brown is a soldier, Dr. Carla Hayden is a soldier, Kenneth Yamashita is a soldier, Julius C. Jefferson Jr. is a soldier, Dora Ho is a soldier, I am a soldier! We are all soldiers. We are fighting the good fight to ensure America stays true to its pledge, “With liberty and justice for all.” As a librarian, I always come back to the idea that library users need to see themselves reflected in the people who work there. What would be the impact if there were more Black faces in the libraries? In library leadership positions? As a Black woman, and someone who has benefited from the mentorship of other Black librarians, I believe redoubling our efforts to diversify our profession is necessary and urgent.
I want to say that I am shocked by the live broadcast of the killing of George Floyd, and all of the events Representation matters— that have led to civil unrest, but I am on police forces, in not. hospitals, in government, in I am frustrated. I am frustrated by . libraries. By supporting the plague of racism in the US, school persistence and which leads to injustice. I am frustrated with the actions of the engaging young people after and outside of school, police toward African Americans like George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, I believe libraries can also as well as countless others in play a role in stopping the America. I am frustrated as a Black school-to-prison pipeline woman, who is three times as likely that disproportionately to contract and die from COVID-19. impacts Black youth. We All I can think is, “Wow, even“this virus is targeting African must employ the right folks Americans.” I am frustrated with and pay them equitably for racism and the white supremacy the work they do—work that has been infectiously spreading that is instrumental to a for hundreds of years. Yet when we community’s ability to thrive encounter or fight against racism, and advance together. Our we are counteracted faster than any communities benefit greatly response to a viral disease that has killed more than 100,000 Americans when our health care, in less than four months. education, and police
professionals are people who have love and genuine care for the people of the community first and, secondly but equally, love for the work they do. Having librarians committed to social justice who come from the communities they serve would be a big step forward. It won’t bring back any of those who we’ve tragically lost, but it might begin the process of healing and move us toward justice.
Tammy Dillard-Steels
I am frustrated that I have to have a campaign, Black Lives Matter, to convince the world that I am just as human as the next person. I am frustrated that the young people who want to make a difference have no clear leadership to help them navigate and make sustainable change. As the executive director of the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), I want to contribute to the lives of young adults by infusing equity, diversity, and inclusion into all of our programs, products, and services. I stand with the young adults fighting for their rights for true freedom and equality. They need resources and support, and I want to contribute to the changes they are bringing to their communities.
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“Our challenge as a profession, and as decent human beings, is to respond to the impact of both pandemics.” The twin pandemics are a call to create a more inclusive and just society. And social work is answering that call. Many have taken to the protest to support a Black Lives Matter movement that challenges us as individuals and institutions to explore our own and society’s contributions to systemic oppression and racism. Despite reports to the contrary, the country has not descended into violence. In fact, a recent study found that 93 percent of all protests this spring and summer were nonviolent. Ruth Bader Ginsberg invited us to “Fight for the things that you care about but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.” I encourage you to invite others to join us all in the possibility of a different world. Let me know what advocacy you’ve been engaged in. Your commitment to good never ceases to amaze me. Best Wishes, Tom Gregoire, MSW, PhD Dean
COVID-19, RACISM HEAD-ON When I last wrote you in 2019 for this magazine, I never imagined the world as it is today. COVID-19 ravaged our country killing more than 230,000 thus far and shutting down our economy. The murders of George Floyd .and Breonna Taylor gave rise to protests nationwide. The financial impact of the virus, and generations of systemic oppression, are devastating. We are in the midst of two pandemics. One is emergent—COVID-19. The other is centuries old—racism and inequity. And as is always the case, both pandemics are hardest felt by the poor, oppressed and disenfranchised members of our society. Despite what can be overwhelming emotions so many of us are experiencing, there is a path forward. Our challenge as a profession, and as decent human beings, is to respond to the impact of both pandemics. And that is happening. Although obscured by a host of bad news, there are powerful stories of compassion, kindness and leadership for good. Some of those stories are in this issue of The Stillman. And you know countless more yourselves. We are among the thousands across our country who have donated, volunteered or otherwise stepped forward to help those in need, and to call attention to injustice.
The Race Issue in the world These Twins Will Make You Rethink Race When Amanda Wanklin and Michael Biggs fell in love, they “didn’t give a toss” about the challenges they might face as a biracial couple, Amanda says. “What was more important was what we wanted together.” They settled down in Birmingham, England, eager to start a family. On July 3, 2006, Amanda gave birth to fraternal twin girls, and the ecstatic parents gave their daughters intertwined names: One would be Millie Marcia Madge Biggs, the other Marcia Millie Madge Biggs.
Marcia (left) and Millie Biggs, both 11, say people are shocked to learn that they’re fraternal twins. Marcia looks more like their mother, who’s English born, and Millie looks more like their father, who’s of Jamaican descent. Though Millie and Marcia are just 11, they understand racism—and the best way to combat it. From a young age the girls had similar features but very different color schemes. Marcia had light brown hair and fair skin like her English-born mother. Millie had black hair and brown skin like her father, who’s of Jamaican descent. “We never worried about it; we just accepted it,” Michael says.
People who commented on the girls weren’t openly hostile or judgmental—just very curious, Amanda says. And then “as time went on, people just saw the beauty in them.”
“When they were first born,” Amanda recalls, “I would be pushing them in the pram, and people would look at me and then look at my one daughter and then look at my other daughter. And then I’d get asked the question: ‘Are they twins?’” “Yes.” “‘But one’s white and one’s black.’” “Yes. It’s genes.”
Amanda, who works as a homecare aide, calls Millie and Marcia her “one in a million” miracle. But it’s not that rare that a biracial couple would have fraternal twins who each look more like one parent than the other, says statistical geneticist Alicia Martin.
Fraternal twins account for about one in 100 births. When a biracial couple has fraternal twins, the traits that emerge in each child depend on numerous variables, including “where the parents’ ancestors are from and complex pigment genetics,” says Martin, a postdoctoral research fellow at the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
And research on skin color is further complicated by a history of “study biases that mean we know more about what makes lighter skin light than what makes darker skin dark,” she says. In genetic terms, skin color “is not a binary trait” with only two possibilities, Martin notes. “It’s a quantitative trait, and everyone has some gradient on this spectrum.” Modern science confirms “that the visible differences between peoples are accidents of history”—the result of mutations, migrations, natural selection, the isolation of some populations, and interbreeding among others, writes science journalist Elizabeth Kolbert. They are not racial differences because the very concept of race—to quote DNA-sequencing pioneer Craig Venter—“has no genetic or scientific basis.” And yet 50 years after the assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., racial identity has reemerged as a fundamental dividing line in our world.
Historically, when humans have drawn lines of identity—separating Us from Them—they’ve often relied on skin color as a proxy for race. But the 21st-century understanding of human genetics tells us that the whole idea of race is a human invention. They Think We’re Just Best Friends The twins, for their part, understand quite clearly what racism is. “Racism is where somebody judges you by your color and not by your actual self,” Millie says. Marcia describes racism as “a negative thing, because it can hurt people’s feelings.” Michael, who owns an auto-repair business, says he’s faced hostility at times because of the color of his skin. He vividly recalls an episode from his youth when a car full of men sped by and shouted slurs at him and his brothers.
“But it’s a different time now,” Michael says. Neither he nor Amanda has ever witnessed racist behavior toward the girls. And both Millie and Marcia say that they’ve never sensed racism when people note the contrast in their looks.
RACISM BEYOND PERSONAL PREJUDICE AND HATE TO SYSTEMIC RACISM: Racism in the United States has been traditionally understood and portrayed as overt and/or intentional prejudice or hatred of a white person(s) toward black Americans or other racial and ethnic “minorities.” And while the media clearly concentrates its coverage of racism on particularly shocking incidents of alleged racism (see the admitted or exposed use of racial slurs by celebrity chef Paula Deen or the NFL athlete Riley Cooper in 2013), this overrepresentation of such individual-level racism obscures the way that racism has operated and continues to operate far more broadly at the systemic level, to drastically limit access to resources and opportunities for people of color. Systemic-level racism also takes the form of discriminatory policies and practices in the criminal justice and immigration systems. Our national commitment, to justice, fairness, and equality of opportunity cannot be realized without this expansion.
2. FOCUS ON ACTIONS AND IMPACTS RATHER THAN ATTITUDES AND INTENTIONS One way to expand our definition of racism to the systemic level is to focus our attention on actions and impacts, rather than the attitudes and intentions of allegedly racist individuals, policies or practices. Intentions matter, but impacts, regardless of intentions, are what matter most. Racial impacts — whether negative or positive— are what have the most weighty consequences on people’s lives, and, thus, are where we can most usefully place our attention. Also, actions and impacts can be documented, whereas attitudes and intentions are debatable. We may not know what is in the hearts and minds of particular people, policymakers, or powerholders — and it’s not worth the energy to make guesses or assumptions. But we can hold them accountable for their actions, commitments, and decisions, since those have bearing on outcomes.
Expanding your definition of racism means engaging in conversations about the potential causes of racial disparities in our nation. That means examining what policies and practices create and re-create these disparities. The media should certainly increase the amount of systemically aware racism content that explores such policies, practices and impacts. Journalists and the general public could also re-examine stories of individual triumph — i.e., someone who overcomes many obstacles and barriers to reach success — with a racial justice lens. For example, why did a particular person and so many other people of color face similar or identical barriers in the first place? If racial justice advocates adopt a routine and robust use of a systems analysis to inform our work — and the way we publicly communicate our issues — we can be a model for other advocates and journalists to do the same.
Silencing all talk about race — and prematurely declaring that we live in a “post-racial” society, or that class trumps race — will not eradicate the continued racial disparities in our society.
3. ADD A RACIAL LENS TO OUR CONVERSATIONS ON CLASS, GENDER, SEXUALITY, ETC. Political conservatives do not have a monopoly on calls to silence racial justice voices. There’s tremendous pressure from a vocal segment of political liberals to avoid talking about race, in part because the topic is viewed as too “divisive.” But given the overwhelming evidence of racial disparities, it only makes sense that we would want to give race and racism specific, distinct, and sufficient attention. Yet, while we recommend addressing race explicitly, it does not mean we must or should address race exclusively. Other factors (e.g., gender, socioeconomic status, immigration status, etc.) may be just as salient or even more so, at times. Often, these other dynamics are compounded by race, so they need to be considered together. When addressing racial equity, we certainly don’t want to undermine gender equity. We want to lift all people. Thus, we need to take the time to thoughtfully view our issues of concern from all angles, with consideration of different lenses and perspectives. This doesn’t have to be an either/or choice. To promote genuine inclusion, we can and must talk about race alongside those other factors if we are to fashion effective solutions to our policy and societal challenges.
CONCLUSIONS We have described several harmful racial discourse practices which, taken as a whole, reinforce the common misconception that racism is simply a problem of rare, isolated, individual attitudes and actions. We argue that racism is a cumulative and compounding product of an array We should be explicit about race, and of societal factors overcome our reluctance to say the that, on balance, word “white,” so that we can reveal, systematically acknowledge, and address the similar privilege white and different ways that white people people and and people of color experience poverty, sex discrimination and LGBTQ disadvantage people of color. We oppression. We can all learn from have also offered people who clearly see and even embody the connections between race, everyday recommendations ethnicity, gender, class, sexuality, for how readers religion, and other salient dynamics. can help overcome Racial and social justice advocates these harmful need to take the time to thoughtfully racial discourse view their issues of concern from all practices. angles, with consideration of different lenses and perspectives. The best way to do that is to include a diverse set of stakeholders in the process of analyzing and framing issues, so that a wide variety of people can see their interests and identities represented in the selected strategies, solutions and frames. By developing inclusive issue frames, our work becomes complementary, rather than competing, and we can widen the base of investment and engagement in proposed equitable solutions.
Racism is a cumulative and compounding product of an array of societal factors that, on balance, systematically privilege white people and disadvantage people of color.
Islamophobia in Europe Islamophobia is a term used to describe irrational hostility, fear, or hatred of Islam, Muslims, and Islamic culture, and active discrimination against these groups or individuals within them. Today, Islamophobia in Europe manifests itself through individual attitudes and behaviors, and the policies and practices of organizations and institutions. Examples— which vary across countries and time— include the following: physical or verbal attacks on property, places of worship, and people—especially those who display a visible manifestation of their religious identity such as women wearing the hijab or niqab verbal or online threats of violence, vilification, and abuse. policies or legislation that indirectly target or disproportionately affect Muslims, and unduly restrict their freedom of religion, such as bans on wearing visible religious and cultural symbols, laws against facial concealment, and bans on building mosques with minarets discrimination in education, employment, housing, or access to goods and services ethnic and religious profiling and police abuse, including some provisions of counterterrorism policing public pronouncements by some journalists and politicians—across the whole political spectrum—that stigmatize Muslims as a group and disregard their positive contributions to the communities and countries in which they live. The use of the term Islamophobia is a relatively recent phenomenon and, despite signs that it exists, it remains contested as to what exactly defines anti-Muslim or anti-Islamic actions or behavior.
Why is Islamophobia an issue in Europe now? In recent years, Islamophobia has been fueled by public anxiety over immigration and the integration of Muslim minorities into majority cultures in Europe. These tensions have been exacerbated in the aftermath of the economic crash of 2007 and the rise of populist nationalist politicians. They have also been aggravated by high-profile terrorist attacks carried out by Muslim extremists. In a climate of rapidly expanding diversity in Europe, Muslim minorities have been portrayed as non-belonging and wanting to separate themselves from the rest of society. Government policies have failed to ensure equal rights for all, forcing significant sections of Muslim minorities to face unemployment, poverty, and limited civic and political participation, all of which aggravate discrimination. Minorities often serve as scapegoats in times of economic and political crisis. Islam and the approximately 20 million Muslims who live in the European Union are depicted by some as inherent threats to the European way of life, even in countries where they have lived for generations. The myth of an ongoing European “Islamization” or invasion has been nurtured by xenophobic, populist parties that are on the rise across Europe. In fact, Europeans overestimate the proportion of their populations that are Muslim.
The 9/11 terrorist attacks drastically changed public opinion towards Muslims. Since then, terrorist acts such as the attacks by violent jihadists in London, Paris, Brussels, and Barcelona have increased fear and anxiety. The use of Islam by extremists to justify their terrorist acts has made many Europeans regard Islam as a threat and fear Muslims as the enemy. Since 2001, some media in Europe have succumbed to reporting based on stereotypes and used the actions of Islamists to stigmatize Muslim populations. There are concerns that stereotypes and generalizations about Muslims are informing counter-terrorism measures in Europe that restrict liberties for all and negatively impact Muslim communities.
What are the implications for open society? Islamophobia is a “symptom of the disintegration of human values,” according to former Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg—values such as nondiscrimination, tolerance, freedom of thought, justice, solidarity, and equality. These values are supposed to be inherent to European societies; they are values upon which the European Union and the Council of Europe were built.
The extent and nature of the discrimination and Islamophobic incidents perpetrated against European Muslims remain underdocumented and underreported due to a lack of relevant data Many institutions, such as the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, and NGOs, such as the Collective Against Islamophobia in Belgium, have acknowledged the rise in this worrying phenomenon and noted the increasingly aggravated nature of the incidents.
For instance, the 2017 EU Minorities and Discrimination Survey found that on average one in three Muslim respondents faced discrimination and prejudice in the previous 12 months, and 27 percent experienced a racist crime. Research also shows that Islamophobia can especially impact women—in the job market, for example, as is highlighted in recent research by the European Network Against Racism.
stop Islamophobia Learn about Islam, Islamophobia, and the movement to counter Islamophobia.
Spend some time with your Quaker community learning more about Islam, the impacts of Islamophobia, and the movement to stop it. Build relationships with the local Muslim community. "Wherever you are, there is probably a local Muslim community, and a Muslim community that may increasingly feel that it is isolated and fearful. Establishing links with local Muslim communities is something that I believe Quakers in are particular are adept at doing and should be encouraged to do." Interrupt Islamophobia
"I think allies are incredibly important, and I think this really stretches across from movements that are trying to counter Islamophobia to broader movements against racism. All of these movements really benefit when there are allies that are engaged. And what I mean by engaged isn't leading those movements, per se. What I mean by engaged is people who are holding their peers accountable."
Stand in solidarity with the Muslim community (“For those who ascribe to beliefs of treating everyone equally, we have to act on it. And within our safe spaces, we have to be very vocal, and we have to be very active in acting on these principles in a time when it really matters.”
Advocate against anti-Islamic and xenophobic state and federal policies. From anti-Sharia legislation to calls to ban Muslims from entering the United States, the need to hold political candidates and representatives accountable has never been more important. Contact your state and federal representatives when legislation or rhetoric targets Muslims, and encourage friends and family to do so as well. Keep an eye out for actives campaigns from AFSC, FCNL, Mpower Change, CAIR, and other organizations confronting Islamophobia.
Muslim women are disproportionately affected by Islamophobia. They are not only seen as a threat to the West, but they are also paradoxically portrayed as victims of an alleged Islamic sexism. These contorted ideas must be overturned with new narratives, led by Muslim women themselves, presented via art, media and popular culture, to portray the diversity of their lives.
Islamophobia needs to be properly recorded to assess the scope and nature of the phenomenon, and the narratives and flawed logic used in Islamophobic attacks must be effectively deconstructed and challenged. Where misinformed narratives concerning Islam and Muslims circulate these must be broken down. A reconstruction of mainstream ideas surrounding Islam and Muslims is needed, one that is closer to the realities of the faith and its practice. This means that dominant ideas about Muslims and Islam that circulate in popular culture should reflect the diverse everyday experiences of Muslims and their faith.
Racism in Indian Recent incidents of violence against African students not only harm India's international image but are the tip of a huge civilisational I ceberg that only sustained introspection of national identity can address.
Migrants from Africa manage to find safe spaces in India, but cultural and racial discrimination never escapes them.
In 2014, a mob attacked African students at a central Delhi metro station. In 2016, a mob in Bengaluru stripped a 21-year-old Tanzanian woman and attacked her friends after a Sudanese student ran over and killed a local woman. In 2017, five Nigerians were beaten up in Greater Noida following the death of a 17-year-old Indian student. Earlier this year, a 27-year-old Congolese died in police custody in Bengaluru, triggering protests by African nationals. These abominable incidents of discrimination and violence reveal the fleeting moments of African lives in India before they are lost and forgotten again in the public gaze. Who are they? What do they do? Why are they in India? All these questions rarely cross our minds while one covers the jarring cases of violence and discrimination against them. To sympathise and understand the causes of the rising Afrophobia , it's important to understand how they struggle to make a life for themselves in a hostile country like India.
Office No # 4 madni plaza blue area jinnah avenue islamabad , Gmail: ayesha.bsps427@iiu.edu.pk https://issuu.com/ayeshaqadeer https://www.instagram.com/aishakhan.k_19official/ Contact No:03125387649