Friend,

Yesterday, while offering testimony [[link removed]] to the Senate Judiciary Committee on the rise of hate crime in our country, I was subjected to some extraordinary questions and a racist diatribe by a sitting Senator.

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Clips of the exchange have gone viral on social media [[link removed]] , and the outpouring of support has been overwhelming. It's a reminder of the strength of our community, and I am so grateful for each and every one of you. But I am not writing because the clip went viral, I am writing because I understand that hate against any one community affects all communities.

The incident yesterday—the comments and hate directed at me by some of the Senators—has unfortunately overshadowed the real reason we were there. I would like the opportunity to steer the conversation once again back to the matter at hand—hate crimes.

At the hearing was a family from the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburg who lost a loved one in that tragic hate crime in 2018. And just behind me, sitting quietly, was Wadea al-Fayoume’s mother whose six-year-old son was brutally murdered in a hate crime last October for being a Palestinian child. She came to that event not for politics or headlines but to help find real solutions to the very hate that took her child’s life. Instead, she had to sit there and endure hateful rhetoric all over again while our elected officials continued to devalue Palestinian lives.

Instead of centering the ways we can work together to stem hate, including antisemitism, some members of the Committee chose to dig into complicated foreign policy to center the state of Israel, brandish images deprived of context at witnesses, and accuse me—the only Arab American, only American Muslim, and only woman testifying—of supporting violence.

The irony of being attacked with blatant anti-Arab racism while trying to explain the depth and breadth of the hate crime crisis in our country is not lost on me. Why did I say a “hate crime crisis?” Because our government’s official hate crime statistics provide the data confirming the crisis. From 2015 to 2022, we have seen a 99% increase in reported hate crime.

The historic levels of hate crimes we are experiencing harm individuals, communities, and our country—we can and must respond more effectively. And as I said at the hearing, policymakers should not be fueling it with dangerous rhetoric—I just wasn’t expecting to see more of it at the actual hate crime hearing.

I remain grateful to Senator Durbin for convening the hearing to focus on the surge in hate crimes. I tried to do the same in my remarks and you can read my written testimony, which offers solutions to alleviate the crisis we face here [[link removed]] . Know that AAI will continue to work to alleviate the burden of hate not just for our community, but for all those who experience it. And know that our support for Palestinian human rights is not daunted by these attacks. Working to combat hate is what we’ve always done and will continue to do—and that includes fighting back against the dehumanization of Palestinian lives.

In solidarity,

Maya

Arab American Institute Foundation
1600 K Street, NW, Suite 601
Washington, DC 20006
United States
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