There comes a time in each generation when history calls. That’s when we must ask ourselves: How will we answer?
The events of September 11, 2001 were terrifying. Not only did they rock us as a nation, but they launched us into a new era of fear and suspicion. The government responded as governments do: by increasing its presence overseas, creating committees, commissioning studies and detailed reports, and contracting with private companies to increase security measures—ultimately building
a expanded infrastructure, replete with new laws and regulations, in an attempt to ensure that the horror we experienced that day would never be repeated.
Somewhere in all of that, our new fears led us to look with increasing suspicion on our Muslim, Arab, and South Asian neighbors. And our heightened regulations, created to protect all Americans, instead made some of us the victims of unfair and unwarranted scrutiny. Individuals, families, and organizations were left floundering as they struggled to find a response to the growing wariness and distrust engendered by their heritage, culture, and religion.
That’s when we—a coalition of civil rights activists, all of us united in our passion for justice and equal rights—sought to find a solution to the systemic discrimination being leveled at the Muslim community in the US. Our answer was to found the Muslim Legal Fund of America. Our strategy was to focus on the legal system, primarily by funding legal representation and providing support to the victims and their families.
