Content warning: This email contains references to obscene language and disturbing, violent incidents of Islamophobia and racism.
Friends,
Yesterday, Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky of Illinois and I led our colleagues in calling on the State Department to create a Special Envoy to Combat Islamophobia.
There is a deep need for this envoy as we see a stark rise in anti-Muslim hate in this country.
According to brand new data, this year has seen over 500 documented complaints of anti-Muslim hate and bias in the U.S.
This includes everything from hate crimes, harassment, school bullying, discrimination, hate speech, and anti-mosque incidents, and a sudden uptick in mosque attacks in May and June.
In my home state of Minnesota, vandals spray-painted hate messages including “Death to Islam,” F*** Islam, “n-word,” and a Nazi swastika on and near the Moorhead-Fargo Islamic Center. A window of the mosque was also broken.
This is only the most recent in a spate of mosque attacks in Minnesota.
These incidents pain me because they are so familiar.
As a young refugee who barely spoke English, students would mock me — even going as far as to put chewing gum in my hijab.
At one point, I was physically attacked by a group of teenagers because I didn’t bare my legs or arms during gym class.
And this has followed me even as I ran for public office and now represent my district in the United States Congress.
Just last month, my office got a call, saying, “Muslims are terrorists. And she is a raghead n-word. And every anti-American communist piece of s*** that works for her, I hope you get what’s f***ing coming for you.”
This is just one of the many threats me and my staff receive on a routine basis.
But I know that the discrimination many Muslims experience is not unique to the United States. It is a global phenomenon.
In June, a man deliberately drove a pickup truck into a group of Muslim pedestrians in Ontario, Canada, killing four members of a single family, including 74-year-old Talat Afzaal and her 15-year-old granddaughter, Yumna Afzaal.
Her 9-year-old brother Fayez was left orphaned.
From India to China to Myanmar, we are seeing systematic crackdowns on Muslim civil rights.
Earlier this year, the United Nations Human Rights Council announced that anti-Muslim hatred around the world has reached “epidemic proportions,” and called on countries to take all necessary measures to combat direct and indirect forms of discrimination.
We know that this increase in hate is not only happening to Muslims. Church bombings, synagogue attacks, and racial hate crimes are also on the rise.
We will not defeat hate with more hate. We will defeat it with love and solidarity. We will defeat it by taking action to stop it.
We need this Special Envoy to ensure that the U.S. carries out a comprehensive strategy for establishing U.S. leadership in combating Islamophobia around the globe.
I hope you’ll add your name next to mine to call on the State Department to establish a Special Envoy as soon as possible to meaningfully address Islamophobia in the U.S. and worldwide:
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Thank you for making your voice heard.
In solidarity,
Ilhan Omar
Ilhan for Congress
PO Box 80545
Minneapolis, MN 55408
United States
Paid for by Ilhan for Congress
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