On the Burden of Suspicion Upon Muslims

As we surpass the one-week-since-election era, as Trump casually rolls out his suggestions for Cabinet members who will likely do anything but “Drain the Swamp”, expectations are being set of the new administration. When it comes to relationships with Muslims, these expectations are entirely negative, as Trump adds on notorious Islamophobes like Steve Bannon.

Approaching things logically…is a luxury for those who are not entrenched in the fear of this virulent Islamophobia. It is easy to be logical when dark undercurrents are absent. And this makes ‘safe’ situations quite dangerous from my perspective.

From my essay on 9/11 dated to 9/11/2016, “An experience a couple years ago that should have been simple enough was almost a point of abject terror --  Fall 2014, the season of Amagi Brilliant Park, I was headed to Atlanta for an academic conference. The time was 6 A.M., and airport security was investigating my luggage in detail, in a room outside of public view. A swab used to check my person initiated an alarm from the device – it had detected something potentially explosive. As a Muslim American after 9/11, my first response is to feel panicked as increased security is “our” fault. Because I would be placed under great scrutiny. Thankfully, and due to the aid of the security personnel, I was able to calm down: it was likely a mistake, and the people with me thought so as well. Reviewing, thoroughly, all objects on my person revealed that the device had been mistakenly set off. Still, this experience left me feeling cold sweat, complementing my half-asleep brain’s “meh”ness, as my heart pounded. If the officials had been bigoted in an overt sense, I would have faced far worse issues than potentially being late. Fifteen years after 9/11, and I still felt this way. “

And this fear is exacerbated by Trump, as Aziz Ansari reminds us.

Aziz Ansari writes, “Today, with the [President-Elect] Donald J. Trump and others like him spewing hate speech, prejudice is reaching new levels. It’s visceral, and scary, and it affects how people live, work and pray. It makes me afraid for my family. It also makes no sense.“

Ansari touches on a vital point: that the spewing of hate speech by powerful people, especially politicians, has resulted in a sharpened polarization. Between 2014 and now, what may have seemed like a climax somehow morphed into a terrifying, chimeric leviathan of a nightmare. Rhetoric espoused from a high place, especially from Donald Trump and his surrogates, has worsened anti-Muslim sentiment.

The numbers on hate crimes against American Muslims paint a portrait of sheer despair for people like me, my family, and others I know. Many examples, of mosque burnings and of hijab-donning women being attacked, are out there. But the data is especially alarming. According to the New York Times, there were around 260 hate crimes against Muslims nationwide in 2015, which is the most since right after 9/11 (481 documented hate crimes in 2001). Yes, somehow we are almost to the point of post-9/11, even after years of interfaith outreach performed by Muslims (and other religious groups of course). This is dismaying, but I wish I could be surprised.

This isn’t the worst part. This wave of hate-spurred incidents targets Muslims, including vulnerable young Muslims, and it targets any who “seem” to be Muslim, according to Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department’s civil rights division. Including Sikhs, or anyone perceived to be of Arab or South-Asian descent. Black Muslims suffer dual indignities of being persecuted as Muslims, and for being black individually. And this vitriol spills out further – anti-Muslim hate extends far beyond just Muslims. Islamophobia harms the soul of America itself.

There feels like a burden of suspicion placed upon all Muslims in America – being Muslim itself warrants suspicion, borrowing Ta-Nehisi Coates’ framework for discussing black people in America, even in the absence of “un-American” behaviors. In Between the World and Me, Coates describes an analogous process pursued by black parents: when talking to the cops, take every measure to ensure you live by following their every order. And even that may not be enough, given how heavy a weight oppression is.

But, in retrospect, between now and September, even, my feelings of anxiety have become more deeply entrenched. Had that event happened now, now that Trump is poised to become President, keeping my wits would have been exponentially more difficult. Thinking logically, it seems ridiculous. From what I remember, the security officials told me that this incident happened a few times every day, meaning that this was likely a false alarm from their perspective. But in this paranoia, what was once innocuous can become culpable. And that’s what makes me afraid, what prevents me from approaching Islamophobia “logically.”

 
How can we move past this ugliness? I refuse to believe that anti-Muslim hate is normal or natural or acceptable, or that it is somehow favored by most Americans.

 But, and this applies for all members of oppressed groups, “we are not passive victims but active agents of a politics that demands freedom for everyone. The view of a Muslim as the passive victim of an injury, who must be protected by the benevolence of a white liberal, is to be rejected as ruthlessly as the hate speech of Trump. I [want] comrades, of every complexion, who will fight alongside me for a better world.” These words come from Asad Haider and they summarize how I feel about the place of Muslims in politics, especially in how to fight against anti-Muslim hate.  To combat Islamophobia? Work with Muslims to dispel and fight back against negative rhetoric and actions directed towards Muslims. And through working together, create a politics that demands freedom for everyone.
 
To summarize, allow me two examples from Twitter --
from Senator Bernie Sanders, “If Trump is serious about being a president for all Americans he must rescind his plans to ban Muslims and deport 11 million people”;
from Senator Kamala Harris, “Targeting & registering Muslims because of their faith goes against everything we stand for as Americans. We are better than that”;
and a bonus from Senator Elizabeth Warren, “The President of the United States should condemn bigots, @realDonaldTrump. Not give them a West Wing office to decide our country's future."