Muslim students take on Islamophobia: Next protest movement in the making?
| Boston
Boston College junior Isra Hussain never wears her favorite sweatshirt in public anymore. With her last name printed in big red letters on the back, she says, it felt less like a proud declaration of identity than an unwelcome, if not dangerous, advertisement of her Muslim faith.
鈥淚 was wearing it one day in October, and I remember [Donald] Trump say something [negative] about Syrian refugees. And I thought, 鈥業 don鈥檛 really feel comfortable wearing this anymore,鈥� 鈥� says Ms. Hussain, who grew up near Providence, R.I., the daughter of Pakistani immigrants.
Many Muslims in the US have responded similarly to rising anti-Islamic sentiment amid terror attacks here and abroad: hunker down, stay quiet, don鈥檛 draw attention. But the loss of her sweatshirt also is one of the things that inspired Hussain to stand up.
She is one of a growing number of Muslim students 鈥� buoyed by both the success of Black Lives Matter movement and increasingly vocal calls for safe spaces on campus 鈥� to take on Islamophobia.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not exactly, 鈥極h we gotta do this too,鈥� but it showed us that standing up for what you believe in is definitely something you shouldn鈥檛 be afraid of,鈥� says Mehdi Ben-Ayed, a University of Missouri senior.
While it鈥檚 too early to characterize it as a national protest movement, Muslim students from coast to coast are joining in solidarity with minority activists protesting racism on campus. When it comes to the issue of Islamophobia, so far, the students seem to prefer education and outreach to full-scale demonstrations and calls for the ouster of professors or administration officials.
But on some US campuses, 鈥淚slam has been incorporated into the coalition that touches on Black Lives Matter and on immigrant rights,鈥� says Hatem Bazian, a senior lecturer for the departments of Near Eastern and Ethnic Studies at the University of California in Berkeley. 鈥淚n this sense, Islamophobia has been incorporated into that 鈥� upswing in college campus activism.鈥�
That spirit of solidarity appears to drive the Muslim Student Organization (MSO) at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Mo. 鈥� arguably the heart of the Black Lives student movement. The MSO was one of many student groups that stood by minority students and the school鈥檚 football players when they held a widely-publicized strike in November to protest racism, says Mr. Ben-Ayed, the group鈥檚 public relations officer.
But the MSO also has launched its own efforts: holding yearly conferences, speaker symposiums, and events that encourage others to take part in ritual fasting. Members of the MSO have also started working concession stands at football games in an effort to be more visible to other students, Ben-Ayed says.
鈥淲e want to show we鈥檙e the same people. That鈥檚 how it is now,鈥� he says. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a burden of saying, 鈥楤y the way guys, I鈥檓 on your side.鈥� It鈥檚 tough times to be a Muslim.鈥�
'To be black and Muslim, it's like you have to choose'
Some also feel that the issues that link the black and Muslim communities 鈥� such as oppression and a sense of otherness 鈥� need to be further articulated.
鈥淲hen people talk about racism and Islamophobia, it鈥檚 often two different things,鈥� says Muna Mohamed, a freshman at Tufts University in Somerville, Mass. 鈥淭o be black and Muslim, it鈥檚 like you have to choose which struggle you have to claim for a second.鈥�
That sense of separation may partly be because some activists see religious discrimination as different from racism, some experts say.
鈥淚slamophobia has been described as a form of cultural racism, not biological racism. And that matters. I think we are prone to react differently to prejudice when it targets a person鈥檚 skin color, sexual orientation, gender, or other traits that are deemed unalterable,鈥� writes Nathan Lean, research director of Georgetown University鈥檚 Bridge Initiative, a project that connects the study of Islamophobia with public awareness and discourse, in an e-mail. 鈥淏ut religion is more fixed than people imagine. It is not聽simply a set of beliefs聽that are聽detached from who we are as people, as much as it is an integral 鈥� and central 鈥� part of our identities.鈥�
One open question is whether the social justice activists the Muslim students have supported will stand up with them for their faith.
鈥淭here are occasional demonstrations and campaigns that sprout in the wake of particularly egregious episodes of anti-Muslim prejudice, but I don鈥檛 get the sense that 鈥� this issue is as central or urgent in the minds of young people as other forms of prejudice are,鈥� says Mr. Lean.
At Boston College, the Muslim Students Association is working hard to change that. They sponsored a vigil for the victims of the Paris attacks, participated in campuswide antidiscrimination walkouts, and engaged in efforts to support Syrian refugees and suicide bombing victims. They鈥檙e planning an even more vigorous campaign for the spring, including a Wear a Hijab Day.
The renewed push is partly tied to broader antidiscrimination movements, Hussain says. 鈥淚 feel like even if the name is 鈥楤lack Lives Matter,鈥� it does project to people of all minority status. It speaks to all minorities having the same rights as other people,鈥� Hussain says.
But there鈥檚 also a growing desire to address misconceptions about Islam, she notes.
鈥淗ow can we make others understand Islam is a peaceful religion?鈥� Hussain asks. 鈥淚 think the best way of trying to get change is education, and that鈥檚 what Islam preaches, as well.鈥�
'Ask a Muslim'
Across town at Roxbury Community College, the school鈥檚 Muslim Students Association hosted an 鈥淎sk a Muslim鈥� event, encouraging students and faculty to ask a question about Islam in exchange for a pastry.
People posed questions about everything from the pillars of Islam to the Islamic State, says Latifa Ziyad, the group鈥檚 president.
鈥淲e had more communication that day than we did in the months and weeks before,鈥� she says.
Though efforts to take on Islamophobia are on the rise on campus, some say they have yet to crystallize into a full-on movement.
鈥淭he reality is that Muslim students have not organized themselves to be activists the way black students have this past semester,鈥� says Mark Brimhall-Vargas, Tufts鈥� chief diversity officer and associate provost. 鈥淲e understand that the current wave of Islamophobia is antithetical to the values of our community. But we still need to engage the larger campus.鈥�
Part of the reason is that the American Muslim population remains relatively small: The latest estimate from the Pew Research Center has the number at 鈥� about 1 percent of the nation鈥檚 total.
Also, Lean points out, the BLM movement comes after generations of civil rights efforts. 鈥淛ust think about this: It鈥檚 been more than fifty years since the civil聽rights movement, and we鈥檝e just come to聽accept the fact 鈥斅爐hrough hashtag blitzes and social media memes 鈥� that black lives matter.鈥�
Still, none of this means a broader anti-Islamophobia movement will never take shape, Lean notes.
鈥淸C]ampus debates about race have increasingly become a communal cause. This bodes well for Muslim communities on campus and within the general community, who 鈥� need strong allies to stand with them in the storms that they face,鈥� he writes. 鈥淭he germ of these prejudices is quite similar, and ending any one of them requires combating all of them.鈥�
Hussain, the Boston College student, says part of why she has become so active is because she wants to see the day when Muslims can once more feel safe in their own skin.
鈥淢uslims are taking more caution these days because things can happen at any moment. What I would love to see is not having to take that extra caution, to just be able to be proud of our faith 鈥� and we are,鈥� Hussain says. 鈥淏ut I hope we can be openly proud of it and not to see as many setbacks as we do.
鈥淚鈥檓 hoping that one day, I鈥檒l be able to wear my sweatshirt again.鈥�
