Do We Hear the 'Very Silent Minority'?: A Call for Solidarity Work with Muslims and Arab Americans

Muslims are a very silent minority, afraid of a backlash if they're too vocal. But if we don't use our voice, then we have lost the battle. - Khalilah Sabra, Muslim American Society, 2008.

After 9/11 the rhetoric was alarming. I called the Islamic Center and volunteered to take their phone calls. The Muslim in charge said, 'Why do you want to take all these hate calls for us?" I told him, "I am a Jew, let them yell at me and allow me to respond." We've been fast friends since.- Deborah Mellicker, American Friends Service Committee in Kansas City, MO.

It took tragic markers in our recent history to impel US peace and justice workers to reach out to US Muslims: the first US invasion of Iraq in 1991; the Oklahoma City bombing (when many news commentators at first incorrectly assumed that the bomber was a Muslim); and especially the anti-Muslim and anti-Arab hate crimes which followed the attacks of September 11, 2001. Even so, cries for support often had to come first from Muslim Americans.

We can find scattered examples of solidarity: A neighbor escorts a scared child to school; a joint Muslim-Jewish panel confronts racism; interfaith peace walks oppose war; demonstrators protest night raids of Muslim households; others use media to oppose hate crimes and amplify the rights and contributions of Muslim Americans.

Most service organizations, including many faith-based groups, welcome requests to assist others, for example Muslim refugees - as recently occurred when a frustrated State Department employee asked a Quaker Meeting to help settle several Iraqi families who did not fit federal guidelines for aid.

All of this is time-intensive hard work and good work, indicating a readiness to respond. . But is it assertive enough? How often do these efforts represent an organizational commitment and a sustained effort to build bridges toward community? Only some of these responses address the conditions that breed fear and anger , which in large part are policy issues that shape all of our lives, like civil liberties, meeting human needs, and nonviolent conflict resolution.

Muslims' America

Today's Muslims in the US face intense religious and ethnic bias, especially since the September 11 attacks. There is often a triple-edged stereotype at work: foreigner, infidel, and terrorist-sympathizer.

Under the PATRIOT Act, seven US non-profits were completely shut down for "supporting terrorism"- all Muslim-affiliated charities. [Schenwar, Truthout Report, Aug, 2008] But in its flagship "terrorist financing" case, when the Justice Department's ethnically-targeted prosecutorial strategy charged the Holyland Foundation with giving "material support" to terrorist organizations [Hamas' social service committees], the court declared a mistrial because of denial of due process. [NYT 10-23-07]

When a retail union won a contract that included a Muslim holiday in deference to its Muslim members, some non-Muslim union members protested. One wrote to complain, "You are a union that is proud of achieving a Muslim holiday? A union in the USA, a country based on Christianity? You call yourselves Americans? Have you forgotten 9/11?" [NYT 8-6-08]

According to a Pew Research Center study published in February 2008, a majority of Muslims find it more difficult to be a Muslim since the September 11 attacks. More than 8 in 10 have personally experienced some form of discrimination, such as being a target of cultural profiling. According to the same study, more non-Muslim Americans now say Muslims "do not at all agree with my vision of American society."

Beyond Individuals

This less-than-visible sense of exclusion is an ongoing story, replicated in schools, media, businesses, and public services - especially police and security agencies. Recently in Congress, conservative senators attempted to shut down Internet Muslim voices and authorize the federal security apparatus to combat alleged "homegrown terrorists," asserting, "This [terrorist] threat is now increasingly from within" the US. [Violent Islamist Extremists, the Internet, and Homegrown Terrorism, 5/8/08].

Muslim and Arab American advocacy groups noted how civil liberties and faith-based groups quickly spoke out against these undocumented charges made in a minority Senate terrorism report. A Muslim coalition then voiced its own opposition to the report and wrote to their newfound allies:

Political realities sometimes constrain organizations within the Muslim American community from forcefully asserting the full range of arguments available to us when confronting opponents of religious and civil liberties. As a result, we deeply appreciate the efforts of those who supported the May 7 [ACLU] memo [opposing the terrorism report] and look forward to opportunities to collaborate going forward…"

The continuing story of US Muslims and Arab Americans can also bear the fruit of hope for peace and justice. A few efforts - no one seems to be tracking them - go beyond individuals and events, and are more complex and perhaps more enduring. Their challenges may offer clues for stronger, more sustainable work to build an inclusive and just democracy.

A stark, early morning intrusion and abrupt interrogation of 150 Muslim families by police and FBI agents occurred in Syracuse, NY in 2003; agents demanded answers about family donations to a local Muslim charity, their immigration status, and Islam. The quasi-raids were part of an investigation of a local physician suspected of supporting terrorists through his charitable foundation. A coalition of peace and civil liberties groups mobilized in solidarity and protested - symbolically (for instance by wearing hijabs), and politically by visiting their Congressmembers.

In response to an overture from Muslim organizations in California Bay Area, the American Friends Service Committee helped form the Interfaith Witness for Peace in the Middle East. Tackling fears engendered by racism, IWP worked with a mosque on an educational package to teach and circulate a series on "Islamophobia and anti-Semitism: Confronting Racism," holding workshops at a mosque, a synagogue, and a church. Beyond its educational focus, IWP responded to the prevalent fear of government intrusions among mosques by creating "honorary membership" for non-Muslim activists, so that should police confiscate mosque membership lists, many non-Muslims would be among the names.

Moving Together

Dialogue can begin on our initiative or in unexpected ways, and can be followed up - when there is a concerted search for opportunity. There are a range of secular and religious groups advocating for Arab American and Muslim communities, some of which may not be immediately responsive to approaches from outsiders because of fear of intrusions by police or attacks by angry non-Muslims. With sensitivity to these concerns, as learners, with patience, persistence, and care to follow-up promises with action, we can build bridges and develop trust. Achieving joint service activities can pave the way to addressing mutual policy issues. We can better use limited time and resources if we make an explicit commitment to find common ground and common work, create and maintain these ties to help create a more inclusive society, and move a peace and justice agenda forward. Call it "homegrown peacemaking."

US Arab/Muslim Advocacy

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (www.adc.org) focuses on public and political information and advocacy for civil liberties, due process for immigrants, and restoration of habeas corpus for detainees; ending racial profiling, negotiations for a fully sovereign Palestinian state, and balanced media reportage on Muslim issues.

The Muslim American Society (www.masnet.org), besides engaging in local charitable activities, works to educate Muslim-Americans and to reach out to mainstream civil liberties and voter empowerment organizations, such as NAACP, ACLU, labor, ethnic, faith, government, media, and campus groups.

Muslim Advocates (www.muslimadvocates.org) is a coalition promoting civil liberties through legal advocacy, policy, and public education, as well as support for participation of Muslims in public life. Other advocates for civil liberties and human rights include the Muslim Public Affairs Council, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, andKARAMAH, which "seeks gender-equitable, faith-based jurisprudence for Muslim women."

US Muslim media speak to the public through such outlets as Islamic Magazine, Arabamericannews.com, Arab Insight and the American Muslim TV Hour. The Interfaith Alliance supports an NPR radio program, State of Belief. It advocates inclusion, exposes encroachments on civil liberties and the free practice of religion and non-religion, and raises the profile of Muslim-American leaders. The Washington Post created an "On Faith" blog, which in particular includes a panel of Muslim-American leaders' views and responses to readers' questions.

For action on public policy issues, in addition to many of the groups mentioned above, visit Faith in Public Life (an Internet-based network of organizations that works to promote civil liberties and social justice in public policy and media) and the National Religious Campaign Against Torture.