Report Says Islamophobia On the Rise

Islamophobia is back on the rise in the U.S. despite cautious optimism in 2008 that post-Sept. 11 anti-Muslim sentiments had begun to decline, according to a report released Thursday by the University of California at Berkeley and a national Islamic rights group.

The authors of "Same Hate, New Target: Islamophobia and Its Impact in the United States 2009-10" found that Americans' favorable rating of Islam is only 30 percent -- down 10 percentage points from November 2001, according to a Pew Research Center study.

"Same Hate, New Target," which was co-sponsored by UC Berkeley's Center for Race and Gender and the Council on American-Islamic Relations, took a in-depth look at intolerant actions and discourse and provided recommendations for combating Islamophobia in the future.

"This report shows that Americans who embrace pluralism must act together to prevent Islamophobia from being accepted in mainstream society," CAIR national legislative director Corey Saylor said in a statement.

"Islamophobia is the new face of an old hate that has targeted minorities throughout our nation's history."

The groups defined Islamophobia as prejudice against or hatred of Islam and Muslims. After years of decline, it spiked after President Obama's 2009 inauguration, according to the report.

Report authors said political and community groups used Islam to attack the president, and by the end of 2010, several high-profile events haddemonstrated the renewed anti-Muslim sentiment.

"Many bigots are upset that we have a black president," one Muslim who formerly held public office told the report's authors.

"But because of the taboo associated with anti-black racism, they are constrained from openly expressing it. So they falsely declare Obama is a Muslim and feel comfortable denigrating him for that."

The report also described what it called the manufactured controversy surrounding the Park 51 Islamic Community Center in Manhattan, a 2010 ballot initiative in Oklahoma attacking Sharia, and Islamophobia in the 2010 election.

A Muslim cab driver was also stabbed Aug. 25 after his 21-year-old passenger asked if he was Muslim. The FBI found that 8.4 percent of hate crime victims in the U.S. in 2009 were targeted because of anti-Islam bias, according to the report.

"Is America Islamophobic? No," the report's authors said, pointing to outrage in September over Pastor Terry Jones' proposed Quran burning in Florida.

"Is there an Islamophobic element in America? Yes."

- Bay City News