It’s tough being a Muslim in US
WASHINGTON: Most Muslim Americans believe President Donald Trump is not a friend of the community and worry on account of him and fear that the country was going in the wrong direction, according to a new survey by Pew Research Center.
A large number of them said they have felt discriminated against a lot and believe most Americans don’t consider them a part of the mainstream. And being Muslim remains hard in America, but not any harder than it’s been in the last decade.
The survey also found a disturbingly high level of distrust Americans felt for Muslims — though a majority (54%) of them said there was little or no support for extremism among Muslim Americans, 46% felt there was between “fair amount” and “great deal” of support for extremism, something that could explain the harsh scrutiny Muslims here have felt after every terrorist attack.
Candidate Trump’s proposal to ban all Muslims from entering the United States temporarily came in the immediate aftermath of the December 2015 terrorist attack in San Bernardino, California, in which a Pakistani-origin couple gunned down 14 people at an office holiday party.
Trump toned down that extreme proposal in the face of criticism, but not the rhetoric, which he carried through the election, engaging in a cringeworthy public spat with parents of a fallen Pakistani Muslim American US soldier. And with within few days of taking office, he ordered a ban on the entry of travellers from seven Muslimmajority nations, which he subsequently brought down to six.
Trump’s first six months in office also witnessed a notable spike in hate crimes against the Muslim American community — as well as other religious and ethnic minorities.