Muslims shoulder outbreak of anger, fear
WASHINGTON Cities across the USA are preparing for the phase that inevitably follows a terror attack: anti-Muslim backlash.
Across social media, in public forums on college campuses and in political rhetoric by presidential candidates, anger over the deadly terror attacks in Brussels spawned discontent and suspicion directed at Muslim groups. After the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks, leaders in Ohio, Kentucky, New York, New Jersey and California spoke out quickly to dissuade anti-Muslim sentiment.
The aftermath of an attack “is always a difficult time for Muslims in the United States,” says Nabil Shaikh, a leader of the Muslim Students Association at Princeton University.
“On Princeton’s campus, students took to anonymous forums ... to comment that there are Muslims at Princeton who are radical and would therefore condone yesterday’s attacks,” Shaikh said. “These comments ... threaten the well-being of Muslim students.”
The backlash in the USA is not as confrontational as in Belgium and Paris, which was attacked in November. There have been anti-Muslim rallies in Flemish cities such as Antwerp and Ghent. Muslim communi- ties in the USA face opposition more in the form of rhetoric.
Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz said the U.S. needs to “empower law enforcement to patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods before they become radicalized.” President Obama called the approach “wrong and un-American.”
More than two dozen Islamic leaders gathered in Louisville to condemn the attacks and urge the public not to link all Muslims with terrorism, describing a growing level of Islamophobia.
“Do not see us through the actions” of the Islamic State, said Muhammad Babar, a Louisville Islamic leader with Muslim Americans for Compassion. “We are as American as you are.”