Islamophobia is on the rise across America. Silence can no longer be an option

Yahoo

07-04-2025

A 6-year-old Palestinian Muslim boy in Illinois was brutally murdered in 2023 — stabbed 26 times by the family's landlord, according to police, in a crime authorities later determined was motivated by anti-Muslim hate.
Just one month later, three Palestinian students were targeted and shot while walking in the streets of Vermont. Six months later, police said, a 3-year-old nearly drowned at the hands of a woman who made racist remarks toward the child's Muslim family in Euless, Texas.
These tragic incidents are part of a troubling pattern of growing Islamophobia in the United States. Here in Austin, that has meant Muslim students — like myself — feel unsafe and increasingly face Islamophobic attacks.
In some ways, the experiences my Muslim friends and I have had at the University of Texas mirror those of any other student. We put on our burnt orange shirts and yell our lungs out for the football team. We cram for exams at the Perry-Castañeda Library. And we value our faith. But some days, hate makes itself known.
In October, while I was praying at Nueces Mosque, a man threw large rocks at the mosque, damaging it and scaring a community member. We called the police and filed a hate crime report.
Days later, a friend was walking back from campus when someone drove beside her and yelled that she was a terrorist. Worse: Bystanders who should have stood up for her simply stared. That made her feel isolated and alone, she told me later.
These are two of the many hate incidents that have recently occurred in Austin. Community members regularly say they don't feel safe walking in the streets of Austin.
The numbers show that our experiences are part of a broader, disturbing pattern. Last year, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) received 8,658 complaints of anti-Muslim discrimination from across the country — the highest numbers since CAIR started tracking them in 1996. These complaints, along with numerous other reports, show Muslims and mosques all across the country have faced vandalism, threats, attacks and arson.
The rise in Islamophobia has often been met with silence from political leaders. In fact, many of them are fueling hate against Muslims. Take Sen. John Kennedy, R-Louisiana, who baselessly accused the Arab American Institute of supporting terrorism at a hearing last fall addressing hate incidents.
'You should hide your head in a bag," Kennedy told the group's director. This damaging rhetoric, when pushed by public figures, provides avenues for anti-Muslim discrimination and can embolden people to act against Muslims.
Likewise, the media often associates Muslims with violence and extremism. U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Michigan Democrat and the first Palestinian Muslim woman to serve in Congress, has faced these stereotypes. In September, a cartoon published in the National Review depicted Tlaib with an exploding pager, a reference to an attack on Hezbollah using pagers. The racist cartoon was an Islamophobic depiction of a political figure that reinforced harmful stereotypes, further dehumanizing Muslims and justifying hate against them.
Federal officials have been slow to respond, creating the impression that they do not care about Muslims. One month before the Trump administration began, the Biden Administration released a national strategy to combat Islamophobia. This plan came too late, as Islamophobia had been rising in the United States since 2023, and the Trump administration would not take it seriously.
If we ignore the rise of Islamophobia in the United States, then we ignore the core values on which this country was built: religious freedom, equality and liberty for all. This hate has grown from the inaction and complicity of our political leaders, media and fellow Americans. It is time we made a stand now and push back against this hate through concrete action.
Silence can no longer be an option. Only by confronting this issue can we make America a place for everyone.
Abdullah Alsawfta, a Palestinian Muslim American graduate student at the University of Texas' LBJ School of Public Affairs, grew up in Dallas.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Islamophobia is on the rise. Silence cannot remain an option | Opinion