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On Tuesday, December the 14th, the House of Representatives voted to pass legislation to create a special envoy for acknowledging and combating Islamophobia. Proposed by Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, the resolution passed narrowly, with 219 representatives in favor, and 212 opposed. If passed in the Senate, the bill would then be taken to the desk of President Biden to become law. In support of the new decree, the Biden administration declaredin a statement: “Religious freedom is a fundamental human right. This freedom is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and is also part of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Our country's commitment to defending freedom of religion and belief goes back centuries, and the Administration strongly believes that people of all faiths and backgrounds should be treated with equal dignity and respect around the world.”
This decision came after Democratic members of the House brought forth separate possible legislation to take away Republican Colorado Representative Lauren Boebert’s committee assignments, after video recordings of her Islamophobic attacks against Representatives Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib emerged. Among the most vitriolic of Boebert’s statements occurred at a September Staten Island Conservative Party dinner, with her calling both women “black-hearted,” “evil,” and the “jihad squad”. There was also an incident in which Boebert explained that the only reason she wasn’t scared to be in an elevator with Representative Omar was because “she wasn’t wearing a backpack,” implying that Omar’s religion and hijab made her a terrorist. In the video recording, posted on Facebook by a guest in the race for borough President, the crowd laughed and clapped so passionately that Boebert couldn’t be heard over them. The video, even after being posted to Twitter by New York Democratic Congressional candidate Mike DeCillis in September, was given notably little media attention, aside from a very brief report by a local news source. On Monday, November 29, Omar and Boebert finally spoke on the phone in an effort to obtain an apology from Boebert. However, according to Omar, Boebert did not give a sufficient apology. “Instead of apologizing for her Islamophobic comments and fabricated lies, Rep. Boebert refused to publicly acknowledge her hurtful and dangerous comments," she said. "She instead doubled down on her rhetoric and I decided to end the unproductive call.”
In a public announcement posted on Instagram, Boebert said “I have reflected on my previous remarks, now as a strong Christian woman who values faith deeply, I never want anything I say to offend someone's religion.” She added that Omar requested a public apology from her, but she refused, and instead told Omar she needed to apologize for antisemitic comments she has made in the past. However, Omar has already issued many apologies for these comments, and has committed to listening and learning to the Jewish community. Boebert’s levying of Omar’s past mistakes over her in order to avoid facing accountability for her own comments showcases the double standard pushed on women of color, who are held tenfold more accountable for past misgivings than white women. Additionally, mistakes that Representative Omar made in the past do not justify extremely derogatory comments directed at her nor the withholding of an apology for those comments.
Shows of Islamophobia are not limited to adults. Just last week, at Fairfax High School in Virginia, fifteen-year-old sophomore Ekran Mohamed was the subject of a horrific attack. On Tuesday, December 14, a group of students were harassing students working on a group project. Those working on the group project were met with Islamophobic as well as antisemitic remarks, when Mohamed decided to confront them and push one boy away from her in self-defense. Then, the altercation turned violent. “[He] threw me across the room. I hit my left side on the desk, and my chest hit the chair,” Mohamed said. The boy then forcefully removed her hijab, and left her lying on the ground until a teacher helped her up. Following the incident, Mohamed and her attacker were both given an in-school suspension, and Mohamed was forced to serve her punishment in the same room as the boy who attacked her. Perhaps even more disturbing was the fact that the Fairfax Police Department, the body investigating the altercation, was not notified by the school, but by the flood of social media posts created by outraged students, who assure their audiences that Islamophobia, violence, and lack of recognition from school officials are nothing new. During their investigation, the Fairfax Police concluded that there was no proof that a hate crime occurred on Tuesday, as Mohamed allegedly confirmed that no racial slurs were used during the attack.
Following this declaration, Mohamed’s lawyer, Abed Ayoub, Legal and Policy Director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, made a statement expressing his discontent. “We are confident that as the investigation continues and witnesses continue to be interviewed the evidence will show that this violent act was motivated by hate,” he said.
The acting principal of Fairfax High School, Maureen Keck, disavowed the violent incident and expressed her hope that the school will become a more inclusive place in a statement sent to parents on the Thursday after the attack. “It is our responsibility to ensure that all people are treated with dignity and humanity in our schools as well as foster an open, respectful, and inclusive learning environment for all students,” she said.
Many Fairfax students felt that the response from faculty as well as the police department was inadequate, and took fighting for justice for Mohamed into their own hands. On Thursday, several hundred students walked out to show support for Mohamed and their Muslim classmates. One student created a petition on change.org calling for accountability from the school and the boys who attacked Mohamed, which has amassed over 28,000 signatures from students across the county.
These two incidents - one among federal representatives, and the other among high school students - indicate how widespread Islamophobia is in the United States. The data supports this; in 2019, the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding found that their Islamophobia Index had increased by four points since 2018.
Islamophobia steeply increased after the attacks carried out by radical terrorists on September 11, 2001, when ordinary Muslim citizens were conflated with religious extremists. The more recent increase can be attributed to the rhetoric that was given a public platform during Donald Trump’s presidency, and his executive order banning travel and refugee resettlement in predominately Muslim countries. Biases were also woken by the election of America’s first Muslim members of Congress: Representatives Omar and Tlaib. Muslim women, in particular, are often targeted when they wear hijab.
The Biden administration is very hopeful that Representative Omar’s bill will pass the Senate and federally organized reform will alleviate the burden on Muslim Americans. Until then, Muslim and allied organizations will continue to fight for justice for people like Representative Omar and Ekran Mohamed.