DEARBORN — Violent hate crimes and hate and bias against Arab and Muslim Americans is at an all-time high, Rana Abbas, director of communications for ACCESS, the country’s largest Arab American Non-Profit Organization, told the Michigan Civil Rights Commission.

Abbas spoke June 1, at a presentation at the Arab American National Museum.

She asked the commission to support ACCESS’ “Take on Hate” campaign, which aims to change the perceptions and policies impacting that Arab American Community.

The campaign, which launched nationally in March 2014, addresses the rising bigotry towards Arab Americans. A study by the Arab American Institute found that favorable attitudes towards Muslims continued to decline from 35 percent in 2010 to 27 percent in 2014. For Arabs, it’s 43 percent in 2010 vs. 32 percent in 2014.

Abbas stated that despite popular belief, the majority of Arab Americans are native born and 82 percent are citizens. Dearborn has the largest concentration of Arab Americans in the country.

According to Abbas, increased discrimination towards the community has even become culturally acceptable, with a 1,600 percent increase in reported hate crimes since September 11, 2001.

Only 24 percent of Arab Americans are Muslims, according to a 2002 Zogby survey. 

Abbas also cited reports from the Arab American Institute and the Council on American-Islamic Relations that 40 percent of Arab Americans and 48 percent of Muslim Americans have personally experienced racial profiling and discrimination based on their ethnicity and religion. 

Public officials continue to fuel this bias, said Abbas. She said that last year, an Oklahoma senator stated that Arab Americans are a “cancer of our nation that needs cutting out.”

Abbas said that mainstream media contributes to the problem and uses sensationalism to instill fear in the American public.

She cited a study published by the Journal of Communication last year, which reports that while the FBI reported that only 6 percent of domestic terror suspects from 2008 to 2012 were Muslim, news reports identified terrorists as Muslims 81 percent of the time. 

Abbas also said public policies also affect how the community is perceived, adding that the Obama administration announced a change in guidelines that would allow federal law enforcement to profile individuals based on race, religion, and national origin when the incident pertains to national security. 

According to the Washington Post, Anti-Muslim hate crimes, like the murder of three Chapel Hill students, are five times more common today than before September 11.

Last year, the National Network for Arab American Communities, an ACCESS program, held eight community meetings across the country and asked about pressing the issues facing the Arab American community. In every meeting, bias and discrimination were identified as the primary issue facing the community. 

Amid increased difficulties, Abbas was optimistic, stating that “there is tremendous opportunity to change the perceptions of our community.

“Our campaign to take on hate works to address the critical need and utilize this opportunity to educate the broader public on who Arab and Muslim Americans truly are,” she said.

She concluded her presentation by asking the Civil Rights Commission to join and endorse the principles of the campaign, in the form of a resolution that would create greater awareness around Arab and Muslim Americans and civil rights in public schools. She also asked for a commitment to collaborating on making more accessible resources and making it a priority to support training programs in law enforcement that address hate crimes in the state.