Michigan legislators joining the campaign to Take on Hate, Feb. 17.

DEARBORN — Floods of bigoted online comments, right-wing blogs and blatantly anti-Muslim remarks by politicians and national media figures have long been indicators of the growing anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States. 

But over the past two weeks, xenophobic speech has turned into violent actions— three Muslim students murdered in North Carolina; a mosque burned down in Texas and an Islamic school vandalized in Rhode Island. 

Closer to home, a Muslim man was assaulted at a Kroger in Dearborn in a suspected hate crime the FBI is currently investigating.

The attacks, especially the Chapel Hill murders, have raised concerns in the community, with people expressing fear for their lives and loved ones; and some Muslim social media users have advocated that community members arm themselves in self-defense.

President Obama recognized that the Muslim community is anxious because of the attacks in an op-ed he wrote for the L.A. Times on Wednesday.

“We do not yet know why three young people, who were Muslim Americans, were brutally killed in Chapel Hill, N.C.,” the president wrote. “But we know that many Muslim Americans across our country are worried and afraid. Americans of all faiths and backgrounds must continue to stand united with a community in mourning and insist that no one should ever be targeted because of who they are, what they look like, or how they worship.”

“Legitimate concerns” 

Dearborn Councilman Mike Sareini said worries about hate crimes are real and justified, adding that he fears for his own children in the light of the Chapel Hill shootings. 

Sareini described the crime in North Carolina as “devastating” to the Muslim community. 

“But we are not going to tolerate any kind of violence or hatred in Dearborn,” he said. 

The councilman said he met with Police Chief Ron Haddad after the shooting and the chief assured him that the police will provide extra protection to Muslim places of worship. 

“We are on alert,” Sareini added. “I have full faith in our police force that they will leave no stone unturned and follow through on everything to protect us.”

Sareini urged unity and patience among Muslims who face a wave of misconceptions and attacks. 

“We need to stand united and show what kind of community we are,” he said. “We have to be patient and aware of our surrounding. We live in a great country and the system will not fail us.”

Sareini said he will bring up the concerns of the community in the next council meeting, scheduled for Feb. 24. “There are valid concerns among our residents and it is our job to make out people safe and secured,” Sareini said of elected officials.

The councilman said while he himself is a firm believer in the Second Amendment and is a gun owner, the community should trust law enforcement agencies to protect citizens. 

“Restudying our PR”

Wissam Charaffeddine, the chairman of the reformist community organization ISHAD, said individual fear in the community is justified, “given the momentum of events that can be classified as hate crimes, but are not necessarily hate crimes.

“Unfortunately, according to CNN, this last week has been a very bad week historically in manifestation of religious hatred,” he said.

Charaffeddine said American Muslims should be active in launching outreach campaigns to end the isolation and compartmentalization of the community.

“We need to re-study our PR,” he said. “If you read comments in newspaper websites, you will see that the most protested issue by the general public is the silence of moderate Muslims about what the extremists do. We are not silent, but we are bad in marketing.”

Charaffeddine said he understands why some community members would arm themselves in this anti-Muslim atmosphere, but violence is never the answer. 

“Bigots do not represent even a fraction of the American society as much as terrorist do not represent Muslims worldwide,” he said. “We as Americans should rise in solidarity above all our differences, to stand against bigotry, ignorance, violence and the plague of the century— terrorism and religious extremism.”

State legislators join Take on Hate

The grassroots Take on Hate campaign has been aiming to engage media, communities and politicians to stand against anti-Muslim and anti-Arab sentiments. The National Network for Arab American Communities (NNAAC), a project of ACCESS, started the campaign last year. However, it has intensified its efforts since the Chapel Hill shootings.

On Wednesday, 47 State House members from both side of the aisle joined the campaign to Take on Hate. 

“The Campaign to Take on Hate welcomes the support of the members of the Michigan House,” said Nadia Tonova, director of NNAAC. “We are proud of their commitment to stand with us against hate that is resulting in violence and targeting of people because of their faith and ethnicity.” 

House Democratic leader Tim Greimel, who joined the campaign, said he is proud to serve in a state that is home to a large community of Arab and Muslim Americans. 

“We stand with all Americans, regardless of their ethnicity or religion, and stand against those who preach hate and incite violence,” Greimel said in a statement.

State Rep. Stephanie Chang (D-Detroit) said racism and prejudice have no place in our state. 

“Arab and Muslim Americans are our family members, co-workers, neighbors, friends and community leaders,” she said. “Today, we say loud and clear that we cannot tolerate racism, religious bias and the hatred and violence that they experience.”

Former State rep. Rashida Tlaib, who is managing the campaign in Detroit, praised the state legislators for joining the movement.

“Having the state elected officials— people who are non-Muslim, non-Arab— standing against hate publicly shows solidarity but also helps ease some of the fear, because it creates a peaceful environment.”

She said Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and the City Council will soon also join the movement in solidarity with the community.

Tlaib urged engaging non-Arabs and non-Muslims in promoting tolerance. 

“I’m afraid for my sister who wears the hijab and for my mother,” she said. “I hope Take on Hate can help bring courage, ease fear but also humanize who we are as Muslims and people of Arab descent.”

The campaign is led nationally by four community organizers in San Francisco, Chicago, Detroit and New York. The movement aims to combat negative images of Muslims and Arab Americans, Tlaib said.

She added that the campaign combats negative stereotypes by criticizing media outlets that perpetuate them and working with schools and humanizing the stories of victims of terrorism. 

Tlaib also said Take on Hate is a grassroots movement that engages the wider community. 

“There was a need for the campaign because saying negative things about Arabs and Muslims publicly, even by national figures and elected officials, was acceptable,” Tlaib said. “The campaign Take on Hate is over a year-old, but it’s gaining momentum because people are understanding why it was created.”  

The former state representative said she has witnessed the same dehumanization used against Muslims directed against African Americans and Latinos. She added that bigoted online comments do not represent American society.

“Not to say it’s our turn, because that’s not good enough,” Tlaib said. “We shouldn’t accept it. But I know there are a lot more people who are about love and peace than about hate. The majority of Americans are not like that at all.”

Tlaib said the problem is not disagreeing with Islam, but the anti-Muslim rhetoric that leads to hatred and eventually violence and discrimination against Muslims. 

The former lawmaker stressed that Arab and Muslim Americans who face the xenophobic mentality that they should go back home are citizens.

“This is our country and we’re not going anywhere,” Tlaib said. “Promoting that message is important.”

She added that it doesn’t help when a member of the community says “that [White] person is an American” in a way that implies Arabs or Muslims are not.