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Young Muslims share voices at Islamophobia Forum

By Jehron Muhammad -Contributing Writer- | Last updated: Jun 1, 2016 - 4:34:29 PM

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Anti-Muslim Bigotry Conference, high school youth panel discussion. Photos: Jehron Muhammad

PHILADELPHIA—Mastery Shoemaker High School located in West Philadelphia and its principal, Sharif El Mekki, played host to the first of an annual proposed “Combatting Anti-Muslim Bigotry Youth Conference.” The creation of the youth conference offers a space for young people to share their range of experiences in coping with anti-Muslim sentiment in this social and political climate, which in many cases has been alternately dismissive, demeaning and at times unjustly hostile. 

“So while there is a lot of credible and reliable research about Muslims and Islam … within educational institutions oftentimes,” observed conference keynote speaker Engy Abdelkader, “it doesn’t filter to the public.”

“Harmful discourses (like the anti-Muslim rhetoric being spewed during the presidential election season) create stereotypes and misconceptions about Muslims and Islam which in fact attribute to harmful conversations,” said the professor at the Edmond A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. 

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Engy Abdelkader, a professor at the Edmond A. Walsh of Foreign Service is also an attorney and the author of the recently released study, “Islamophobia Turns Violent: The 2016 U.S. Presidential Elections.”

Ms. Abdelkader, who is also an attorney and author of the recent study, “Islamophobia Turns Violent: The 2016 U.S. Presidential Elections,” said her research has found an increase in hate crimes against Muslims.

The report was produced to “explore whether or not there was any relationship between Islamophobia and political rhetoric,” and an additional reason for the study is no-hate crime statistics had been collected and published by the FBI, she explained. The FBI has a responsibility to collect hate crime statistics, she noted. “While there is anecdotal information that Muslims are actually experiencing hate crimes, and that hate crimes are escalating, there is no evidence to support that suspicion,” Ms. Abdelkader said.

But thinking of Islamophobia as a recent phenomenon would be incorrect. One of the sponsors of the Anti-Muslim Bigotry Youth Conference was Curtis Jones, Philadelphia’s first Muslim city councilman. In opening remarks, he shared how his first encounter with anti-Muslim bigotry occurred in the 1970s at the hands of his high school principal. While Mr. Jones was selling Muhammad Speaks newspapers, a requirement for male members of the Nation of Islam, one of the newspapers was taken and thrown to the ground by a fellow student and a fight ensued. There were several Muslims and non-Muslims involved in the altercation, he recalled. When all were brought before the principal, he suspended the Muslims and allowed the instigators of the fight to go unpunished, said Mr. Jones.   

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Emi Mahmoud, Yale University graduating class, at Anti-Muslim Bigotry Conference. She is the reigning individual World Poetry Slam Champion of 2015.
His keynote address was followed by a panel discussion with area high school students.

Kadidja Cisse of Parkway West High School and a member of the Philly Youth Poetry Movement echoed Councilman Jones discrimination experience in school. She was amazed to see teachers calling her “towel head” and a principal “called me ISIS.” Teachers in one school she attended said she was disturbing the class because she wears the hijab. “I can’t imagine seeing anyone else that’s looking different in class (having) to go through something like that,” said Kadidja. 

Manetayne Jackson Bey, a senior at Gratz Mastery Charter School, said he experiences discrimination due to his religious beliefs inside and outside of school. He’s been called “a terrorist, or I’ve been accused of having a bomb because of what’s reported in the news about ISIS.”

Mannetayne encouraged teachers and parents seated in front of him to understand that his experience is similar to the experiences of other Muslim youth. It is their responsibility to strengthen the faith of young Muslims so they can overcome the discrimination and bullying they are receiving as a result of their faith, he added. 

During the conference several small group breakout sessions were held, including “Activism & Youth Empowerment,” “Adult/Education: Supporting Our Youth” and “Faith, Identity & the Art of Storytelling.” 

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Co-chairing the Art of Storytelling workshop was Yale graduating senior Emi Mahmoud, the reigning World Poetry Slam Champion of 2015, and Majid Mubeen, a junior at the University of Pennsylvania and the founder and chair of Students Against Islamophobia and Discrimination.

The session focused on how to process the difficulty of faith and identity by using individual stories, poetry, and whatever ways participants felt comfortable expressing personal experiences. According to Mr. Mubeen, “Talking about these stories and being in touch with yourself helps you to empathize with other people and stand up for them and their rights.” 

With the gamut covered, from standing up to being bullied in school, to the larger context of “being an activist and standing in solidarity with other folks,” Mr. Mubeen noted that the group was of different ethnic or racial backgrounds and ages. We might “have different ways of processing oppression and how we’re effected,” he said. The way to overcome this oppression is by recognizing it as a similar problem and “by staying together … we can really be strong.”

Mahmoud, who grew up in Darfur in The Sudan in Africa, expressed her appreciation to the conference organizers. “To be a part of creating a space so people would feel they could explore the issues that we grapple with in this contemporary world, where you’re often being forced to choose between different parts of your identity” was important, she said. The argument that suggests being an American and a Muslim are not compatible is a false one and stems from bigotry and a desire to “exacerbate these issues,” she said. “As someone who has probably gone through all these issues, it’s nice to be able to create a safe space where you can come and learn how to grapple with these issues,” said Mahmoud.

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Some of the students in the Activism and Youth Empowerment workshop. Adult Educators F-33.jpg: Adult/Educator Workshop: Supporting Our Youth - Soledad Alfaro (4th from left), deputy chief of Staff for the Mastery Charter Schools Network. Photo: Jehron Muhammad
The question during the Adult Session was: “How can we support youth to navigate and develop resilience when faced with anti-Muslim bigotry?” According to workshop facilitator Soledad Alfaro, deputy chief of staff for the Mastery Charter School Network, “The discussion was engaging and wide ranging, with representation from community members, parents, educators and youth program leaders. It seems that the group connected the need for young people to develop a strong identity for themselves, with guidance and support, with their ability to stand up against bigotry and racism.”

The discussion included questions such as “what is developmentally appropriate for young people in their identity development?” and “how do we create the spaces for youth to build their Muslim identities, so they can navigate the world?”

During the session participants shared community programs, like Jawala Scouts and structured curricula in schools, as well as the value of mentorship and family guidance and traditions. Some important takeaways included the idea that youth need to develop critical thinking skills and personal understanding of their belief systems—and that their faith and a strong connection to the Muslim community were important factors in successfully dealing with these challenges.

One of the facilitators for the “Activism & Youth Empowerment” session, Temple University student and member of the Black Radical Organizing Collective Rose Daraz said, she discovered young people are really open “to doing activism and we just need to be working and organizing together and providing them with the necessary tools.” What she saw were people of different ethnic and racial backgrounds all willing to work together for a common cause. 

“I think that the spoken word (presentations), just the variety of ways, the diversity of format, as well as the diversity of age and how that represented Muslim Americans was really powerful,” Intreza Binte Fard, a doctoral student at the University of Pennsylvania, said after attending the conference. “The intersectionality, being Black, being Muslim, and being female, that was the thing that really came out really strongly.”

This conference was sponsored by Muslims Make It Plain and Muslim Wellness Foundation, Inc.

Jehron Muhammad is a member of Muslims Make It Plain and  was one of the major organizers for the conference.