‘Islamophobia is Real and Hurts’: San Diego Reports Uptick in Anti-Muslim Hate
According to a report by CAIR, nearly half of the incidents of anti-Muslim hate in 2023 took place between October and December, NBC reported on Tuesday.
Tazheen Nizam, the Executive Director at CAIR San Diego, stated, “8,061 complaints were filed for anti-Muslim incidents across the nation. In San Diego alone, our increase has been 300%, and a majority of these cases have been happening in the last three months of the year, since Oct. 7.”
CAIR San Diego, along with other speakers, emphasized that these incidents permeate all aspects of life.
Nizam elaborated, “A lot of the cases that we receive in our office reflect employment discrimination — hate incidents happening in the community against businesses – [and] against students in K–12 and college campuses.”
The press conference was also attended by students from UC San Diego and San Diego State University.
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UC San Diego student Samar Ishmael expressed, “With an insurgence of Islamophobic and anti-Arab hate, it’s really important for us to share our side of the story, along with sharing the stats that back it up.”
Local Arab and Muslim leaders are urging elected officials to publicly condemn and take action against these incidents of anti-Muslim hate.
Taha Hassane, Imam at the Islamic Center of San Diego, declared, “Islamophobia is real and Islamophobia hurts.”
Source: Agencies
