Six leaders from Milwaukee’s Muslim community shared a stage last week at Milwaukee’s Islamic Resource Center. The event was to promote the new book Muslims in Milwaukee: Placemaking, Belonging and Activism. The panelists talked about the book’s deep research of the community, which took place over nearly 15 years. After the talk, they opened up about issues facing Muslims and Muslim-Americans from outside of their community.
“Without a doubt, it is the anti-Muslim and anti-Arab hate,” said Janan Najeeb, founder of the Muslim Women’s Coalition.
People in the room kept the guided conversation mostly about the book’s release but were still grieving over the shooting in San Diego. That’s where two gunmen opened fire at a local Islamic Center, killing three. It’s currently being investigated as a hate crime.
Dr. Anisah Bagasra is an associate professor of psychology at Kennesaw State University in Georgia. For the past decade, she’s been studying the rise of anti-Muslim rhetoric and how it spread from online spaces to public spaces. She says a big part of the problem is how Muslims are portrayed…