Day 25 – Islamophobia and Hate Crimes in America: Turning Fear into Understanding

Most of us underestimate the dangerous, long-term process that fuels hate— yet understanding how hate crimes develop is the biggest tool for prevention. In this powerful episode, Imam Safraz Bacchus, a community leader and imam, shines a light on the rising tide of Islamophobia and hate crimes in America, reminding us that these acts are not spontaneous but the final outcome of a gradual process rooted in misinformation, stereotypes, and dehumanization. He demonstrates how hate infiltrates communities and alters perceptions about safety, humanity, and shared values, calling on us all to lead with compassion and to recognize that lasting change is possible when courage meets understanding.

Transcript

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In the name of God, the beneficent, the merciful, peace and blessings of the Almighty be with all of you. Welcome to another episode of a Ramadan podcast. And as I commence today's episode, I want you all to, you know, take a moment. Take a moment and imagine. Imagine this that you walk out of your home in the morning. And as you walk out of your home, you greet your neighbor, you say hi to your neighbor, and you drive to work. You go about your day like many others do, like millions of Americans do. Now imagine carrying with you a quiet fear. That there is a sense of fear within you. Not fear that you will feel, not fear because you are scared of losing your job, but fear that someone might hate you simply because of your faith. The fear that someone may hate you because of your name, the type of name that you have. The fear that someone may hate you simply because of the clothing that you wear and how you look, your appearance. For many Muslims, for many Muslims in America, this is not an imagination. It's real, it's a life of reality. And today, in the few minutes that I have on this podcast, we would like to talk about Islamophobia and hate crime in the United States. But this conversation that we will have is not about fear. It's not about fear, it's about understanding. It's about resilience, it's about, I'll say, solutions and steps that we can take to help communities and individuals that have to face this type of phobia. Because I'll say that hatred cannot, it cannot be solved by anger alone, right? Hate must be transformed. It must be transformed through knowledge, through courage, and leadership, true leadership. I draw your attention to a story that shook the United States of America. In October 2023, a tragedy shook the nation, the United States. And a matter of fact, everyone that learned about this and read about this, if they have a heart, it would affect them. A six-year-old Palestinian-American boy named Wadir Al-Fayoumi was mortared. He was mortared here in the United States in Illinois, in what authorities describe as a hate crime motivated by anti-Muslim hatred. A six-year-old that lost his life because of this hate that we are attempting to discuss and to somehow try to understand, find some level of solution, and find instilling some self of resilience. A six-year-old kid, a child that actually loved succor. He loved his family. A child whose life ended because someone allowed hate to infiltrate in their heart. And for us to fully understand this, I want you, as you're listening to this, to think that that child was your child, and ask yourself, how would have that, how would that have impacted you? How would you feel if it is your child, six-year-old, that was killed, lost his life because of who he is and what he chose to somehow practice or how he looks or his appearance? When we hear stories like this, when we hear narratives like this, when we hear, whether it's on the radio, whether it's someone narrating it, whether it's on a podcast, when we we listen to this in the news and the media, our instinct is to ask, how could this happen? How can we allow this to happen? But a deeper question is, how does hate grow in the fourth place? How does it grow? Because hate crimes are not spontaneous explosions. It's not spontaneous explosions. They are a final stage of a very long process. A long process. A process that begins with misinformation, that begins with fear, that begins with stereotypes and dehumanization. And if we want to stop hate crimes, if we all want to find a solution to this problem that is basically affecting the Muslim community, the Jewish community, the African American community, the minority communities, if we want to stop hate crimes, we must interrupt that process because it reaches violence. The reality of hate crime in America, hear what it is, right? I'll say that according to the FBI, thousands of hate crimes occur in the United States every year. These crimes target people based on their race, based on their religion, based on their ethnicity, based on sexual orientation, based on national origin. And among religious-based hate crime, Muslims remain one of the most targeted groups that you have. Muslims are considered to be one of the most targeted groups. But there is something for us to understand, and that is hate crimes do not only hurt the direct victim, the person that faced that hate crime. The message it says tells us the narrative dictates that you are not safe here. You're not safe here, and when community feels unsafe, fear spreads. When a person starts to feel unsafe, lack of safety, then fear starts to monger. Trust starts to break down. And neighbors become suspicious of one another. This is why hate crimes are not just crimes against individuals, right? It's not. Understanding Islamophobia is important. Understanding hate crime and its root is important. We have to talk about it. We cannot shy away from it. Let's talk about the word Islamophobia. The word itself refers to prejudice. It refers to hostility. It refers to discrimination. Discrimination directed to the Muslims or to Islam. Islamophobia, just for us to be clear, it's not always violent, right? It's not. Because sometimes it appears in a very subtle way. In a very subtle way. And we see it prevalent in social media posts, coming from individuals that occupy offices, high offices. We see it from the layman, and also we see it from the leaders that have that has a motive or have motives. So whether it's through the tweets or the Facebook posts or the comments, it's visible. So sometimes it appears in a very subtle way, and you should be vigilant about this, right? Like a job application, for example, maybe rejected because of someone's faith. Or because someone wearing a hijab, I can't give you this job because you have a hijab on, or a woman, or a sister wearing hijab at a work environment is treated differently, or a sister is selected to work just so that it may seemingly look inclusive, so she occupies the office, but treated differently because of her faith. A child may be bullied because of their religion, a mosque being vandalized with hateful with hateful graffiti. And how many of times we see that not only within the Muslim community? But I remember when I first came into this country in 2013, the first gathering I attended, a multi-faith gathering, was a gathering that speaks to hate crime where a Hindu flag was born and destroyed. And I can remember I said this that this is should be a collaborative effort between religious groups, the law enforcements, local politicians. We all have to come together to ensure that we say no to this and work in a manner that is collaborative, send in the strong message. That in this time and age, in this time, we cannot tolerate hate. And when we see hate, we should be able to pinpoint it. And when we hear hateful rhetorics, we must be able to pinpoint it and articulate and say no, there is no place for hate. So these moments accumulate. These experiences, it makes, you know, someone feels different about the society in which they live in. Why is it that people fear something that they don't even understand? Right? And psychologists they say that fear often grows from the lack of familiarity. When you're not familiar with something, when you do not know something, what happens is you start to become fearful about that thing. Right? Human beings are wired to be cautious about what they do not know. So you're very hesitant about dabbling in something that you do not know, or you're hesitant about even trying to get to know that thing that you do not know. Not courageous enough, not wise enough. So when people have little interaction with Muslims, right, their perception of Islam may come from headlines, from movies, and political rhetorics. And that is why we should allow many non-Muslims to come into our mosques, allow our mosques to be open, allow ourselves to have these types of discussions that we are having. This platform, as we talk about Islamophobia and xenophobia, anti-Semitism, and other forms of hate and racism, we're able to sensitize people about it and bring awareness. So when you have a little interaction with Muslims, the perception of Islam becomes may come only from the headlines of the news that they see. That's all that they have, right? Movies that are often shows with the intent of stereotyping a particular group or you know, somehow depicting a specific group in a particular image. So when the dominant narratives actually portrays Muslims through conflict or extremism, the bad guy is a Muslim, his name is Ahmad in a movie. Or Abu Abu something sends a very subtle message that the extreme guy is with the name Abu Muhammad or Abu Something. What message is it sending? In some of the mu uh in some of the movies, the Indian movies, and we'll call them out, they show conflict between Pakistan and India, and that they are basically fighting against someone that looked in a particular way, has a topi on, has a kurtu pajama on, has his head wrapped. What message are you sending? And what are you exposing your children to? What are you trying to do? It's glaring that you're trying to dictate a narrative, a narrative that portrays Muslims to be people that are very extreme. And this creates a very distorted image as well, right? But here is the truth. The truth is that the overwhelming majority of Muslims are just ordinary people. They're ordinary people, teachers, the love to teach has a very hard that you have love and care for children, doctors, engineers, business owners, students, neighbors, people who are raising families, people contributing to the society in which they live in. That's a reality. People who are pursuing dreams just like just like you were seeing pursuing your dream. Same thing. Same thing. Same dream. And you know, I'll say, as a chaplain and community leader, as an imam, I have met a lot of people that carry quiet fears. Parents worried about their children being bullied, women afraid to wear hijab in public, young Muslims wondering whether they truly belong in the very society that they grew up in. Right? But I've always witnessed something remarkable. I've always witnessed something quite remarkable. Resilience. Resilience. Communities that respond to hate not with despair, but with determination. I have seen that. I have witnessed that. People who transform pain into purpose. This is a story we rarely hear. The prophetic example, the example of our beloved Prophet Muhammad. For Muslims, I'll say dealing with hatred is not new. The Prophet Muhammad, may the peace and blessings of God be with him. You know, himself face intense hostility. He was insulted. He was called Sahirun Majnoon, it is a magician and a madman. He was mocked at. And he said these words, he said, Perhaps from their descendants will come people who will worship God. If this generation doesn't do it, the future generation will. Think about that. When faced with hostility, when faced with cruelty, the Prophet Muhammad, may the peace and blessings of God be with him. He responded differently. He responded in a manner that many people will not respond, and that's with hope, not with weakness, but with hope. This is our beloved Prophet. You know, this is considered to be one of the most powerful lessons in human history. Hate cannot be defeated by becoming hateful. You cannot defeat hate by hate. The ripple effects of words, words shape reality. When public figures, for example, use language that portrays an entire community as communities as threats, it has consequences. We have learned that. People have, you know, I'll say this that before. Violence occurs, there is often a period of dehumanization. And people are described as less trustworthy, less loyal, and less human. And once that narrative takes root, violence become easier for us to somehow justify. It becomes simple for us to what? To justify. And we must be cognizant of that. That is why responsible leaders matter. Words matter. Narrative matters. The role of the media, it matters, right? It's important, the role of the media. But we're living in a time when you have a very biased media. The media actually plays a very powerful role in shaping perception. If someone, for example, only exposure to Islam is through stories of war and terrorism, their understanding will be incomplete. Their understanding will be very minimal. Imagine that if every news story about a particular community is only highlighted the worst examples. When positive things happen, you don't highlight it. But when negative things happen, you highlight it. When a person with a Muslim name, for example, commits a crime, it's that Muslim person then his name follows. And this happens uniquely only with Muslims, unfortunately. So imagine if every news story about a particular community is only highlighted the worse, worse example. What do you think will happen? What do you expect to happen? It will create a distorted, a distorted picture. This is why balanced storytelling matters. When we tell a story, we must be balanced in our narrative. We cannot be biased in our narratives. We must tell the stories of Muslim doctors saving lives. Muslim teachers educating children and their role in uplifting. Muslim families contributed to the fabric of American societies. Because representation matters, right? Not only when something negative happens, you pinpoint that all the time. But a positive story is you choose not to. What's your agenda? So how do we tackle this problem, right? How can we tackle this problem? Let's explore a few solutions, a few things that we can actually do. Let's think about it, right? And I'll say education and awareness. Education and awareness is one of the most powerful tools against prejudice. And when people learn about Islam through authentic sources rather than stereotypes, misconception becomes dissolved. Misconception is removed. So therefore, we must have interfaith dialogues. These interfaith dialogues is not organized or we do not engage in interfaith dialogues without any valid reason. But interfaith dialogues show commonalities, it shows differences, we learn to deal with our differences, but understand that we are not different in so many different ways. Educational programs and community events, it actually what happens is that it um it creates opportunities for people to learn from one another. When people meet Muslims personally, what happens is that they often discover something simple but powerful. And that is Muslims are just people. The second thing is interfaith relationships. Some of the strongest responses to hate crime come from solidarity, people together. When mosques are vandalized, churches and synagogues often stand beside Muslim communities. And in addition to this, when synagogues are actually faced with anti-Semitism, Muslims stand in support. This type of solidarity sends a strong message that when you hurt a particular community, we also feel the pain. Because today is the African American community, tomorrow will be the Latino community. It may be the Indian community, it may be the Sikh community. Today is the African American Christians, tomorrow is the Jewish community, and today is the Hindu community, and tomorrow is gonna be the Muslim community. We look out for each other. We may be different, but we are all targeted in a negative way because of hate. So when we stand in solidarity, we send a clear message. An attack on one community is an attack on all. Because hatred, what happens? It thrives in isolation, right? But it weakens when we stand together. And the turn the third important thing that we can do, we said awareness, we said interfaith dialogue, standing religious communities standing together, civic participation. And communities have a responsibility to engage with civic institutions. This includes working with law enforcement. This includes also community boards, local government, educational institutions. And this type of uh participation, right, it actually ensures the concerns about safety and discrimination are hard. You have a platform in which you can speak and articulate, right? You have a you have a platform where you can somehow uh where you can somehow voice your concerns and work in a collaborative way with law enforcement, the community boards that there is, and local government, educational institutions, that you have these various entities and bodies where you can voice your concern and work in a collaborative manner. The other thing I would want to say as well, uh it's a responsibility of religious leadership to play their role. And as an imam, I always see an imam's job is not confined within the walls of the mosques. As a religious leader, wherever you are serving, whatever denomination you are serving, the work extends beyond the wall of the mosque. It extends beyond the walls of the churches and the mandirs and the temples and the gudwaras. It extends beyond that. So when I'll say this, that they must also be religious leaders, must become, you know, uh I'll say a powerful agent of change. Change for better, wanting a safer community for yourself and you and and and your family and your uh extended community. So when a young Muslims are empowered with confidence, right? When they're empowered with knowledge, when they're empowered with leadership skills, what happens is that they become ambassadors of understanding. And they build bridges between cultures, they change stereotypes through their achievements and character. So I would want to say that, you know, it's necessary, right? It's necessary for us to work in a collaborative manner. In a collaborative manner. I'll say this, right? Islam teaches a very profound uh principle, and that is repel evil with that which is better. And this verse in the glorious Quran is not simply about personal morality, it's not, but rather it's a strategy for social transformation. When kindness is a response to hostility, it actually disrupts the cycle of hatred. Kill them with kindness, kill them with love, kill them with positivity, kill them with gentleness. That's it. When patience responds to provocation, it prevents escalation. When wisdom responds to arrogance, it creates understanding. This does not mean, in no way or form, that you're ignoring injustice. No. This means confronting injustice with dignity and also with intelligence. The long-term solution actually to hate crime is not only uh long law enforcement, it is a culture. It's culture, culture where diversity is valued, and I'll say that a culture where children are taught to appreciate uh the differences that we have. This is what we have to instill in our children today. This is what we have to instill in our children today, a culture where people are curious rather than fearful, because when respect becomes the norm, hatred becomes socially unacceptable. Right? And what is a vision for the future? Just it. Imagine America where mosques, where churches, where synagogues and temples work together to serve their communities. Imagine neighborhoods with its diversity is celebrated rather than fear. Imagine young people growing up in a society where their faith or their background does not make them targets. This vision is not unrealistic. It requires effort, it requires leadership, right? It requires courage, a shaja'a. This is what it requires. And history has shown us that communities can actually evolve, and every generation has the opportunity to shape uh to shape that that uh that uh evolution. You know, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said these words. He said that darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. And Islam teaches the same principle. That very principle, life, light is stronger than darkness, compassion is stronger than hatred, and understanding is stronger than fear. And the challenge before us is not simply to condemn hate crimes, it is to build societies where hatred cannot take the root, a society grounded in justice, a society grounded in dignity, and shared humanity. In closing, I want to say this. That if you take one message from this conversation that we are having today, let it be this hate is powerful, but it's not unstoppable. Every act of kindness, every act of kindness, every conversation across differences, every moment of courage, what it does, it pushes back hatred against the darkness. It pushes back against the darkness, every moment of courage, it that's the impact it has. And when enough people choose on the standing over fear, the world actually changes. So it ends by saying what our beloved Prophet Muhammad said La ta bagadu wa la ta hasid. It says, Do not hold both in anger and do not envy, but be brothers, be unified. Thank you all for listening, and I hope that today's discourse was somehow beneficial and fruitful for all of you. Kindly follow my YouTube channel, Safras Bacchus, Life Institute, for more meaningful discussions and conversation. Follow me on YouTube, Spotify, and also the Apple Apple Podcasts. Have a blessed uh day. Peace and love be with you.