Over the course of American history, one immigrant group after another has arrived and integrated into society, and Muslims are among the latest. Like many of those who came before, they’ve learned that assimilation is no protection against animus.
In the wake of 9/11, Muslims found themselves the object of suspicion, anger and law enforcement scrutiny. But they managed to endure that ordeal and not only survive but flourish, in places as different as New York City, Detroit and Dallas-Ft. Worth.
Today, Muslims are indistinguishable from the general population when it comes to graduating from college, working full time and enlisting in the military. Last year, a Muslim was elected mayor of New York — which, by the way, has more Jewish residents than any city outside of Israel. Some 250 Muslims hold elected office across 26 states.
You might expect that as the memory of the al-Qaida attacks and the global war on terror has subsided, Islamophobia would also fade. No such luck.
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Muslims are more likely than any other group to report encountering religious discrimination. Survey data indicates that anti-Muslim sentiment has risen substantially since 2018. And when prejudice proliferates, some politicians see opportunity.
The Republican Party has not always been a haven for religious bigots. George W. Bush got 78% of the Muslim vote in 2000. As president, after 9/11, he visited an Islamic center, met with Muslims at the White House and said Islam is “a faith based upon love, not hate.”
As the party’s 2008 presidential nominee, John McCain rebuked a voter who told him that Barack Obama was “an Arab.” In 2015, House Speaker Paul Ryan denounced candidate Donald Trump’s proposal to ban Muslims from entering the country.
But Ryan’s version of conservatism has turned out to be as obsolete as Blockbuster Video. In his first term, Trump implemented a version of his Muslim ban, which the Supreme Court obediently upheld. In his second term, he has virtually stamped out immigration from predominantly Muslim nations.
Trump has a long record of inciting fear and hatred of Islam, and plenty of Republican politicians have joined in. “Muslims don’t belong in American society” declared Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee. “Deport them ALL,” posted Rep. Randy Fine of Florida.
In this year’s campaign, Islamophobia is not a rare phenomenon. It’s become an essential part of the Republican brand.
Blood-curdling claims about Islam are a common theme in campaign ads. The Guardian reports that it’s part of what “researchers who track anti-Muslim sentiment describe as the most concentrated wave of Islamophobic rhetoric in U.S. electoral politics since the 9/11 attacks.”
When Abdul El-Sayed won the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate in Michigan, North Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace said on social media, “Every single Muslim holding public office in America is a trojan horse, and a threat to both national security and our republic.”
Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville reposted a tweet featuring a photo of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani alongside a shot of the burning Twin Towers with the message: “The enemy is inside the gates.” Rather than condemn such bigotry, House Speaker Mike Johnson invoked the specter of “Sharia law.”
Johnson was copying a favorite tactic of Republicans in Texas, where Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill banning “Sharia compounds.” That was his absurd response to a planned Muslim residential development north of Dallas — which would be open to non-Muslims and would abide by fair housing laws.
Attorney General Ken Paxton, the party nominee in this year’s U.S. Senate race, said, “There will be no ‘Sharia city’ in Texas under my watch,” which is like saying he won’t allow vampire colonies.
There is no evidence that anyone is trying to build a Taliban outpost in Texas or anywhere else, and no reason to imagine that anyone could. But there are insular communities of people following other faiths — including towns overwhelmingly dominated by Hasidic Jews in New York state and by so-called fundamentalist Mormons in Utah and Arizona — that go largely unnoticed.
Islamophobes claim that one American city has already fallen under repressive sharia law — Dearborn, Michigan, which has a majority Arab population and a Muslim mayor.
It’s true that the city is home to numerous mosques, and some residents complain about loudspeakers issuing calls to prayer. But Dearborn also has dozens of churches, as well as Catholic and Protestant schools, liquor stores, taverns and — what’s this? — strip clubs. Iran’s ayatollahs would not be impressed.
The menace being decried in campaigns this year is a phantom conjured up by politicians who trust that baseless fear is more powerful than informed tolerance.
American Muslims have shown that they can live respectfully and agreeably among people different from themselves. If only Republican politicians could do the same.
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Steve Chapman was a member of the Tribune Editorial Board from 1981 to 2021. His columns, exclusive to the Tribune, appear the first week of every month. He can be reached at [email protected].
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