Imported Hate: Islamophobia in Rural America | Taneeza Islam | TEDxBrookings
[Applause] who scares you I don't mean what scares you but what does the person look like who gives you a pit in your stomach makes you cross the street subvert eye contact and maybe lock the doors in your car a little faster fear is a natural uncontrollable response but what we do with that fear becomes a choice studies now tell us that 98% of our brains work unconsciously what affects our conscious brain how do we process all of us information from birth we are bombarded with messages that our brain categorizes and internalizes which affect our thoughts and actions and all of us have unconscious biases and if we are to effectuate real authentic community change in true community relationship building we must all individually dig deeper to understand what triggers our fears especially when we're talking about racism or any ism really I too have a lot of unconscious bias teas just the other day I was chatting it up with the cashier at the grocery store who was a young Asian man with no accent just like me but I caught myself I felt my brain being surprised that he had no accent and I paused and I started to have a conversation with myself right then on why and when I took an implicit association test which showed me that I favor lighter skinned people over darker skinned people I hit the pause button again now I use this information to make sure that when those opportunities present themselves I don't slip back into unconscious bias personal interactions with those who are different than us is what dissipates that fear that not in your stomach often times my friends tell me I hear about Islam and Muslims in the media and I know you're not like that as an American Muslim I'm here to tell you that I am NOT the exception to the rule I just happened to have become a person that you've interacted with who contextualizes what it means to be an American Muslim and now you're starting to understand that the rhetoric that you've been hearing and possibly internalizing is what is actually false I am NOT the anomaly but the norm but what happens when you live in a place where you don't have the opportunity for personal contact with someone who looks or believes differently than you what happens is that fear-mongering and stereotypes slowly seep into our discourse and slowly become true and when faith leaders and elected officials preach and legislate this fear it starts to become right so it's no surprise that the now identified Islamophobic Network imports their fear filled messaging and institutions into rural America where there is essentially no probability of humanizing the other this messaging is working so well that since 2010 a hundred and twenty anti-islamic bills were introduced in 42 states and 15 such hateful laws have been passed laws we are again legislating fear and hate just a different target I live in Sioux Falls South Dakota there may be about two to three Muslims in our state that's literally point zero zero 3% of our state's population and not surprisingly South Dakota is one of those 15 states which has passed anti Sharia legislation in 2012 signed by our current governor into law what is Sharia law a question I get asked all the time first it's a misnomer Sharia is not law as we understand the US Constitution or Civil Code Sharia are our guiding principles just as the Ten Commandments and love of mercy stories of love and mercy Sharia teaches us to be good people good stewards of this earth to provide refuge to orphans to feed the hungry dress modestly pay charity worship God be a good person just like every other religion does but what the Islamic oves and the fear mongers will have you believe as that Muslims we want to enforce some sort of archaic penal code of chopping off hands and heads stoning people to death and taking away women's rights and that our US Constitution is in jeopardy of being overtaken by these medieval practices by the way those punishments or penal codes are also fine it found in the Bible and Torah if you know anything about government or how constitutions are amended you know that point zero zero three percent of the population doesn't have that political clout so this is pure fear mongering hateful legislation is garnering so much momentum in rural America and it's now making appearances in Washington DC the Islamophobic networks main purpose is to have you so scared of Islam and Muslims they they want to legally D legitimize a religion which is fourteen centuries old stripping Muslims of our founding principle and protections of freedom of and freedom from religion what is this Islamophobic network since 2015 its burgeoned into this 57 million dollar industry the Center for American Progress and the Haas Institute have revealed a tightly knit collaboration of foundations think-tanks media platforms grassroots organizations elected officials and figureheads many of whom are former Muslims Islam evokes dream come true and spreading fear in rural America we need to understand that this fear is being imported into rural America to change the hearts and minds of otherwise hard-working good neighborly communities who just don't have the exposure to Muslims in Islam as practiced by 1.5 billion people worldwide peacefully and lovingly this past legislative session South Dakota had to Islamophobic resolutions and I'm ecstatic to report to you that our amazing authentically intersectional coalition defeated both of them for the first time a coalition of immigrants refugees Muslims and our beautiful allies showed up together over and over to testify against legislating hate the proponents I'd had a lobbyist from a known as llama phobic anti-refugee hate group called act for America they even had an expert call in to the committee hearing room from Sweden who testified that 90% of the rapes in Sweden are committed by Somali Muslim men absurd just the other day I was an event at an event we're an adjunct professor from a local university actually Korda that statistic pay attention to Islamophobia wherever you live here in South Dakota we had a candidate for governor and for Congress show up to a hate group event and legislators are continuously attending the over dozens of Asama phobic speaker events held throughout her state after my testimony and being outspoken about Islamophobia wherever it rears its ugly head elected officials and those running for office have tried to deal edge it omit my voice one senator on Twitter called me a terrorist sympathizer while another one accused me of receiving funding from terrorist organizations to do this work and on Facebook a candidate for governor of this state said that I should be tried for treason for associating with terrorists freedom of speech is surely a two-way street but these are provable blatant lies know that Islamophobia is real and rampant and I have three asks for you today be self-reflective identify your biases and work unchanging your response if you don't have the opportunity to meet diverse people find other ways to learn about them through authentic sources and most importantly speak out against fear-mongering and hate of Islam Muslims immigrants and refugees when it shows up at your dinner table and at your legislature we can no longer afford to be bystanders to legislated hate be an upstander and break the momentum of Islamophobia and rural America by supporting local organizations that are doing this real work before I close today I just have one more question for you do I scare you does this image cause surprise give you a pit in your stomach or maybe thoughts that I must somehow be a pest if your answer is yes or maybe now it's up to you to dig deeper to figure out why or are you going to let your fear influence your thoughts and your actions or worse your unconscious impact thank you you [Applause]