The Ugly Reality of American Islamophobia
Moral panic, especially in the United States, has always been a defining leitmotif of The Bugbear Dispatch. Sometimes, that means writing about current events directly tied to the news cycle; sometimes it means writing more abstract or at least less newsy essays with insights that are relevant to our historical moment. Under the current Trump regime, I haven't been able to write as many pieces directly tied to the news cycle as I used to, because I have to limit my engagement with the news to protect my mental health.
Today's essay, however, is about current events, although they're the kind of current events you might have missed if you're not plugged into certain local news markets or on the mailing list for certain organizations. And even if you are, you might have missed this news since the reporting came so close to Thanksgiving. Two major Islamophobic incidents occurred in November, one carried out by state actors and the other by non-state actors, in Texas and Florida, respectively. As I've been pointing out for years, the twisted leadership of their governments have made these states laboratories for the right wing, pushing fascist policies that provide a potential game plan for the federal government.
The topic of Islamophobia is one that I, frankly, should be addressing more often in these days of an ongoing genocide in Gaza that is enabled and supported by America's elite politicians and media institutions. Muslims have been a quintessential American bugbear at least since 9/11, and those of us who fall into various marginalized groups need as much solidarity as we can get. Othered Americans include religious minorities, and I feel it is my duty precisely as a pluralism-embracing atheist to have their backs in the struggle against this country's white Christian hegemony and the repression machine that goes along with it.
Speaking of Christian hegemony, I can remember at least two distinct incidents when I heard evangelical pastors directly equating Islam with terrorism from the pulpit. The first time, I sat through the sermon. The second time, when I was older and no longer really a believer but went with my parents to church while visiting home, I walked out immediately. A certain aunt and uncle also gave me a salacious, disinformation-packed book with one of those uber-Orientalist titles like Islam Unveiled for Christmas one year in the aughts. It was an awkward moment, at least for me internally--the memory's a bit fuzzy but I probably faked a polite thank-you; I was definitely more cowardly back then. I never read the book.
I bring these memories up because, in subtler ways, our society often does the same thing. A case in point is our elite institutions' and chattering classes' differential treatment of Netanyahu's authoritarian Israel and the oppressed people of Gaza, who are living with the horrors of two years of genocide carried out by Israeli forces and being collectively punished as if they are all, even innocent babies, "Hamas," aka "terrorists."
Under Catholic governor Greg Abbott and evangelical attorney general Ken Paxton--both Christian fascists--the American state of Texas is now less subtly equating Islam with terrorism by declaring the Council on American-Islamic relations a "foreign terrorist organization." In fact, CAIR is the premier advocacy organization for Muslims' civil rights in the United States, and Texas's proclamation isn't toothless--it unconstitutionally bars the nonprofit from owning property in Texas. CAIR is suing Abbott and Paxton over the false and harmful designation, but even if CAIR wins, American Muslims still lose when powerful politicians use their bully pulpits to scapegoat a marginalized group.
Since Donald Trump first came to power in 2016, white supremacists and authoritarian Christians have been emboldened to be louder and more aggressive, as they were, for example, on January 6, 2021 in their attempt to overthrow the 2020 election results. With Trump back in power now, they're more emboldened than ever, and in recent weeks the "MAGA" base has been targeting Muslims.
The incident that occurred in Florida hit home for me, personally, because it happened at the University of South Florida, where I taught a modern European history survey and various Honors College classes from 2015-2018. I should say there have reportedly been similar incidents of harassment in other locations and states; the hate group Warriors for Christ is likely organizing the harassment campaign (they livestreamed the USF incident on YouTube, and the video is still up, but I am not going to link to it).
At USF, the harassers approached a small group of student engaging morning prayer and began shouting at them. One of the men, paraphrasing from the Pauline epistle Philippians, shouted "every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord." He also called the Quran and Mohammed "disgusting" and the latter "a pervert pedophile." At least two of the men told the Muslim students they would end up in hell like their prophet (one getting directly in their faces and pointing his finger perhaps an inch from their eyes after spitting on the ground in front of them and declaring "I spit on the grave of Mohammad"). The harassers also "offered" the students bacon, and based on how often they called Muslims "violent" and "terrorists" in the video, it seems that they were trying to provoke the students to a violent response in order to then use that response as "evidence" that Muslims are violent. For one brief moment it looked like a physical altercation might break out (it appears that one of the harassers touched a student before the student touched him, but it happened quickly). But thankfully, the harassers ultimately failed to provoke the violent physical response it seems they were after.
You can read more about the incident in the Tampa Bay Times, and on the strong community response in a follow-up article.
Thankfully, the university responded positively to the Muslim Student Association's call for action, reiterating USF's policies against discrimination, harassment, and hateful expression targeting people on the basis of their religion, and even local law enforcement is standing in solidarity with the victims. The three harassers, two of whom were from other states and none of whom were affiliated with USF, have been identified, and two have already been charged over the incident.
That's a positive development, and it reminds me of the generally good impression I got of USF (and less good, but overall not bad, impression I got of Tampa) when I lived in the area. I was worried that with Florida governor Ron DeSantis's assault on state educational institutions and particularly on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, that USF, to say nothing of Tampa's broader institutions, might not muster such a robust response to something like this.
USF was, across many intersections of identity, one of the more diverse environments I've lived in. I regularly had Jewish, Muslim, and Christian students, and there were sometimes positive "aha!" moments in class when they realized they had something in common with respect to their various religious identities.
I also taught a number of Latino and Afro-Caribbean students, and significant proportions of USF student are the first in their families to pursue higher education and/or on Pell Grants (meaning they came from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds). It was a place where we lived pluralism every day, mostly smoothly and peacefully, and even the town-gown relationship was positive, with USF encouraging community engagement and well regarded by the Tampa community! DeSantis's education policies put in place since I left have broken my heart (and, I'm aware, driven some excellent educators, understandably, out of Florida).
While at USF, there was a significant number of Muslims in my classes. They came from varying backgrounds and included people of Syrian, Southeast Asian, and Palestinian descent. Among the young women, some wore the hijab and others did not. My Muslim students were kind people and diligent in their studies, and these kids also clearly cared about democracy, human rights, and civic values.
By stating this, I do not mean to hold Muslim-Americans in general or these kids in particular up as a "model minority" in a problematic way. A lot of Jewish and Christian kids made very good impressions on me during my time at USF as well. Still, it bears stating that several of my best and most memorable students were Muslims in a time when American Muslims are being harassed, scapegoated, illegally detained, and targeted by both government institutions and private hate groups. If more non-Muslim Americans understood how dedicated these students were to community and volunteering, how kind and hardworking they were, how smart and accepting, then they might be motivated to stand up for Muslim civil rights and to speak up if they observe something like what happened at USF.
I don't know how to counter the deep-seated, widespread anti-Muslim bias that permeates our society. But I do know it's going to take a lot of us speaking up as loudly as we can to be heard over the elite institutions--media, government, etc.--that don't want speech in favor of Muslims' (and especially Palestinians') civil and human rights to be heard. And I know that personal impressions and interactions can help, as they have for LGBTQ rights, even when the prevailing media narratives are against you.
A Personal and Professional Update
My fellow bugbears, I'm sorry it's taken me longer than anticipated to get back to writing these dispatches than I anticipated before heading to the Freedom From Religion Foundation's annual convention last month. I had a great time at the convention--face-to-face events are a nice reminder that there are still good people and communities out there in these troubled times, and that most human interactions are normal enough even when current events constantly remind a bugbear like me that those with power are out to get us. At some point, you should be able to view my talk online.
When I got back to the Pacific Northwest, I found myself playing catchup on certain commitments while also fighting my depression and sometimes severe back pain. Regular readers will know I've been fighting depression for many years; who's winning at any given moment ebbs and flows. At the moment, though, I am feeling better and getting back into more of a routine, and, importantly, I have a new doctor who has increased my antidepressant dosage a little. It seems to be working.
I hope you've all had a lovely Halloween/Samhain and Thanksgiving/whatever you want to call Eat-Too-Much-With-Loved-Ones Day. Thanksgiving's colonialist baggage has bothered me for a long time, but I'll take a day set aside for late fall feasting and good company. My found family had a nice little celebration here; I made the mashed potatoes and stuffing (if you're wondering, traditional Midwestern bread stuffing jazzed up into a sweet and savory dish with dried apricots, dried cranberries, sautéed apples, and pecans is my go-to; with respect to the seasoning, you keep the thyme but dump the sage). My stuffing is always a hit.
Anyway, I'll catch you one or two more times this month before going silent until after the New Year. As always, thanks for reading, and I'd love to get your feedback in the comments or on Bluesky!
The Bugbear Dispatch extends a special thanks to our founding subscribers Jody, Ryan Boren, Katie in Seattle, Kel, Roslyn Reid, Rob B. and anonymous for their generous financial support of this publication.
