FEAR THE MUSLIM CAB-DRIVER As evidenced by the money spent in the past few years according to the CAIR report, Islamophobia as a tactic has proven to be a useful resource in achieving political means. We’ve seen it influence legislative circles in which mostly right leaning states have introduced anti-Sharia legislation, covering more than 30 states and eighty local legislatures. A key example occurred recently in Arizona over the introduction of a controversial legislation, SB 1062 or the ominously titled, “religious liberty bill.” Arizona is known as a hotbed of controversial legislation and rightwing activity, as evidenced by bills such as
Apparently, all Muslims are discriminatory cab drivers. “What if a Muslim cab driver refused to transport a single, female passenger?” “What if a Muslim baker refused to make a bacon cake?” Bacon cake? Really? At least they moved on from the cab driver scenario and let us open a bakery. Such scenarios began being plastered on news media networks nationwide, including “left-center” CNN. Although Muslims, let alone Arizona Muslims (less than 1 percent of the population), had absolutely nothing to do with the introduction of this ludicrous,
ALTHOUGH MANY OF THE OVERT FORMS OF BIGOTRY ARE COMING FROM THE FAR RIGHT, THE FACT IS THAT LATENT FORMS OF BIAS ARE JUST AS DANGEROUS. SB 1070 (which would have allowed police to racially profile those perceived to be undocumented immigrants) and HB 2352 (the “anti-sharia bill” which passed in 2011). SB 1062 brought Arizona national attention in a negative light. Although the law was being framed as a religious liberty bill, the focus of the proposed legislation would have allowed a business owner to refuse service to homosexuals. Arizona’s legislative nightmares have made the state a laughing stock in the news media. As the national conversation clearly highlighted the discriminatory nature of this bill, and the wrongheadedness of introducing such legislation, it became clear to many of the sponsors (all white conservative Christians) that this bill would have negative impact on the state. When you become a laughing stock, it is less likely that people will want to come to your state and spend money. In Arizona’s case, this meant the possibility of losing the Super Bowl next year, along with major companies, such as Apple withdrawing its planned expansion in the state. Lawmakers were in a state of panic and needed an out. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, the doomsday scenario started being posed by media outlets — left and right alike. “What if a Muslim cab driver decided they would not transport a customer with a dog?” “What if a Muslim cab driver refused to transport a passenger to a Hindu temple?” ISLAMIC HORIZONS MAY/JUNE 2014
discriminatory bill, we found ourselves at the epicenter of the reasoning as to why the bill was wrong. The discussion got so out of hand, Slate covered the silliness making the claim that, “if you want to defeat a piece of legislation, then just find a way to introduce Muslims into the scenario.” The Slate article also pointed out that the original source of this Islamophobic meme didn’t emanate from right-wing talk radio or some fringe blogger. It started with the “socially progressive,” but hawkish, foreign policy-wise, Anti-Defamation League. The group, which prides itself in fighting hate, testified in front of the Arizona legislature to defeat the bill, which should be commended. However, they used the “Muslim cab driver” scenario in their testimony, which was reprehensible because it painted Muslims as abusers of “religious freedom” in this country. After CAIR released a statement condemning the ADL for its ludicrous usage of Islamophobia to achieve political means, many media outlets responded with similar disgust. One of the interesting responses, however, came from a writer from the left leaning Phoenix New Times. The reporter, who was an opponent of the “religious freedom bill,” was taken aback that CAIR had the audacity to criticize the ADL for its testimony. The reporter decided to berate this author, saying, “well, at least the tactic worked in helping shoot down
the bill.” In essence, he was saying that the introduction of the Islamophobic meme was a means to an end, and it worked. So much for “journalistic integrity.”
WAIT, YOU’RE SPYING ON US TOO? Examine the case of the New York Police Department’s blanket surveillance of the Muslim community, including mosques, Muslim-owned restaurants and various student groups. In the direct aftermath of these revelations, the Muslim community was rightfully up in arms at the clear violation of civil rights. That did not tell the story about the perceptions of this program in the rest of the country — a Quinnipiac Poll showed most Americans favored this blanket surveillance program. This reflected a cognitive dissonance, allowing a group of Americans to be singled out because they are perceived as being an overall threat. That was in 2011. Now fast forward to 2014. In the aftermath of the Edward Snowden revelations that the NSA was conducting blanket surveillance and collecting data of all Americans. The poll numbers have now shifted drastically. Now, nearly three-quarters of Americans oppose blanket surveillance, according to a recent Pew study. The perceptions of these violations clearly changed when the respondents felt as though their rights were being affected as well, rather than that of only Muslims. In fact, “progressive” elected officials, such as Senator Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.), were staunch supporters of the blanket surveillance and collection of data before finding out that even Feinstein was targeted by the program. These scenarios clearly highlight that eradicating anti-Islam sentiment or feelings is a long term issue. Although many of the overt forms of bigotry are coming from the far right, the fact is that latent forms of bias are just as dangerous. These feelings have a tendency to permeate a wider segment of society, as opposed to the fringe nature of “traditional Islamophobia.” While there is slight improvement in marginalizing far-right hate, there is still a massive challenge in curtailing the quieter, more normalized version.
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Imraan Siddiqi, a writer, entrepreneur and chairman of CAIRArizona, has been featured on SuhaibWebb.com, Patheos, CounterPunch, Dallas Morning News and The Oregonian. He also writes the blog Stop Islamophobia Now.
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