By Sumaia MasoomIt’s not often that I get asked to write basically the same article again, but it’s also not often that a white supremacist in Office decides to repeat the same, already-debunked lie over and over again. I am, of course, referring to the latest blatant falsehood spread by Donald Trump. …pig’s blood isn’t some secret…
By Sumaia MasoomIt can be easy as a Muslim in today’s America to fall into the trap of tunnel vision on policy analysis, and that’s not completely unwarranted – we absolutely should be concerned and focusing on protecting our civil liberties in the face of sham counterterrorism operations and threats to human rights like the Muslim Ban…
By Sumaia MasoomEvery time you think it’s already bad, the State of the Union under the Trump Administration somehow manages to get worse. In the direct aftermath of a wild White House administrative staff shakeup, disgusting immigration policy promotion, and a scolding by even the Boy Scouts, President Donald Trump managed to sink even lower by appearing…
By Sumaia MasoomLegislative efforts to condemn and criminalize the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement for Palestinian liberation are nothing new, but a particularly concerning effort emerging from the U.S. Senate is attracting attention from all sides. The Israel Anti-Boycott Act (S. 720), sponsored by Sens. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Rob Portman (R-OH), would impose some of…
By Sumaia MasoomAs the old Trump Administration proverb goes, “If at first you don’t succeed, fail, fail again.” Okay, so that might not actually be a proverb, but it should be: the blatantly racist and bigoted Trump Administration is back at it again with the Muslim Ban. The difference this time? The smokescreen is gone and Trump…
By Sumaia MasoomDalia Mogahed and the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding released the findings from the 2017 American Muslim Poll. The annual poll surveyed 1,140 people — 800 Muslims and 340 Jews — about the election (yikes), domestic violence (about the same across the board), religious discrimination (definitely not the same across the board) and the…
By Sumaia MasoomAfter waiting in line for five hours (which was relatively tame compared to some people’s 14), my friends and I, along with thousands of other Americans, had the opportunity to see President Barack Obama’s Farewell Address at McCormick Place in Chicago earlier this week. And was it a speech. In his nearly hour-long address, the…
By Sumaia MasoomThis is a developing story. At least five people were killed and eight wounded in a shooting at the Fort Lauderdale International Airport early Friday afternoon. The number of fatalities could potentially rise. Federal law enforcement officials confirmed that they were on the scene and had a lone suspect alive and in custody. The shooting…
By Sumaia MasoomFollowing President Obama’s dismantling of the National Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS) program in December, eight Senate Democrats and Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) have now become the latest to join the fight against President-elect Donald Trump’s plans to build and maintain a Muslim registry. While this bill promotes pluralistic ideals, whether this bill actually passes or…
By Sumaia MasoomOn Wednesday, Secretary of State John Kerry issued a comparatively fiery condemnation of the Israeli Occupation of Palestine — in what may have been the Obama Administration’s strongest showing in support of Palestinians yet. Kerry started by assuring Israel that it still had the U.S.’s respect, but held that “Friends need to tell each other…
By Sumaia Masoom(Above is a map of the anti-Muslim attacks and instances of Islamophobic hate speech since August 6, 2015, the date of the first debate of this election cycle.) Earlier this year, we posted the first part of our list of Islamophobic attacks, compiled from sources such as The Huffington Post’s Islamophobia tracker, CAIR, and #HateHurts….
By Sumaia MasoomThe post-election apocalypse has involved a long search for silver linings, but today Muslim Americans finally got a big break when the Obama administration announced that it is ending the highly controversial and discriminatory National Security Entry-Exit Registration Systems (NSEERS) program. A statement from the Department of Homeland Security said that the removal of the…
By Sumaia MasoomWhether or not YouTube star Adam Saleh’s story about being kicked off a Delta flight yesterday morning after speaking Arabic on a phone call to his mother turns out to be true, flying while even looking Muslim is no joke. Here are 16 other times Muslims and those mistaken as Muslims were stopped by other airlines in…
By Sumaia MasoomAs the genocide (and that is exactly what it is — genocide) in Syria continues to unfold at a level worse than ever before, thousands of people in neighboring Turkey protested at the Cilvegozu gate on the Turkish side of the border. The location wasn’t at all by chance — Cilvegozu has become a key…
By Sumaia MasoomFollowing two straight years of bombings by Saudi Arabia and its American allies, Yemen is on the verge of fighting a new aggressor: famine. Although famine has not been officially declared, more than half of the country’s population of 28 million, is “food insecure,” while 7 million are without food at all; UNICEF, the United…
