Articles
Category: Video
Published Date
Title: State of the Union: Islamophobia in the USA
Speaker: Saeed A. Khan
Date: 22nd October 2010 at 18:45
Venue: Abrar House, 45 Crawford Place, W1H 4LP
Event details:
A candidate for governor in Tennessee is running on the notion that Islam is not a real religion and therefore deserves no constitutional protection. A planned Muslim-led interfaith center a few blocks from Ground Zero is being used as a whipping post by Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich, both who are sleazily trying to gin up support for possible presidential bids in 2012. The Oklahoma legislature passed a pre-emptive referendum banning “Shariah law” from implementation in any state judicial processes, despite no evidence of its use or request for application. It seems to be open season on taking pot shots at Muslims in America by people who vie to lead the country. But is this increase and intensification of anti-Muslim efforts an isolated phenomena coinciding with mid-term elections or is it part of a more chronic and dangerous trend?
This presentation will explore the causesof the recent spate of Islamophobia in the United States, nine years since 9/11 when it would seem there would be a reduction after such a passage of time. The state of Muslims in theUnited States will be compared to the British experience to assess commonfactors and future trajectories.
The speaker:
Saeed A. Khan is currently in the Department of History and Lecturer in the Department of Near East & Asian Studies at Wayne State University- Detroit, Michigan, where he teaches Islamic and Middle East and History, Islamic Civilizations and History of Islamic Political Thought. In addition, he is the Founder and a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Social Policy & Understanding: a Michigan-based Think Tank promoting the study and analysis of US social and domestic policy. With areas of focus including US policy, globalization, Middle East and Islamic Studies, as well as genomics and bioethics, Mr. Khan has been a contributor to several media agencies, such as C-Span, NPR, Voice of America and the National Press Club, as well as newspapers and other outlets, and is also a consultant on Islamic and Middle East affairs for the BBC. In addition, he has served as consultant to the US-Arab Economic Forum. Most recently, Mr. Khan has founded the Center for the Study of Trans-Atlantic Diasporas, a think tank and policy center examining and comparing the condition of ethnic immigrant groups in North America and Europe.