‘Muslim-Free Zones’:

Segregation rears its ugly head in America

Rasa - They are not just in Florida or New York. ‘Muslim-Free Zones’ are almost everywhere in the United States, and they are flourishing - even though they violate the constitutional rights of American Muslims and encourage Islamophobia.

News ID: 3274

Date: 03 September 2015 - 01:43

RNA - Since 2014, a growing number of businesses across the United States have posted signs banning Muslims from their premises. These hate-filled establishments claim they are doing so following the last year (July 16) shooting deaths of five service members in Chattanooga, Tennessee. But there is more to this new phase of anti-Muslim campaign than meets the eye.

It is same hate new target. These bigoted declarations are no different than 'whites only' signs posted in businesses during a period of American history that still refuses to go away. These racist business practices have a new target, and their prejudice is only one manifestation of this specter. Racism is even aided and abetted by prosecutors in the injustice system. Its prevalence can be seen daily in the media and in polls, trending toward ever more troubling levels of antipathy toward Islam.

It is now commonplace for Muslims to be painted as a threat and vilified, even by Congress and the Senate, where Islamophobia, bigotry and racism always find their way to the ballot box. American politicians oppose Islam to win elections. They are promoters and enablers of Islamophobia, opportunistically using Islamophobic materials to advance their domestic and foreign policy agenda.

This agenda is anti-Muslim in nature but can have other objectives too. This category includes individuals seeking public office. It includes pro-Israel media outlets and lobbies that provide a “legitimizing” platform for Tel Aviv to target Muslim nations. It is also those politicians and institutions that are in a position to push back against the phenomenon but decide not to act.

The reality of anti-Muslim discrimination is well documented too. The FBI reports that some 20 percent of the victims of hate crimes are “victimized because of the anti-Islamic bias.” According to the FBI, hate crimes against Muslims escalated after the September 2001 attacks, and since then they remain more prevalent than ever.

Obstacles to freedom of religion, widespread discrimination, and anti-Muslim rhetoric in mainstream media and political discourse are an important part of the context in which these violent acts are being perpetrated. Intolerant public discourse that goes unchallenged fosters indifference to abuses committed against Muslims and promotes impunity for perpetrators.

At a time when Stanford Constitutional Law Center and many other establishments declare “there is no legal recourse for Muslim Americans,” it’s a waste of time for civil liberties, human rights organizations, faith-based groups and immigrant rights advocates to call on the Department of Justice to investigate 'Muslim-Free Zones’. There is no federal inquiry, and even if there is one, it will never determine legal action.

Under International Human Rights Law, the US government is required to take concrete action to protect the civil and universal rights of Muslim Americans. It should guarantee them the right to full and equal enjoyment of the services of any place of public accommodation - without discrimination or segregation on the ground of race, color, religion, or national origin.

Let there be no doubt: 'Muslim-Free Zones' violate The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a declaration that has been the foundation of International Human Rights Law since 1948.

The article first published on Fars News.

R111/108/C/