(ATLANTA, GA – 7/10/2018) The Georgia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations today applauded The Carter Center for releasing “Countering the Islamophobia Industry: Toward More Effective Strategies,” an academic publication featuring articles from experts and activists working to combat anti-Muslim bigotry in the United States and around the world, including CAIR Georgia’s executive director.
SEE: Countering the Islamophobia Industry: Toward More Effective Strategies (PDF)
In November 2017, Dr. Houda Abadi, associate director of the Conflict Resolution Center at The Carter Center, organized a two-day conference in Atlanta featuring the individuals who later contributed pieces to the journal.
The final publication includes pieces from former President Jimmy Carter, Ambassador (Ret.) Ebrahim Rasool, Dr. Hatem Bazian, Professor Khaled Beydoun, Ms. Debbie Almontaser, and Ms. Soumaya Khalifa, among others.
“We applaud Dr. Houda Abadi and her colleagues at the The Carter Center for bringing together an international collection of activists and experts to expose and counter the threat of Islamophobia,” said CAIR-Georgia executive director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, whose piece in the journal is titled, “Reducing a Threat to a Nuisance: A Holistic Strategy to Counter Islamophobia.”
In an excerpt from the paper, Mitchell wrote:
“In many ways, Islamophobia is nothing new. American Muslims are simply the latest religious minority to face a systematic campaign of bigotry and discrimination. This hazing process has happened to other communities before us, particularly Catholics, and it may happen to other communities after us.
“If the history fully repeats itself, American Muslims will eventually emerge from this period of difficulty stronger than they were before it started. However, people of good faith, of all faiths, cannot wait or hope for that outcome.
“Because Islamophobia results from a complex set of interacting factors—some domestic, some international—the only sure way to defeat Islamophobia in the long term is to address the underlying factors that inspire it.
“To that end, American Muslims must continue to defend their own civil rights, engage with their neighbors of other faiths, counter anti-Muslim hate groups, seek political empowerment at the ballot box, and push our government toward a more just and moral foreign policy.
“In doing so, American Muslims can hope to eventually reduce Islamophobia from a threat to a nuisance.”
CONTACT: Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, [email protected]