: Florida’s Muslim Fear Factor

At a federal civil rights advisory committee meeting on Tuesday, South Florida Muslim leaders told of fear spreading through their communities because of violence and discrimination since 9/11. The firing of University of South Florida professor Sami Al-Arian and the Florida flight schools and hideouts of suspected 9/11 hijackers are well known. But turban-wearing Sikhs also brought up the backlash they’d suffered by association. In addition, committee member Robert Ingram, an African-American Muslim, noted that immigrant Muslims were isolating themselves (“You wanted to have absolutely nothing to do with us”). Underscoring the tension was the intentional crash of a truck into a Florida mosque. The driver later claimed that he tried to join the military “to kill Muslims” but was turned down. Feel better?

Zahed Amanullah is associate editor of altmuslim.com.  He is based in London, England.