8 in 10 Americans Believe Muslims Face More Intolerance Than Any Other Group: Survey
19 June 2019Islamophobia, The United
States
Eight in ten Americans believe Muslims face more discrimination than any other
group in the U.S., according to a poll by the Pew Research Center.
82 percent of respondents said Muslims face discrimination. 80 percent of
those surveyed said blacks faced some discrimination.
Pew released the figures Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted a
video that attacked Muslim congresswoman Ilhan Omar from Minnesota.
The video was of a speech delivered by Omar in which she discussed how Muslim
Americans came to be seen as second-class citizens after the Sept. 11, 2001,
terror attacks. The president's tweet mixed in footage from the attacks with
parts of the speech.
Omar is one of the first Muslim lawmakers to be elected to Congress, alongside
Michigan's Rashida Tlaib, and has faced a flurry of attacks since she began in
office this year.
The Muslim congresswoman said she has faced more death threats since the
president posted the tweet, sparking criticism that Trump is condoning harmful
attacks against the country's own elected officials.
The survey was conducted prior to the president's tweet.
92 percent of Democrats said there is discrimination against Muslims in
America, with 75% saying there is a lot of discrimination, according to the
poll. While less Republican respondents said the same, 69%, a large majority,
agreed.
The percentage of people that think Jews face "a lot" of discrimination nearly
doubled since 2016, rising from 13% to 24%, with 64% of respondents saying
there is some discrimination against the group, according to Pew.
Race played a large factor in predicting how much discrimination a respondent
thought was happening. 73 percent of black respondents said there is "a lot"
of discrimination against blacks and 63% of Hispanics said the same about
discrimination against Hispanics.
However, among whites, it was partisanship that was the biggest factor in
deciding how they answered.
Among white Democrats and Democrat-leaning respondents, around two-thirds said
there is discrimination against blacks, while only 16% of white Republicans
and Republican-leaning respondents said the same.
The survey was conducted between March 20 and 25 and surveyed 1,503 adults.
$125 Million In Philanthropic Funds Funneled To Islamophobic Hate Groups,
CAIR Says
Over 125 million dollars were funneled to Islamophobic hate groups between the
years 2014 and 2016 under the pretext of donations to philanthropic
organizations, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said in a
report released Monday.
"Anti-Muslim bigotry is a common and widespread feature of our country's
mainstream cultural and political landscape. However, it is important to
remember that Islamophobic attitudes and policies are propagated by special
interest groups with deep sources of funding," the council said in the report.
CAIR said its researchers had found 1,096 organizations that were responsible
for funding 39 groups in the Islamophobia Network.
"The report also reveals the total revenue capacity of the Islamophobia
Network during this period to reach at least $1.5 billion," it said, adding
that the sum has been funneled into "politics, media, law enforcement,
educational institutions, lobbying groups, and a whole assortment of
industries to advance anti-Muslim and anti-Islam animus in America."
Saying that well-known Islamophobic hate groups such as ACT for America or the
Middle East Forum have benefited from the funding, CAIR added that mainstream
American philanthropic institutions were "strongly supporting" Islamophobic
entities.
"While some funds and foundations are ideologically aligned with the interests
of the Islamophobia Network, most mainstream foundations are more than likely
being exploited or used by donors who seek to anonymize their contributions to
anti-Muslim special interest groups," it said.
The council said the donations ranged from anywhere between $20 to $32
million.
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