As a Chinese-American graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and an Army Chaplain in Guantanamo Bay, James Yusuf Yee is not the typical person one may envision as a Muslim.
On Thursday night, Yee was brought to campus by the Northwestern Muslim-cultural Students Association for the event “Against Islamophobia.”
“Islamophobia is a kind of xenophobia that’s going on in the United States and throughout the world,” said Dulce Acosta-Licea, external relations vice president for McSA.. “It is a lack of understanding for Muslims, this population which some people think is foreign or strange, and as a result there are many misconceptions.”
Before an audience of about 300 people in Ryan Auditorium, Yee discussed his experiences fighting faith-based stereotypes. While at Guantanamo Bay, Yee was falsely accused of aiding the Taliban and Al-Qaeda then imprisoned for 76 days in September 2003. Profiling Muslims for terrorism or other crimes contributes to Islamophobia, he said.
“Profiling is a violation of national standards against racial discrimination,” Yee said. “It is not something that our country was founded on.”
Miles Drummond said the prevalence of profiling surprised him.
“It opened my eyes to see what policy changes should happen,” the Communication senior said.
Islamic scholar Maulana Yusuf Abdullah also delivered an address. A teacher of several Islamic topics and a frequent lecturer at universities, Abdullah spoke on the background and causes of Islamophobia. In a post 9/11 era, Americans have wrongfully attributed violence to Islam and the teachings of the Qur’an, he said.
“We went from Osama Bin Laden, someone who was politically motivated, not religiously driven, and this evolved into blaming Islam,” Abdullah said.
This has caused distorted views of Islam as a religion, and, as a result, the Muslim population has been demonized, he said.
“This hysteria is not right,” Abdullah said. “Muslims and others have to come together and try to gain understanding of each other, and create a platform to speak against this unchecked fear against Islam and Muslims that is completely false.”
Yee offered solutions for combatting Islamophobia.
“Muslims should be active and engaged, and to be role models not just for people within our own community, but for others,” he said. “The other solution is proper education on the part of non-Muslims, and the academic arena is the perfect place to do that.”
Kenny Yeo said the event made him feel the injustices Muslims face due to Islamophobia and faith-targeted profiling.
“It was really interesting because we usually just get a point of view from the Western side,” the Weinberg freshman said.
Acosta-Licea said that McSA intended for the event to provoke discussion and to encourage others to seek answers to their questions about Islam.
“There’s more to Islam than meets the eye,” Acosta-Licea said. “I believe (this talk) was a great way for people to get to understand Islam more as a religion than as a terrorist organization.”
Source: Daily Northwestern
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