In her op-ed for Vox, former Brookings researcher Jennifer Williams makes the point that though Islamophobia is finally a subject for national attention, many of the candidates running for president seem to be challenging the notion of this very real and urgent crisis.
Williams writes that though candidates like Sen. Marco Rubio say that Muslim Americans should be treated with respect there seems to be an added inference ‘so that they can help US law enforcement in combating terrorism.’
She also cites Hillary Clinton who said in the January 17th debate, “We’ve got to recognize our first line of defense against lone wolf attacks is among Muslim Americans…. We need to be reaching out and unifying our country against terrorist attacks and lone wolves, and working with Muslim Americans.”
“[This] is essentially telling Americans, ‘Be nice to Muslim Americans or they won’t tell us about terrorist attacks,’ pens Williams. She also makes the point that “Muslim Americans will work to prevent terrorist attacks and counter extremism in our own communities regardless of whether you’re nice to us, because we’re good Americans and because we want to stop terrorists from carrying out attacks in our name just as much as if not more than anyone else.”
Citing Gallup: “Since 9/11, the Muslim-American community has helped security and law enforcement officials prevent nearly two of every five al Qaeda terrorist plots threatening the United States.” Gallup also found that “tips from the Muslim-American community are the largest single source of initial information to authorities about these few plots.”
