With the rise of Islamophobia and the worrisome Muslim Ban, MTV reports that young Muslim Americans refuse to take “these targeted acts” lying down. Nazra Amin, a student at George Washington University, is a member of the Muslim Youth Leadership Council and recently help launch the social media campaign #MuslimAnd which encouraged American Muslims (and supporters) to engage in social media with messages and photos emphasizing the ways in which being Muslim is an important part of their identity.
Ms. Amin talks to MTV about the campaign. Here are some snippets:
– The Muslim Youth Leadership Council started with a retreat, where we created a space where all of our identities could intersect… This campaign was launched in retaliation to the Muslim Ban. The most recent Muslim Ban was scheduled to take effect on October 18, so our campaign launched on that day.
– A lot of people think Muslims are one dimensional. The idea of this campaign is to get across the message that you can be Muslim and anything you want to be. Having multiple identities isn’t contradictory nor is it inherently wrong. It’s a good way to bring humanity back to a community that has been demonized for so long.
– We wanted to show people that we belong here, we’re not some outside, opposing threat. Having spaces like this is super important so Muslim people can know that there are allies saying this isn’t right — that other people hear us and are there for us.
– In the #MuslimAnd campaign, there was an option for people who weren’t necessarily Muslim but stood in solidarity with us. So some people said things like, ‘As an immigrant, I stand with Muslims.’
