Professor Sahar Aziz delivered a lecture and answered audience questions about the racialization of the Israel-Hamas war, particularly by political parties in the United States. The event, titled “The Palestine Taboo: Race, Islamophobia, and Free Speech,” was the first John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics event of the year. Sept. 23.
Professor of Religion and Politics Mark Valeri from the Danforth Center introduced Aziz, who is a distinguished Professor of Law at Rutgers University Law School and the founding director of the Rutgers Center for Security, Race, and Rights. She specializes in unequal applications of freedom of speech and religious protections, specifically on college campuses and in American public life.
More than 100 students and faculty attended the event. In her speech, Aziz unpacked the dangers of racialization, highlighted the threats facing free speech, and emphasized the power of collective action as a form of education.
Aziz stressed that students can use the Israel-Hamas war protests and their participation in them as a learning experience and way to experience collective action firsthand.
“You all are so lucky to be experiencing this hardship, because it’s the best education,” Aziz said. “We could never teach you this in the classroom. You can read about the Civil Rights Movement, but you’re living the Civil Rights Movement.”
She started her lecture by dissecting racialization, which is the process where certain groups of people, religious or otherwise, come to be designated as being a part of a particular race. She focused especially on Palestinian and Muslim experiences after Oct. 7.
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