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The Curious Case of the Racial Muslim [EU Scream]

Legal scholar Sahar Aziz says people who identify as Muslim are often perceived in racial terms, like Black and Brown people, in White-dominated societies. That makes Muslims on both sides of the Atlantic the subject of similar forms of racism. She also says protecting observant Muslims in Europe may be more difficult than in the United States, where religious observance is more commonplace. In this episode: Sahar Aziz in conversation with the journalist and think tanker Shada Islam. Listen to the podcast here. Purchase your copy of the… Continue reading

Abortion, Race and Religion in Post-Roe America [CSRR]

The US Supreme Court's reversal of Roe v. Wade threatens the bodily autonomy of women across the country. Continue reading

Twentieth Anniversary of 9/11 Essays [Mich. J. Race & Law]

The Michigan Journal of Race and the Law published a special volume on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks that featured articles by leading scholars on national security, immigration, criminal law, and race. Sahar Aziz’s article State Sponsored Radicalization conducts a comprehensive review of the literature that rebukes the dominant (fallacious) government narrative about ‘radicalization’ to terrorism. Not only are there no empirically based criteria for predicting who is more likely to engage in politically motivated violence, but increased religiosity of Muslims has no correlation to terrorist tendencies. And… Continue reading

Impact of Global Competition on Democracy and Human Rights in the Middle East [Arab Center]

Professor Sahar Aziz contributed her expertise on human rights in the Middle East during the Arab Center’s sixth annual conference on the panel Competition on Democracy and Human Rights in the Middle East. The conference addressed developments in US policy with regard to human rights and democracy, the role of Russia and China in empowering totalitarian regimes and representing a new axis of authoritarianism, the impact of US disengagement and growing Russian and Chinese power projections on human rights, the role of international mechanisms like UN resolutions and Human… Continue reading

France burkini ban challenged in country’s top court [The Independent]

France’s top court is set to deliver a ruling on the controversial burkini ban after hearing an appeal by the city of Grenoble to allow the bathing suit in public pools. Grenoble formally allowed women to wear the full-length swimwear in state pools in May, 10 years after a local ban on the burkini was introduced in several French cities. But not without a grim warning from the interior minister that he would work to block the move. The decision, said minister Gérald Darmanin, was an “unacceptable community provocation,… Continue reading

National Conference on Race and Ethnicity 2022 [NCORE]

Sahar Aziz presented her groundbreaking book The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes Religious Freedom at the 2022 Annual National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in Portland, Oregon. Engaging with an audience of university administrators, faculty and students committed to diversity, equity and inclusion, Professor Aziz explained the historical and contemporary factors contributing to the racialization of Muslim identity, and consequent civil rights violations. Comparing discrimination against immigrant Muslims with the prejudicial treatment of Jews, Catholics, Mormons, and African American Muslims during the twentieth century, Professor Aziz explored the gap between… Continue reading

Racing Religion [NYU Center for Race, Inequality and the Law]

In her lecture Racing Religion, hosted by the NYU Center for Race, Inequality and the Law, Sahar Aziz explains how the racialization of Muslims, Jews, and Catholics are animated by similar political and social factors. Understanding the past is critical for eliminating inter-generational, systemic racism against religious minorities. To watch the lecture, click here.… Continue reading

Where Migrants Suffered Matters at the U.S.-Mexico Border [TIME]

On March 11, as the number of Ukrainians arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border began to tick up, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a special memo advising border officials that they could, on a case-by-case basis, offer that particular group special treatment. Unlike tens of thousands of other migrants, fleeing violence in other countries, border guards could exempt Ukrainians from the public health order, Title 42. The exemption, which was first reported by CBS News, was cheered by immigrant advocates and lawmakers. But many also pointed… Continue reading

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson and America’s Moment of Racial Reckoning [Al Jazeera]

Today, the United States is experiencing a new moment of racial reckoning. A rapidly diversifying population is demanding systemic equity and meaningful access to constitutional freedoms. This transformation for the better is neither complete nor progressing without resistance. In an historic first, an African American woman, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, has been nominated to the Supreme Court. Her nomination to the highest judicial body of the nation is rightfully seen as a product of the United States’ current moment of racial reckoning. Despite being well-qualified for the position, she has baselessly been… Continue reading

Princeton School of Public and International Affairs features The Racial Muslim [Endnotes]

Freedom of religion is a constitutionally protected right in the religion clause of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. By definition, this should reflect America’s diversity and cover all people equally — whether Christian, Jewish, Muslim, agnostic, or atheist. In practice, however, Americans sometimes support policies that seemingly violate the civil rights of Muslims. Although the U.S. Census identifies Muslim immigrants of the Middle East and North Africa as white, they face discrimination and prejudices of being terrorists, suspicious, and violent. This paradox is the heart of “The … Continue reading

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