Dickinson College to Host Talk on Race and Religious Freedom

Middle East and legal studies scholar Sahar Aziz will deliver the annual Wesley Lecture at Dickinson. The talk, “The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashed Religious Freedom,” will take place Thursday, Feb. 24, at 7 p.m. in the Anita Tuvin Schlechter (ATS) Auditorium. It is free and open to the public. Well-fitting masks are required, and N95 or KN95 masks are strongly recommended. The lecture will also be available on a YouTube livestream. Aziz is a professor of law, chancellor’s social justice scholar and Middle East and legal… Continue reading “Dickinson College to Host Talk on Race and Religious Freedom”

The U.S. census sees Middle Eastern and North African people as white. Many don’t [NPR]

The complicated relationship many people with MENA origins have with whiteness is entangled with a naturalization system in the U.S. that, until 1952, imposed racial restrictions on which immigrants could become citizens. First arriving in large numbers in the late 1800s, the earliest generations of immigrants from the Middle East and North Africa saw whiteness as the path towards claiming full rights in their new country. There were several court cases where Syrian immigrants emphasized their Christianity because it was considered a European religion and, therefore, a marker of whiteness,… Continue reading “The U.S. census sees Middle Eastern and North African people as white. Many don’t [NPR]”

The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes Religious Freedom [UC Berkeley]

The University of Berkeley’s Center for the Study of Religion hosted Rutgers Law Professor and Chancellor’s Social Justice Scholar, Sahar Aziz, for a keynote lecture on her new book The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes Religious Freedom.” Why does a country with religious liberty enmeshed in its legal and social structures produce such overt prejudice and discrimination against Muslims? Sahar Aziz’s groundbreaking book demonstrates how race and religion intersect to create what she calls the Racial Muslim. Comparing discrimination against immigrant Muslims with the prejudicial treatment of Jews, Catholics,… Continue reading “The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes Religious Freedom [UC Berkeley]”

Sahar Aziz Presents “The Racial Muslim” [UC Hastings School of Law]

The Center for Racial and Economic Justice and Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly welcome Professor of Law and Chancellor’s Social Justice Scholar, Sahar Aziz, in conversation with Professor Evelyn Rangel-Medina, to discuss her new book, The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes Religious Freedom, which explores the racialization of religion in the United States. Muslims have experienced a long history of exclusion and discrimination in the United States. For example, Muslims were formally ineligible for U.S. citizenship, which was historically reserved only for “free white persons.” Professor Aziz examines… Continue reading “Sahar Aziz Presents “The Racial Muslim” [UC Hastings School of Law]”

US Muslims react to Biden’s nomination of first Muslim woman to be federal judge [Middle East Eye]

“Nusrat Choudhury is representative of plaintiffs who bring civil rights cases. She tends to sue the government, advocating against national security policies and practices. And that is quite different in terms of how she has worked with the law and has worked to ensure that the law provides equal protection to everyone.” One-sided view Government lawyers and former lawyers for large companies are highly overrepresented in the judiciary, she explained, which has caused significant concern within the legal profession that the judiciary has a one-sided view of the efficacy of… Continue reading “US Muslims react to Biden’s nomination of first Muslim woman to be federal judge [Middle East Eye]”

The Hypocrisy of American Islamophobia [The Nation]

Consider now the treatment that the very same agencies offered distinctly inoffensive Muslim Americans. Rutgers law professor Sahar Aziz has argued that many white Americans see Muslims not merely as a religious group but as a racial one and have placed them on the nethermost rung of this country’s ethnic hierarchy. Muslim Americans are regularly, for instance, profiled at airports and subjected to long interrogations. Over many years, the New York City Police Department gathered intelligence on more than 250 mosques and student groups. The FBI even put field officers in mosques… Continue reading “The Hypocrisy of American Islamophobia [The Nation]”

The Racial Muslim with Sahar Aziz [American Muslim Project]

Season 2 of American Muslim Project kicks off with Sahar Aziz, Professor of Law and Chancellor’s Social Justice Scholar at Rutgers University Law School.  She is also the founding director of the interdisciplinary Rutgers Center for Security, Race, and Rights. She joins AMP to talk about her new book, “The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes Religious Freedom.”… Continue reading “The Racial Muslim with Sahar Aziz [American Muslim Project]”