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]”

Roundtable Discussion on How to Heal From Racial Trauma in the Workplace [AALS]

On January 5, 2022, Sahar Aziz joined an expert roundtable at the Association of American Law Schools to discuss how the myriad forms of discrimination, ranging from microaggressions to racial slurs, experienced by women impact their careers and mental health. Professor Aziz offered insights based on her research about the triple bind faced by Muslim women, published in her article Coercive Assimilationism: The Perils of Muslim Women’s Identity Performance in the Workplace.… Continue reading “Roundtable Discussion on How to Heal From Racial Trauma in the Workplace [AALS]”

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, Mormons, and African American Muslims during the twentieth century, Aziz explores the gap between America’s aspiration for and fulfillment of religious freedom. With America’s demographics rapidly changing from a majority white Protestant nation to a multiracial, multireligious society,… Continue reading “The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes Religious Freedom”

The Troubling Consequences of Seeing Muslims as a Racial Group [TIME Magazine]

Sahar Aziz spoke with TIME Magazine about the historical roots of Islamophobia in the U.S., the effects of viewing Muslims as a “suspect race” and the significance of the hateful comments recently made by Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colorado) about Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota). TIME: There’s an interesting dichotomy you repeatedly describe in the book—that the same people defending religious freedoms for Christians also support violating the civil rights of Muslims through policies that discriminate against them, like intrusive surveillance measures and the ‘Muslim ban.’ You also write about how the… Continue reading “The Troubling Consequences of Seeing Muslims as a Racial Group [TIME Magazine]”