Total requests for help and reports of bias represent 172 percent increase over same period in the previous year
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today released new civil rights data showing that it has received a “staggering” 2,171 complaints over the past 57 days amid an ongoing wave of anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian hate.
In the eight weeks from Oct. 7 to Dec. 2, CAIR’s national headquarters and chapters received a total of 2,171 requests for help and reports of bias, which is a 172 percent increase over a similar two-month period the previous year.
“It’s staggering to see this kind of spike in anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian hate in less than two months,” said CAIR Research and Advocacy Director Corey Saylor. “Far too many people and institutions have spent the past two months weaponizing Islamophobia and anti-Arab bias to both justify the ongoing violence against Palestinians in Gaza and silence supporters of Palestinian human rights here in America.”
“From Burlington to Chicago to DC and elsewhere, innocent Americans are suffering the consequences of this wave of bigotry,” said CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad. “Until our nation stops the violence in Gaza and rejects bigotry here in America, we fear that both Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism will continue to spin out of control.”
At the national headquarters alone, First Amendment violations of an individual’s right to free speech and expression remain the top reported case type (33.94%) since our last data release and are a growth category (63 percent increase in the last four weeks of the conflict over the first four weeks).
This was followed by employment (22.38% reports), hate crimes and hate speech (16.97% reports) and education and bullying (14.08% reports). The order of these incident types has not changed since CAIR’s initial one-month update.
Previously, CAIR reported that in the four weeks from Oct. 7 to Nov. 4, CAIR’s national headquarters and chapters received a total of 1,283 requests for help and reports of bias, which at the time represented a 216 percent increase over the previous year.
In an average 57-day period in 2022, CAIR received 798 complaints. People submitting complaints encompass a wide variety of Americans, including public school and college students, doctors and other workers, protestors, and mosques. This reflects a reality of the coalition opposing Israeli apartheid and occupation, which includes people of the Jewish, Muslim, and Christian faiths, and a multitude of ethnicities.
In April, CAIR reported tracking a 23 percent drop in complaints reported to the organization in 2022 as compared to 2021. This was the first time we had seen a drop since CAIR started reporting on complaints in 1995. In 2022, CAIR received a total of 5,156 complaints nationwide.
SEE: 2023 Civil Rights Report Progress in the Shadow of Prejudice
[NOTE TO JOURNALISTS: In addition to the complaints CAIR directly receives, the civil rights organization has been tracking publicly reported incidents of bias directed at the Muslim or Palestinian communities. CAIR can provide mainstream media with an informal sampling of these reports. Email csaylor@cair.com.]
SEE: CAIR, Palestinian Woman Threatened with ‘Beheading’ on DC Metro Condemn Police Inaction
Video: CAIR’s Zainab Chaudry Interviewed on Shooting of 3 Palestinian Students in Vermont
Officials with the Idara Jaferia Islamic Center in Burtonsville, Maryland, say police came to the mosque during Friday congregational prayers (Jummah) and said someone had called in a bomb threat. The mosque was evacuated.
The former deputy director of the United States Department of State’s Office of Israel and Palestinian Affairs was captured on video making anti-Muslim remarks against an Egyptian Muslim street vendor in New York City. The former official said: “If we killed 4,000 Palestinian kids, you know what? It wasn’t enough.”
VIDEO: Arrest of Former Obama Official for Anti-Muslim, Anti-Palestinian Rants Comes During Spike in Hate
During a debate on a resolution introduced by Florida state Rep. Angie Nixon (D-Jacksonville) calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages, she posed the question, “We are at 10,000 dead Palestinians, how many will be enough?” Rep. Michelle Salzman (R- Escambia County) allegedly interrupted her, saying, “All of them.”
SEE: Maryland mosque evacuated due to bomb threat, CAIR calling for investigation
“The alarming, nationwide increase in anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian bigotry over the past two months is deeply concerning, said CAIR-SFBA Executive Director Zahra Billoo. “We must also confront the stark reality that our region—the progressive Bay Area—is not immune to this trend. From the hit-and-run of a Stanford student to the assault of young adults on a beach in Sand City to a young girl walking home from school in San Francisco, innocent Americans are suffering the consequences of this hate. We must stand firm against this rising wave of bigotry and reject hate in all its forms.”
SEE: Report of Hit-and-Run at Stanford Prompts Hate Crime Inquiry
SEE: Muslim girl, 12, allegedly assaulted by classmates after school in SF