CAIR-Philadelphia

On Fox News, “liberal” commentator Bob Beckel suggested Muslim students should now be barred from coming to the United States. Fox and Friends host Brian Kilmeade seems to believe the U.S. should implant “listening devices” in mosques around the country and Bill O’Reilly shouted down the head of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Nihad Awad, who noted the two brothers were not representative of all of Islam. With that in mind, Philadelphia Weekly caught up with Rugiatu Conteh, Outreach and Communications Director at Council on American-Islamic Relations Philadelphia, for her take on the matter.

"I think that a lot of stereotypes are that Muslims are violent or terrorists or criminals," said Rugiatu Conteh, the communications and outreach director for the Philadelphia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. When a suspect in a crime or act of terrorism is Muslim, she said, "I think for a lot of people, it kind confirms those stereotypes."

Rugiatu Conteh, outreach director for the Philadelphia office of Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), said Friday her office had not received any calls from community members or mosques reporting harassment since the Tsarnaevs' faith was made public. "But we generally don't get that in our area," she said. "People are generally tolerant in Philadelphia."

Even before the full background of bombing suspects Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, and his now deceased 26-year-old brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev have been fully reported, rumors have been swirling about their connection to Islam. A notion that is concerning to Rugiatu Conteh of the Philadelphia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). “We do tell people to be extra vigilant and to ensure that they have their eyes out and are aware of the situation,” she said. “Thankfully, we haven’t heard of any sort of incidents coming in the Muslim community in the Pennsylvania area.”