To date, about 40% of the people seeking legal assistance from our office complain of some form of harassment or discrimination in the workplace. Accordingly, several of my current clients have experienced various forms of workplace discrimination, including three different people in various stages of legal action against their current or former employer based on their allegations of religious discrimination and/or harassment.

Employment discrimination is one of the persistent ways bigotry and xenophobia impacts everyday people. Roughly 40% of the people seeking legal assistant from our office call to complain of some form of harassment or discrimination in the workplace. To that end, I am presently representing three different people in various stages of legal action against their current or former employer based on their allegations of religious discrimination and/or harassment.

On Tuesday December 10, 2019, Jacob and I attended a film screening and faith summit entitled Just Mercy Faith Summit. The summit, hosted by Eastern University, convened faith leaders, civil servants, and elected officials who desire to address inequities in the nation’s criminal justice system. It was inspired by the film Just Mercy (a film adaptation of the best-selling book by Bryan Stevenson of the same name)…

Earlier this week, a federal judge ruled that the FBI’s watchlist of “known and suspected terrorists” violates the constitutional rights of US citizens placed in the database. Judge Anthony Trenga, a United States District Judge of the Eastern District of Virginia, ruled the federal government has failed to honor constitutional rights and liberties for individuals placed on a “watchlist” without notice and opportunity for the individuals to challenge that status in his decision for the case Elhady v. Kable.

As we have remarked before, the United States continues to witness a spike in Islamophobia, which has become exacerbated by the brazen bigotry and xenophobia of the present presidential administration. While various outlets like Newsweek and The Washington Post each have reported on this heinous rise in hate targeting Muslims, I can personally attest to this increase firsthand based on the numerous complaints I routinely field as the Muslim community suffers from the anguish and anxiety caused by the implications of increased harassment and discrimination.