{"id":3340,"date":"2022-05-06T10:40:45","date_gmt":"2022-05-06T14:40:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pa.cair.com\/pitt\/?p=3340"},"modified":"2022-05-06T10:44:14","modified_gmt":"2022-05-06T14:44:14","slug":"muslim-gains-in-political-life-slow-unsteady","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pa.cair.com\/pitt\/muslim-gains-in-political-life-slow-unsteady\/","title":{"rendered":"Muslim gains in political life slow, unsteady"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Muslim gains in political life slow, unsteady<\/h4><\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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By: Anthony Moretti<\/strong><\/p>

February 2022<\/p>

News out of the United Kingdom and the United States over the past few days has served as reminders of how far Muslims must go in order to be fully accepted into public political life.<\/p>

<\/p>

In the UK, Nusrat Ghani, a Conservative Minister of Parliament, claims she was booted as transportation minister in 2020 because she\u2019s Muslim. In\u00a0an interview with a British newspaper<\/a>, she said her \u201cMuslimness\u201d was one of the reasons she had lost her post. In an even more provocative statement, Ghani added she was told she was \u201cmaking colleagues uncomfortable.\u201d An internal investigation has begun, though it\u2019s unclear what will result from it.\u00a0<\/p>

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We shouldn\u2019t be surprised by Ghani\u2019s accusations against her political allies.\u00a0\u00a0According to the Guardian<\/a>, which did not conduct the interview with her, 40 Conservative politicians throughout the UK had \u201cshared or endorsed racist inflammatory Facebook posts\u201d throughout 2019.\u00a0<\/p>

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There\u2019s been substantive research about the anti-Islamic and anti-Muslim discourse involving European politicians. In\u00a0one such study<\/a>, published in the European Journal of Social Psychology, Katarina Pettersson explored the sanctions leveled against three far-right Finnish politicians for their vile rhetoric from a few years ago against the Prophet Mohammed and Muslim girls, while also aligning with the trope that Muslims are the only ones who commit acts of terror. Pettersson found that the trio were successful in framing themselves as \u201cbrave defender(s) of the nation and its people.\u201d Therefore, despite the legal problems they faced, only one of the three ultimately faced expulsion from her political party.\u00a0<\/p>

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The situation for American Muslim politicians also demands scrutiny. There are currently only three Muslims in the U.S. Congress; Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Democrat from Minnesota, is the most prominent largely because she\u2019s regularly subjected to hate speech from inside and outside political circles.\u00a0<\/p>

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A few days ago, a leading Republican, Kevin McCarthy, said if his party takes over control of the House of Representatives in 2023 and he becomes Speaker of the House then\u00a0he will seek to remove Rep. Omar from the committee assignments<\/a>\u00a0she currently holds.<\/p>

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When asked why, Rep. McCarthy said, \u201cIlhan Omar should not be serving on\u201d the Foreign Affairs Committee apparently because she once criticized pro-Israeli lobbying groups. Granted, both Republicans and Democrats sharply criticized her for her remarks, but Rep. McCarthy is now targeting Rep. Omar simply because she\u2019s Muslim.<\/p>

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Retribution also must be considered a factor; remember, it was roughly a year ago that Democrats stripped Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia, from her committee spots because of her previous support for nonsensical conspiracy theories. Greene apparently didn\u2019t learn her lesson because late in 2021\u00a0Muslim Advocates condemned her<\/a>\u00a0for a series of tweets about Muslims.\u00a0<\/p>

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Muslim Advocates also noted that before she was elected, \u201cGreene visited the Capitol and tried to force Reps. Omar and Rashida Tlaib to\u00a0re-swear their oaths<\/a>\u00a0of office on a Bible instead of a Quran.\u201d<\/p>

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These assaults on Muslim politicians in two countries are important reminders that Muslims remain \u201cthe other\u201d in the minds of too many people inside and outside the halls of power. We who refuse to accept such labels must offer consistent support for such politicians, no matter the party to which they belong. Yes, the political positions they hold and the votes they cast are fair game for review and criticism, but none of us can stay silent when personal attacks \u2013 based solely on the politician\u2019s faith \u2013 take place.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tMuslim gains in political life slow, unsteady\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t
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Muslim gains in political life slow, unsteady By: Anthony Moretti February 2022 News out of the United Kingdom and the United States over the past few days has served as reminders of how far Muslims must go in order to be fully accepted into public political life. In the UK,<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\tRead More \u00bb\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Silence speaks louder than words By: Anthony Moretti January 2022 Perhaps the tide is turning. But even if it is, all of us who believe that anti-Muslim rhetoric and actions are wrong must remain vigilant. A couple of months ago, the FBI released its Hate Crimes Statistics report for 2020.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\tRead More \u00bb\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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In Praise of Sea-Change By Jacob Bender, CAIR-Philadelphia Executive Director andChristine Mohamed, CAIR-Pittsburgh Executive Director If you have not already seen it, we urge all of you to watch\u00a0the speech by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the House of Representatives, in which she responded to a verbal assault by Rep. Ted<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\tRead More \u00bb\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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How Can We Establish Peaceful Communities? by Iman Ahmad The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is believed to be one of the most influential people in history. He was known for his kindness, patience, and leadership skills. One of his main attributes was the way he treated others. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) respect<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\tRead More \u00bb\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tYouth Essay Winner- Ayah Sabil\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t
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Applying Respect to my Life by Ayah Sabil Prophet Muhammad was the perfect person. He was the perfect leader, husband, and friend to those around him. In the sunnah of our prophet it is clearly recorded how he treated everyone with respect and we can definitely learn a lot from<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\tRead More \u00bb\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The Assets of our Manual by Yasseen Sabil Most complex ideas or systems often come with directions of some kind. If you get any expensive watch it will come with a manual from the watchmaker. If you get a bed from IKEA it will come with directions on how you<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\tRead More \u00bb\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\tChristine Mohamed\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\tMay 13, 2020\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Muslim gains in political life slow, unsteady By: Anthony Moretti February 2022 News out of the United Kingdom and the United States over the past few days has served as reminders of how far Muslims must go in order to be fully accepted into public political life. In the UK, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":1575,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":"","_tec_slr_enabled":"","_tec_slr_layout":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"ticketed":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pa.cair.com\/pitt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pa.cair.com\/pitt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pa.cair.com\/pitt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pa.cair.com\/pitt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pa.cair.com\/pitt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3340"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/pa.cair.com\/pitt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3340\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3343,"href":"https:\/\/pa.cair.com\/pitt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3340\/revisions\/3343"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pa.cair.com\/pitt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pa.cair.com\/pitt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pa.cair.com\/pitt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pa.cair.com\/pitt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}