Islamophobia Increases Muslim American Participation in US Politics

 Islamophobia Increases Muslim American Participation in US Politics

 

PHILADELPHIA— Sarwat Husain admits the hijab she wears sometimes draws inquiring glances in her home state of Texas. But on a flight to Orlando, Florida, the man sitting next to her gave her more attention than she was used to. “After the plane takes off, he says, 'If this window was a door, I would have pushed you out,'” she recalled with disbelief. “I looked at him and I said, 'I would have taken you with me.'” She says her response diffused the tension. “He laughed hard and said ‘Oh, you’re so funny!’

 And I said ‘Sir, what you said was not funny at all.’” This was just three weeks ago. What her seatmate did not know was Husain was on her way to Orlando to take part in the Democratic Platform Committee, the group seeking to set the agenda for the Democratic Party ahead of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. She’s the founding President of the San Antonio chapter of the Council on

 American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and is also one of the founders of the American Muslim Democratic Caucus (AMDC), a grass roots political organization, and she’s been getting more involved with the Democratic Party to help provide better representation for Muslim Americans across the country. The AMDC formed in the years after the 2001 9-11 terror attacks to respond to the hate and bigotry directed at

 the Islamic community and encourage more Muslim Americans to engage in the political process in the United States. “The fear factor was so high then,” she says. But her recent flight to Orlando reminded her the fear factor remains high, and there is still an urgency for Muslim Americans to get more involved, more visible, and more present in politics to counter rising Islamophobia.