‘Punish a Muslim Day’ Backfires Spectacularly
By Elham Khatami
Punish a Muslim Day was intended to scare and encourage violence against Muslims. But it ended up uniting communities instead.
Communities throughout the United Kingdom and the United States came together on Tuesday to push back against the xenophobic anti-Muslim campaign that started in the United Kingdom and eventually spread to the United States.
The campaign first gained attention last month, when fliers and online posts threatening Muslims with hate crimes and violence first circulated among British residents. According to the BBC, several members of the parliament also received the Islamophobic letters.
Since then, the fliers trickled into the United States, with New York City officials announcing Monday that the city would see an increase in security to protect potential victims of hate crimes. Police in the United Kingdom and the United States are still investigating the letters.
Meanwhile, US and UK residents have taken matters into their own hands to support Muslims. JamillaHekmoun, who started the #ProtectAMuslimDay initiative in the United Kingdom, told BuzzFeed that the campaign aims to help people feel safe, given the uncertainty around where the letters have come from. Individuals can call a number if they feel threatened and want someone to walk or stay with them. According to BuzzFeed, more than 100 people have signed up to volunteer for the effort.
Members of Citizens UK, a social justice organization, on Tuesday gathered at the Newcastle Central Mosque to form a human chain around the building in a show of protection and unity for the Muslim community.
In New York, as part of a campaign started by community activist Debbie Almontaser, non-Muslims wore hijabs and kufis and held signs stating #WeAreAllMuslim.
On Monday, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams told a group of faith leaders that the city stands in solidarity with its Muslim residents.
“Our message must be just as loud,” Adams said, according to the New York Daily News. “Not punish a Muslim, let’s embrace a Muslim, let’s embrace a Christian, let’s embrace a person of Jewish faith, let’s embrace the diversity that this city has to offer.” – ThinkProgress
According to Alice Cuddy (Euronews) people have responded to letters calling for April 3 to be “Punish a Muslim Day” with pledges to protect and show solidarity with Muslims.
Anonymous letters sent to homes and businesses in the UK last month included a points-based system for various degrees of verbal and physical violence against Muslims.
MPs were among those to receive the letters, which later spread to the US.
But the calls for violence have been met with defiant campaigns calling for people to show solidarity with Muslims.
A spoof of the original letter calling for people to “love a Muslim” has gone viral on social media.
It tells people they can earn points from smiling at a Muslim, or buying them coffee and cake. It also encourages people to organize fundraising events for Muslims suffering in countries including Myanmar, Yemen and Syria, or to invite a Muslim colleague to your home.
An initiative has also been established calling on people to “protect a Muslim”.
Volunteers have signed up under the initiative to walk people home, or to stay on the phone with anyone concerned about violence.
“We saw Punish A Muslim Day spreading around social media and felt concerned that nothing was being done to make people feel safe,” researcher JamillaHekmoun, who co-organized the action, told Euronews.
“We've had many calls today asking if we could get volunteers to accompany females out and about and a couple just wanting to stay on the phone with us as they felt unsafe. It's been a positive response with over 100 volunteers signed up from across the country. We've also had messages of support being sent to the numbers as well as people saying they had been encouraged by our initiative to accompany their Muslim friends around today.”
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