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A leading US Muslim advocacy group released on Wednesday a video urging Americans to “spread love, not Islamophobia,” in a counter effort against recent anti-Muslim tirades.
A leading US Muslim advocacy group released on Wednesday a video urging Americans to “spread love, not Islamophobia,” in a counter effort against recent anti-Muslim tirades spread by Republican presidential hopefuls and their frontrunner Donald Trump.
“Don’t let the hate get you down, because there is much more love in the world,” young Muslim says at the beginning of the short video, sent in a press release by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
It then quotes from a letter sent to CAIR by New York State Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman, who wrote: “Our nation was founded on a single, aspirational principle: ‘equal justice under law.’”
The video also includes an audio clip of a phone call received by CAIR rejecting anti-Muslim rhetoric spread by Donald Trump and other public figures.
It concludes by asking all Americans to take a stand against “hateful speech.”
“I’m an Irish Catholic and my ancestors met horrific prejudice,” a woman’s voice says.
“And I’m appalled at what Trump and others in the media are doing to fabulous Muslim Americans.”
CAIR said it “produced the video as part of a larger response to an unprecedented rise in anti-Muslim rhetoric and hate crimes following the Paris terrors attacks, the San Bernardino shootings and the Islamophobic statements of public figures like Donald Trump and Ben Carson.”
A blurb then reads: “Take a stand to say: We as Americans need to come together and denounce such hateful speech. Spread love, not Islamophobia.”
Viewers were also asked to visit www.cair.com to download the “Spread Love, Not Islamophobia” graphic and then share it on social media.
Muslims make up 1% of America’s 322 million population, according to Pew Research center.
Anti-Muslim sentiments have reached an all-time high after the rise of the so-called Islamic State, formerly known as Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
Moreover, the Republican presidential candidates, such as Donald Trump and Dr. Ben Carson, have added to increasing anti-Muslim sentiments.
Trump’s views on immigration have sparked controversy nationwide, especially his proposal to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the US.
Two weeks ago, his campaign officials removed a Muslim woman silently protesting at a Trump rally, prompting the Council on American-Islamic Relations to demand an apology from the campaign.
