(CHINA DAILY) Editor’s Note: While claiming to be the sole defender of human rights, including the rights of Muslims, around the world, the United States has been treating American Muslims as second-class citizens. A couple of scholars and a reputable religious institute share their views on the issue with China Daily. Excerpts follow:
US uses duplicity to suppress Muslims
The United States prides itself as a “beacon of human rights”, but it doesn’t have any intention of ending the serious discrimination against American Muslims. In the name of human rights, it often stirs up conflicts and spreads hatred, and interferes in the internal affairs of other countries, thereby putting the safety of people around the world, including Muslims, at risk.
Racism has deep roots in the US. Even almost two decades after the Sept 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Muslims are stigmatized and marginalized in the US, and live under fear, threats and surveillance. Also, hate crimes against Muslims in the US have been rising for years. In fact, in the run-up to the 2018 US midterm elections, anti-Muslim rhetoric surged, fuelled by politicians. And conspiracy theories against Muslims became mainstream politics.
According to a report of the Council of American-Islam Relations in 2018, the number of anti-Muslim groups in the US has tripled since 2016, and the negative depiction of Muslims in films and TV, which is essentially “racist” and based on stereotypes, has promoted discrimination, hostility and violence against American Muslims.
Although the US has been desperately trying to embellish its international image as a land of religious and racial diversity, tolerance and openness, it was the only country in the world to ban the entry of Muslims from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, proving that white supremacy is rooted in its bones. Former US president Donald Trump, who repeatedly made discriminatory remarks against Muslims during his presidential campaign in 2016, imposed the blatantly racial ban on Sept 25, 2017, eight months after being sworn in as US president.
And despite the condemnation of the ban and the waves of protests from religious groups and humanitarian organizations at home and abroad, the US Supreme Court judges voted five to four in favor of Trump’s executive order on June 26, 2018.
Which prompted a commentator to write in a German media outlet that Muslim persecution has become a law in the US. The article stressed that the move marked the legalization and institutionalization of hatred and hostility against Muslims in the US in violation of the basic tenet of the US Constitution that provide equal protection to people of all religions and ethnicities.
The administration has repeatedly resorted to double standard against Muslims in the US and other countries－it rampantly discriminates against Muslims at home and pretends to protect the rights and interests of those in other countries.