Islamophobia rhetoric spurs American Muslims in US political process


American Muslims are involved in this year's presidential elections in greater numbers than in years past because of heightened Islamophobic rhetoric, the head of a voter education and advocacy group told Anadolu Agency.

"Definitely this year we are very, very active," Naji Almontaser, who runs the York Muslim Voter and Information Club, said during the Convention of the Islamic Circle of North America-Muslim American Society, that was held in Baltimore, Maryland.

"If you take the last 10 years, I would say this year would accumulate the other 10. Everyone is on board."

Much of the anti-Islamic language is being fueled by real estate developer Donald Trump -- the sole remaining Republican candidate in the race.

He has called for a ban on Muslims entering the U.S., claimed that Islam has "tremendous hatred" for the West and accused American Muslims of celebrating the 9/11 attacks in New York and Washington.

"This year we are more active, because you have people like Trump who are talking negative about everybody," Almontaser said.

"At the end of the day we want people to recognize that they have the power to vote one person in or to vote one person out."

With a population of about 3.3 million Muslims in the country, an umbrella group -- the U.S. Council of Muslim Organizations -- has launched a One America Campaign to empower Muslims and it seeks to get 1 million Muslims to the polls.

"We really want to make a change because for many years the Muslim ummah, or Muslim community, of America has been very silent about voting and not very pro-active," Almontaser said.

Muslims groups in the U.S. have launched voter registration drives in an effort to ensure Islamophobia is rejected at the polls.

According to a recent survey by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) -- the country's largest Islamic civil rights group -- 73 percent of registered Muslim voters in six states said they would vote in primary elections.

In congressional election two years ago, 69 percent of Muslim voters in California, Florida, Illinois, New York, Texas and Virginia said they would vote, according to a CAIR survey.

The U.S. Council of Muslim Organizations has found growing Islamophobia to be the most important issue for Muslim voters in 2016. It was listed as third in the group's 2014 survey.There has been a rise in Islamophobic attacks and anti-refugee tendencies in United States in recent years, including the Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump calling for a ban on Muslims and migrants.Meanwhile, according to a recent report, a group of Texan American men have been training to shoot Muslims claiming that they would have to defend themselves in case of an 'uprising'.The report published by The Independent said the group also dip their bullets "In pig's blood or bacon grease so victims would go straight to hell."In addition, there have been clashes in U.S. cities due to police brutality against the black citizens, signaling racial tensions and discrimination against people of color and other minority communities.