Nashville, TN:
"How terrible that someone would write ‘Muslims Go Home’ when they are home!” exclaimed a neighbor who helped organize a team of volunteers to support Nashville's Muslim community after a mosque was defaced. The community's swift response reaffirmed its commitment to inclusiveness.
FEAR INSPIRES HATE
Hate crimes against Muslims in America rose sharply after September 11, 2001, and Muslim communities continue to face backlash to this day. Nashville’s Al-Farooq mosque, whose congregation is composed mainly of recent Somali immigrants, was the most recent victim. On Feb.10, an unknown perpetrator vandalized the mosque with red spray-painted crosses and the words “Muslims Go Home,” and left a threatening letter that railed against Islam.“There are some ignorant people who are […] on this campaign of defaming our faith. Fortunately most people are very savvy of the fact that these people are hatemongers,” said Amir Arain, director of public relations for the Islamic Center of Nashville.
Arain charged the media with playing a role in fueling anti-Muslim sentiment. Just two days before the vandalism, a local television station aired a story suggesting ties between a nearby Muslim community and terrorism.
SENDING A NEW MESSAGE
Once word of the hate crime spread, neighbors and community members began to phone, email, and arrive at the mosque in person, offering to help the congregation paint over the offensive messages. Todd Lake, vice president of spiritual development at nearby Belmont University, saw a photograph of the graffiti in the morning paper.
“It was just terrible that the cross, a sign of God’s love for us, was used to terrorize, once again, a minority community here in Tennessee, and so I just asked [them] what would help, and said that Belmont would be happy to pay for the supplies to cover this up, and they said that’d be great,” Lake recounted. Along with other volunteers, he purchased anti-graffiti spray and white paint, and covered the hateful message within an hour.
The volunteer painters were not only erasing a message of hate, but sending a message of their own, Lake explained. “I was able to say we want to be loving and welcoming and hospitable to all of our neighbors, but in particular our newest neighbors, neighbors who don’t necessarily speak English like those at the Al Farooq mosque."
LEARNING TO LIVE TOGETHER
Coincidentally, the Islamic Center of Nashville had planned to host an open house on Saturday, as part of an ongoing effort to educate the community about Islam. A flyer advertising the event read, “Learn about the religion shared by 1.5 billion people of the Earth’s population. This is a chance to clear up any misconceptions about Islam and Muslims so we can be educated about each other and learn to live in peace and harmony.”
After the hate incident, the Islamic Center modified the event to address the crime. An interfaith panel including leaders from Jewish and Christian congregations facilitated a discussion called “Nashville Stands with Muslim Community: Violence Against One Community Hurts Us All.”Doug Sanders, an associate minister at Otter Creek Church, attended the open house. “Sure, there’s things we’re never going to agree on, spiritually and in some of those things, but the reality is we’ve got so many things we can agree on […] that we can all work together on,” he said. “And that sends a message to the rest of our community, like the folks that did this, that says, ‘that’s not what we’re about.’”
After the event, Al-Farooq mosque posted a notice thanking the community for its support. Writing that the perpetrators' aim was to cause discord between the city's Muslim and non-Muslim populations, the notice pointed out that the opposite occured instead. "People from different backgrounds came to support us; this has confirmed to us what we always believed, that Nashville is a welcoming city.”
What happens after an incident brings diverse members from the community together, do new bridges form and create a noticeable change in the overall community? Share stories of what has happened in your community.
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Comments
The so-called investigation.
From a journalist's point of view, the 'Islamville' story was 4 minutes of my life I'll never get back,
it had no supporting evidence or potential lead that would turn this story into a subject of concern. It's not much of an investigation when there is no new found information that the story considered its main premise...possible terrorist activity linked to a local community.
The county Sheriff as well as the 'talent' indicated in the tag, there were no complaints, threats, problems. So why in the world would you invest any time or energy into producing a piece that was pointless. It's February meaning it's sweeps, in a business ruled by ratings and driven by numbers. Sensationalism and scare tactics are once again brought to surface to lure viewers, hoping for some answers from the story tease but really expecting none. It's stories like these that have lost the public's interest and trust for that matter.
Still, we can't forget there are a number of stations in the media that still function as professionals and should be held in high esteem.
its not ok
by looking at this data i could notice that everyone hates everyone and that is not only on specific group of people but a large group of people nad thats is not ok because we are all different and that we should atart to accept everyone the way we are and not look for the differences between eachother because if we start looking for the differences we will find a lot of them because everyone is diffenrent whether is the way of thinking or opinion but everyone is different
hate is everywhere
By looking all of this information I can conclude that hate is everywhere, meaning that people are not only discriminating one group of people, there are many groups that are been discriminating by others. According to my experiences in the United States I have been faced many types of racism. It was February 2007 in the afternoon. I was walking at the street, just walking; instantaneously a little boy stated screaming. “Go home F. Mexican” I was really unclear what was happening. Well this is a great example of hate is everywhere it is hard to express, it is hard to realize how a little boy was able to say something like that. This is my story this is HATE!…
it is not fair that people
it is not fair that people are discriminated by others just for being from other countries. hate crimes againts immigrants are rising and it is affecting many people. because they are scare of being attacked for americans. I think this is not right that sometimes people think in themselves and not in others. these people do not see that other people have feelings too. and everybody is equal as anybody does. I also think goverment must take care about it because this hate of crimes againts Musulism can lead to other huge abuses.
Hate Is Everywhere
By looking all of this information I can conclude that hate is everywhere, meaning that people are not only discriminating one group of people, there are many groups that are been discriminating by others. According to my experiences in the United States I have been faced many types of racism. It was February 2007 in the afternoon. I was walking at the street, just walking; instantaneously a little boy stated screaming. “Go home F. Mexican” I was really unclear what was happening. Well this is a great example of hate is everywhere it is hard to express, it is hard to realize how a little boy was able to say something like that. This is my story this is HATE!…
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