Muslim Prejudice Speech

Muslim Prejudice Speech

On January 20th, 2011 British Cabinet member Sayeeda Warsi, Co-Chair of the Tory party in Britain, gave a speech at the University of Leicester on the growing acceptance of prejudice against Muslims in the UK. She remarked, prejudice against Muslims has “passed the dinner table test” and is now the societal norm. Her fear is that this continued public acceptance of prejudice will only fuel the ever increasing notion of Muslim “extremists” vs. “moderates” which leads to further misunderstanding and ignorance of the Muslim population. Warsi’s speech focused on the growing prejudice against Muslims in the UK, however, anti-Muslim rhetoric and sentiment is unfortunately not limited to the confines of Great Britain.  
In the United States anti-Muslim sentiment was born as one of the many after effects of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the US. During that time the majority of the US population new very little about the Muslim faith, however, after 9/11 there was an onslaught of information (some true, some not) pouring from every media outlet and form.   Islam 101 was splashed across our front pages, heard over radio waves, and seen on our televisions. Slowly the average American began to learn about Islam, what it was, and what the central beliefs of this faith are. We began trying to understand the differences between the different sects. Mostly though we began to fear that what we did not understand, Muslims and their faith.
The fear and prejudice many American’s felt toward Muslims was somewhat understandable shortly following the atrocious acts of 9/11, however, these feelings have not seemed to fade away.   In fact Anti-Muslim rhetoric and sentiment seemed to have reached a pinnacle this past summer when plans for an Islamic Mosque being built a mere two blocks from Ground Zero were released.   Sides were instantly formed and the debates were heated. Many American’s viewed the pending Mosque and community center in lower Manhattan as a slap in the...