• Listen to this segment

A new survey conducted by the Pew Research Center has found that a majority of respondents place Muslims as the most persecuted religious group in the United States. Ahead of the eighth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, fifty-eight percent of Americans polled said that people of the Muslim faith faced “a lot” of discrimination. The survey also noted that the number of Americans that believe Islam promotes violence more so than other religions has fallen seven percent from two years ago even with a majority of Conservative Republicans still holding the notion to be true. The Council on American-Islamic Relations responded to the survey by pointing out the effects of education about the Islamic faith in reducing prejudice. Though some of the Pew Research Center’s findings are encouraging, CAIR has recently cited that anti-Muslim incidents throughout the country have spiked prior to and during the holy month of Ramadan. Two women dressed in traditional Islamic clothing were harassed and threatened at a gas station in New York. Racial profiling also remains a concern after high profile Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan was detained and questioned at an airport because of his Muslim name. Ironically enough, Khan was in the United States to film a movie on discrimination against Muslims in the post-9/11 world.

GUEST: Ibrahim Hooper, National Communications Director at the Council on American Islamic Relations

For more information, visit www.cair.com.