On Wednesday, May 11, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) will hold a noon news conference in the nation’s capital to release its 10th annual report, titled “Unequal Protection,” on the status of Muslim civil rights in the United States.
The Washington-based Islamic civil rights and advocacy group’s report – the only annual study of its kind – will show a significant increase in anti-Muslim hate crimes during 2004 and an 11-year high in the total number of reported cases. (States with the largest numbers of reported incidents include California, New York, Arizona , Virginia, Texas, Florida, Ohio, Maryland, New Jersey, and Illinois.)
The report’s authors believe at least some of the sharp rise in anti-Muslim incidents can be attributed to growing Islamophobia in American society. That disturbing phenomenon will be addressed at a CAIR conference, called “Islamophobia and Anti-Americanism: Causes and Remedies,” to be held this weekend in Washington , D.C. SEE: http://www.cair-net.org/2005conference/