As
hate crimes rise at an alarming rate against Muslims, Arabs, and minorities perceived to be Muslim, a broad coalition of civil society organizations (CSOs) call on corporate, non-profit, and government workplaces to address Islamophobia in the workplace.
According to the
Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU) 62% of American-Muslim adults experience at least one anti-Muslim discrimination incident each year, more than all other faith and non-faith groups surveyed. Muslims are the most likely faith group to report experiencing interpersonal discrimination in settings such as when interacting with others on social media (56%), at work or at school (42%), or when interacting with strangers in a public place (49%).
Recently in Illinois, a landlord driven by hate brutally murdered a 6 year old Palestinian-American child, Wadea Al-Fayoume, in his home. The landlord who committed the hate crime "knocked on their door, and when [Hanaan Shahin, the mother] opened, he tried to choke her and proceeded to attack her with a knife, yelling, 'you Muslims must die.’" Ms. Shahin was stabbed over a dozen times and hospitalized due to what the authorities labeled a hate crime. The shooting of three young Palestinian college students in Burlington, Vt. points to Islamophobia and anti-Arab racism taking a dangerous, violent turn. Â
In light of these actions and the high percentage of discriminatory acts against people belonging to or perceived to belong to this faith group, we see the need for workplaces to create and/or review their workplace policies to address the rise of bigotry and hate crimes.
As a broad coalition of civil society organizations, we are asking all workplaces to step up and answer the call to fight Islamophobia, anti-Muslim bigotry and anti-Arab racism by pledging to take the following steps within the next 12 months:
Commitment to have robust religious accommodation policies. We will evaluate our policies and identify gaps to promote inclusion for all employees by creating a shared holiday calendar reflecting the religious observances of all employees, a floating holiday policy, including food and dietary accommodations at workplace gatherings, creating flexibility in workplace schedules for those observing significant holidays, creating safe, dedicated spaces for daily religious practices, and more.
