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Two Roosevelt University Students Take on Islamophobia


AshmahFatma

CHICAGO–(ENEWSPF)–September 3, 2015. Asmah Dauod and Fatma Walli (pictured above left to right) didn’t understand the pervasiveness of Islamophobia when they were competitively selected as interns for the Illinois chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in Chicago.

Now, after spending the last three months working on public-policy issues and writing essays for CAIR, both Roosevelt University undergraduates are intent on working to stop the phenomenon, which is defined as anti-Muslim sentiment, including prejudice against, hatred toward and/or fear of Muslims.

“Growing up as a Muslim in America, I never realized there was so much Islamophobia out there,” said Walli, 19, an international studies and economics major and native of Minnesota.

David Faris, chair of the political science and public administration department at Roosevelt University, recommended Walli and Ashmah Daoud, a political science and women’s and gender studies major from Westmont, Ill. for summer internships at CAIR.

“This organization is a leading advocate and most significant voice working on behalf of justice for those in our nation’s growing Muslim American community,” said Faris. “It is quite an honor for these two students to have had this kind of opportunity,” he said.

As a CAIR intern with the not-for-profit’s operations department, Walli frequently took phone calls from across the Midwest about children as well as the elderly being bullied because of their Muslim heritage.

“This was important work and l’m grateful to have been on the frontlines with an organization that cares about helping Muslims who are targets of hate and racism,” said Walli, who also helped the not-for-profit identify donors for its advocacy work in protecting the civil rights of Muslim Americans.

Daoud believes interning for the organization’s government affairs office has given her tools that she hopes to use in the future representing those who have been impacted by Islamophobia.

“The experience of working with CAIR has been important,” said Daoud, whose goal is to one day become a lawyer representing the civil rights of Arab Americans, particularly Muslim women.

At CAIR, Daoud was responsible for monitoring breaking news related to Muslim Americans. She also helped set up meetings with public officials, including Congressmen from the Illinois delegation, regarding issues impacting their Muslim American constituents.

During their internships, both students wrote essays for CAIR’s online Chicago Monitor, which provides critical perspectives on mainstream media’s handling of Muslims and Muslim-related issues.

Interested in global development, particularly in Third World countries, Walli authored a piece about turmoil caused by the extremist group Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahedeen in the East African nations of Somalia and Kenya.

Contributing two articles to CAIR’s Chicago Monitor, Daoud wrote about the role that social media, specifically Snapchat, has played in providing a look at Israeli life in Tel Aviv following a 2015 attack on Gaza. The video coverage sparked a firestorm on social media that led to Snapchat’s follow-up video coverage of a look at what life for Palestinians is like in the West Bank. The article is available at:

Daoud also wrote about the aftermath of an anti-Islam protest on May 29 in Phoenix in which supporters of Islam, using social media channels, rallied around Muslims in the Arizona community. 

Both Roosevelt students are hoping to graduate in 2017.

Source: www.roosevelt.edu

 

 


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