United States of Anti-Muslim Hate

CityLab reported on Robert L. McKenzie's project, Anti-Muslim Activities in the United States.

The charts and interactive maps in the projects reveal some interesting trends, but perhaps the most striking one is this: While anti-Muslim incidents appear to increase after terrorist attacks, as previous research has suggested, the sharpest spikes have happened since 2015—“indicating political rhetoric from national leaders has a real and measurable impact,” said Robert McKenzie, a senior fellow at New America and director of this project.

He and his colleagues compiled the list of incidents using research tools like LexisNexis and LegiScan, and broke the sample down into five categories. The first one is “anti-Sharia legislation”—and includes bills that seek to ban Islamic law from being considered in U.S. courts. The second category includes “legislation or action by public officials that hinder the refugee resettlement process or voice opposition to the resettlement of refugees in a certain area,” the researchers explain. The third documents cases where local governments have rejected mosques, Muslim cemeteries, or schools in their communities. It’s essentially a count of cases where NIMBYism against Muslim structures has been successful. The next category lists incidents of anti-Muslim statements by local officials. And the fifth and final category draws from news reports of threats and violence to Muslim communities, including criminal acts and hate crimes. On their website, the researchers explain the criteria for these categories further, noting that they’ve taken a “conservative approach” towards data collection.