The Council on American Islam Relations (CAIR) held a hews conference in San Diego to draw attention to what it's calling a spike in anti-Muslim hate.
Nearly half of the anti-Muslim hate incidents in 2023 occurred between October and December, according to CAIR report.
“8,061 complaints were filed for anti-Muslim incidents across the nation," said Tazheen Nizam, the executive director at CAIR San Diego. "In San Diego alone, our increase has been 300%, and a majority of these cases have been happening in the last three months of the year, since Oct. 7.”
CAIR San Diego and speakers hosted by the organization stressed that the incidents impact every facet of life.
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“A lot of the cases that we receive in our office reflect employment discrimination — hate incidents happening in the community against businesses – [and] against students in K–12 and college campuses,” Nizam said.
Students from UC San Diego and San Diego State University also attended the press conference.
“With an insurgence of Islamophobic and anti-Arab hate, it’s really important for us to share our side of the story, along with sharing the stats that back it up,” said UC San Diego student Samar Ishmael.
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Local Arab and Muslim leaders are calling on local elected officials to speak out against and take action on anti-Muslim hate incidents.
“Islamophobia is real and Islamophobia hurts,” said Taha Hassane, imam at the Islamic Center of San Diego.
