>> minnesota governor tim walz wants to open human rights offices in his state to fight islamophobia. he made announcement before a council for american-islamic relations conference in st. paul. the justice department has listed the council as an unindicted conspirator saying the group helped fund hamas. following the governor's remarks, a panel of scholars, historians and authors discuss methods and impact of spreading hate. [applause] >> to our presenters, thank you for bringing your insight and expertise. this deep dive we will go into is needed, it is one that, as you can see, the community is ready, ready to hear, and we welcome your insights, advising guidance.ig to everyone else who took time out -- the students who are here and people, minnesotans who took time to come here -- thank you.

as president arthur said, those of you who minnesota kind of knowow that i talk about one minnesota a lot. this room is the embodiment of that. and i am, i am grateful. we're here to try and understand what one minnesota means, and i know you each embrace it, and it is in our diversity. when mankato thrives, minneapolis thrives. and when our muslim community thrives, everyone thrives. we know that our muslim community is deeply tied into the fabric of minnesota. you are our teachers, our doctors, our entrepreneur, our neighbors, our brothers and sisters. the cultural diversity that comes from the muslim community has made minnesota so much better, hasne strengthened our economy and showed us who we can be. buts i also know at this time platitudes are not going to be enough. after the horrific events in christchurch and a he newed focus -- renewed focus on islamophobia, so many in this

room know christchurch could have been and nearly was in our backyard. those are our neighbors. that warm summer day in -- just two years ago narrowly avoided tragedy on an unbelievable scale which we saw unfold in christchurch. so i'm here today to deliver a pretty simple message: hate and islamophobia have no home in minnesota, i but you do. [applause] our administration, along with my lieutenant governor, peggy flanagan, and our commissioner as i'm joined here by one, our education commissioner, mary katherine ricker is here with us today, so thank you -- [applause] mary katherine's a lifelong educator, and we want to see actions, and our administration at zeroe line tolerance. we will not have our islamic youth bullied in our schools on a single day, in a single place, in a single community across minnesota, and the

commissioner's here to make sure that that happens. we will call out baseless attacks on our muslim brothers and sisters at every chance, and we will hold accountable those politicians who choose to use this division to further their careers at every single turn. [applause] we'ree] also here to understand again what the presenters will tell us. we need to transfer this into concrete actions. we need to change the culture and speakak loudly, but we needo have the ability and the capacity the turn against islamophobia, to talk about it in each of our communities. that's why our administration is preparing to open three new human rights offices in worthington and duluth and -- [applause] those will be places where the law stands behind the rightness of what we're doing. it's a place of sanctuary for our citizens, and it's a place of education that will come out of conversations like this, how we can further this message, magnify it across the state. and the actions of the

governor's office and the message that is very clear, and this is on behalf of our administration and my wife, the first lady. very clearly, you are welcome here, we are committed to your safety - and well-being -- [laughter] we are walking towards the light together -- [laughter] ms. we support your safety and well-being and every resource of the state of minnesota will be behind that. and more than anything, we support you and your right to practice your faith as you fit and what it does to bring a better and one minnesota. we will, in a very short time mehere, the holy month of ramadn will be upon us. i am very good at iftar, not so good at the fasting piece -- [laughter] but we try and spend our fridays in the communities and in our mosques, in our worship. but the one thing -- we think this is going to do this, it's

not been done before, my wife and i are going to be honored to host what we think is the first iftar at the governor's mansion -- [applause] so i welcome you here. i wish you the best, and insights that come out of this knowing that our team is here to learn and to implement in that one minnesota doesn't mean we're alle the same, but it means that we share a common humanity, we share common values and that we come together as one community to insure peace and prosperity for all of us, we are better for that. so i thank you all for being here. i thank you for the leadership that's y shown in this room and the commitment that minnesota is only beginning, and we can be the ones who show the world just exactly what it looks like to exist in peace together to make prosperous communities. so ict thank you all. [applause]

>> thank you, governor. president arthur. forgot to mention a little story. so i used to work here at the university. [applause] all right? and i loved every minute that i was here. one of my difficult decisions to switch to cair minnesota. and iff worked with jenny when e was the provost, and i would always leave, and there would always be one office that had its light on at the upper floor here in this building, and it was always jenny. i was, like, i tried to beat her so many times -- [laughter] so president jenny, i think metro state is so lucky to have you and for your leadership and for having us here today. without further ado, we will bring our first panelists.

i want to just be very clear to all of you today, we have been struggling, and heidi from sblc could not make it today. unfortunately, there are some challenges at her organization, and so she sends her apologies and, hopefully, will be with us in future events. wes. are, unfortunately, male-dominant at this first panel. wewe definitely apologize for that. we have been trying to fill this first panel all this past week and a half and even until last night, but we really have amazing speakers, people who are really r cutting edge leaders in -- particularly on this topic, and hopefully you'll benefit. but the entire program, the rest of the program today you will see that it's balanced representation of our community. with that, i will bring our moderator from the metro state university, matt fillner, who is the associate professor at political science d., and he will guide -- department, and he will guide us through the next

session. [applause] >> well, thanks, everyone, for being here. i have to apologize. as a professor, i think about these events in a professorial way. you're basically getting a semester's worth of education in a day. and it's an extraordinary event, an extraordinary opportunity, and you don't have to write any papers. [laughter] so i justy [l wanted to set a ce ground rules for this session. this will be a moderated discussion.ou so i'm going to be posing questions to our panelists, and in the first answer i'd can ask them each to introduce themselves and their organization. you've already met jelani. and towards the end, we're going to have an opportunity for the audience to ask questions. so without further ado, i think it's important to start with this panel on the islamophobia industry. we need to, i think, never forget that islamophobia is not

natural, it is not inevitable, it is manufactured, and it can be changed. and so without further ado, i just want to pose to the panel your thoughts on the islamophobiaho industry. and we can -- abbas, you're first on the list, do you want to start? >> good morning, everybody. before we get started, if i could just ask you to join me in a round of applause for the cair minnesota team and yourself -- [applause] you know, united states is a diverse space. i think it was this morning, it's really 50 countries, right? we've really got 350 countries, and minnesota's been -- 50 countries, and minnesota's been doing some amazing work. so i really do commend you for, ryyou know, forming such an

infrastructure of a community and solidarity to even make an event like this o possible. so i'll just say that my name is abbas, i am the director of research and advocacy at cair national. and in my office's capacity, we really do explore ways to provide long-term solutions and frameworks for understanding the challenge of islamophobia. and specifically what we might call the islamophobia industry orgh the islamophobia network. it is really important to understand the nature of the beast that we're, that we're wrestling here. and if you would indulling me for just a moment -- indulge me for just a moment in a metaphor, i tend to think about islamophobia and racism generally as a kind of climate problem, if you will, you know? if you think about our climate challenge, if you think about pollution and if you think about climatee, change, you realize tt we are in a lot of trouble. we have an acute crisis like flint, michigan, for example

where, you know, the combination of environmental racism, climate change and corporate greed and government negligence, you know, produced acute problems. and we have acute problems in islamophobia by way of bullying, by way of attacks, hosk ones -- horrific ones, attacks that threaten our communities every single day. we receive those complaints. my officee tracks and monitors civil rights abuses and acts of discrimination around the country. but ifn. we look at the onlyings and the source of in the, like -- onlies and the source of this like climate change, like pollution, we realize there are some bad actors. but once we pollute the air and that acid rain comes down, you do have a complex problem on your hand. even if we were to implement all of the sort of, the best metrics and best practices that we know to reverse this course of action, we would still be dealing with the oil spill that

happened decades ago. and so how is it that we engage this kind of problem? well, it is possible to overcome it, but you do have to realize that challenging islamophobia doesn't come by simply way of, simply by way of challenging a couple of bad actors on media or a couple of politicians here. we really do have to understand the infrastructure that's at play. and so what are those infrastructures? what are those things that contribute to the long-term pollution of our public space? in our officee we've been tracking the islamophobia network. this is a groupac of individual, actors that have very powerful pools of funding and political can connections that -- political connections that are very organized and deliberate in the way they're manipulating. as fox news commentators, you might hear them giving speeches,

you might hear some of their actions. where is it that they're getting their power from more of the grassroots, you know, connections and things like that? next week we will be releasing a report that i believe will go further than most reports out there in the exposing the funding networks behind the islamophobia industry. in the past what we've done, cair and stakeholders around the country, in the past what we've done is to monitor the strength of these organizations by looking at their financial power, right? and maybe looking at their connections, looking at their connections to politicians and what not. this year we made a very simple declaration and said let us simply find out who is funding and who is receiving funding. leapt us draw that -- let us draw that map occupant, and let's chart what the money flow looks like so we can go from donor base all the way to media appearancece or position in the white house. and what we found was things most of us would already

predict. ideologically bad actors that are typically -- not saying like is known here -- 70-80% of these funders are somehow connected to defense industries associated with aggressive zionist politics and policies. so these funding organizations, you're talking about people like sheldon adelson or nina rosenwald, theyy are powerful, powerful actors that align themselves with a far right conservative agenda in this country. they use tax laws and philanthropic and charitable institutions in the unitede states that are really the hallmark of our civil society. they use those mechanisms to fund organizations that promote hate speech, encourage conspiracy theories and i would say lend themselves to sort of violent actions and thoughts and sort of incite that type of thinking. and thosend organizations themselves hide underneath the

cover of a 501(c)(3). so what this means is that the same tax benefits that a food bank receives, sheldon adelson -- a right-wing tycoon, all right, who is funding hate speech -- and the hate actors themselves are benefiting in the same way that a food bank does. .. these were founders of american chariot. the granddaughter of one of the founders so the same fund she administers today's administration. forget about that. the main institutions have now been caught up in this.

institutions that are vehicles. there being exploited by donors and funding aliens of dollars into the network. how do we challenge this? i could get intoo that as we kep going there but i will stop there. think about the challenges we face. take you for being here. >> i know we want to respond to comments, i will ask the panel to continue to discuss the industry before we get into that. >> great to be here, i'm a law professor and the author of a book. i look at this network specifically from a legal lens, the commercial dimension of the network. i tried to do is frame the law, this will be a taking place today.

i want to provide you with the general framework and general frame of concepts that enable us to think about this phobia from all legal standpoint.t. understand that it is private ia nature unleashed by private actors, meaning individuals longer like the terrorists not acting on behalf of the state directly, these are individuals who are driven to engage in violence and bigotry, based on the presumption, the idea that expressions of identity are somehow inactivete terrorism moe tied to ideas that cannot be assimilated. also they discussed these private networks, whether it be organization or funded, individuals were acting in a private capacity, the first dimension of islam a phobia, i talk about in my research and

book, private in nature, the second form, structural. the thing about racism individual in nature but also the frame to understand this phobia. one of i'm talking about specifically? laws, things like patriot act which were enacted, things like the muslim ban which was the executive order signed by president and eventually became law held by the land of the supreme court. things like state actions, it isn't manifested in the form of law legislation or executive order so items like rhetoric qualified as state as homophob homophobia, ideas like house of representatives which was in congress, it is structural, when we think about that, it enables

us too see enacted by the right. we tend to characterize as islamophobia is visibly coming from the right, we look at it as a state enterprise, we see the left regularly engages in as islamophobia as well. example i'm sure many of you are you with, analyzing, surveillance enacted by both federal government and municipal government. was established by liberal democratic administration and the obama administration. it's critical to understand, i might buy bias, a catalyst in disseminating islamophobia. , it's also a dialectic, a synergy going on between what the state does, the state engaging in this state action,

it's endorsing the negative sentiment held by private individuals, and during times of crisis it actually emboldens and authorizes greater violence. there's a synergy and dynamic between what the state does private actors do and i see that vividly the manifesto in new zealand, these overtures citing the travel ban, citing trump as inspiration, which again is rick critical because it helps the state with criminal and tv action. the theoretical foundation that they are able to have more full conversation. >> thank you. >> i am todd, i'm a professor of

religion, top of the minnesota border.to grateful to be here, thank you for all the cosponsors for participating and sponsoring this event. this is wonderful to see the amount of people here today. historian,ious people automatically might start to fall asleep.ar [laughter] the angle i take when i studied this, my primary research, one of my big banks is that it's not something that is new. prejudice toward muslims, discrimination in a post- 9/11, the longer part of this and i would argue that the day varies parts, i'm a part of that there are a lot of troops, stereotypes enainst other religious minorities in the u.s. throughout the history including dues, catholics and mormons. so it's important to understand

this is a rebranding of an old prejudice against others who have been deemed as outsiders who don't quite fit in were perceived as not fitting in or belonging to us. we are to think about t who us . this industry, one of the interesting things i've been thinking about is that probably all of us o can tell personal stories with members of this industry, this is not abstract so it's a very personal thing and we have all received the attention of this industry. we've experienced what it's like and not very much good comes out of. my interest is the tactics they use, there are people on this panel equipped in terms of the legal aspect, the impact will be here, but i am interested in the

part of the organs they use and what extent they are succeeding or not. in most cases they are succeeding quite well. there are four topics in terms of monuments that are used that i have been tracking over the past decade and seeing how they change and putting their energy and what it has on political discourse in the u.s. one has been around a while, ffiling forms of muslims do an attack and kill and murder anyone if they don't submit, any client violence on the border. it's not something that is particular to the islam industry. the reference to islamic terrorism, the administration, they are all trying to draw on

those. that is one that's been out there for a while. in the past decade or three others i have been tracking, one of the civilizations which is the head of the security policy, who has a lot of influence but he regularly talks about brotherhood, he believes care has infiltrated the u.s. and federal government at the highest level including the white house, including the department of justice and state department and so was happening is you have nicee muslims who have decided to play along with the u.s. and constitution and infiltrate the nation and what they are in great positions of power and we have the horrific violence, islam state that presumably they are trying to implement. as opposed to war over violent way. i think this is also efforts by

ted cruz and others to label the brotherhood and any group they can tie. the muslim political group and other activists who are trying to shape theis policy in this course when it comes to racism and bigotry. the third topic i've been tracking is this notion of sharia. the stereotype was not, they are trying to prove islamic law on the rest of us so we have to be afraid of sharia, whatever that means. it's supposed to conjure up fear. is's been around for a while but i think it's been gaining traction significantly in the past several years. i think this industry has succeeded in a large degree. even after new zealand did a number of interviews and a

majority of the interviews asked me about sharia. that's the effect. the impact of the islamophobia street. they promoted the networks and sooner or later it sticks and begins to stick. even though it's been something completely different. i will also say this about the whole sharia, laster the republican national committee and trump reelection website to question both of the websites in one of theof questions was about do you fear the spread of sharia? so i think we can anticipate in the upcoming election that will be deployed. it could be deployed with great effect. we need to keep that in mind in terms of the strategy. the final thing i will mention, when i was doing this work, this

idea that muslims are required to do this to the rest of us. in terms of their overall political efforts to impose this on the rest of the country. we saw this gain traction in the last election. this was memorable for complaining that muslims are required by islam to deceive us in order torg achieve the larger vertical ends. this is a talking.that comes right off the islam phobia industry. that's my larger., you see these now being repeated by presidential candidate, i think of alternative things from this card from registration systems to databases to islam hates us to muslim fans, these narratives that are coming right out of the islamophobia industry. they become quite powerful and a

short. of time. it's something of great concernh >> thank you. give us your perspective. there should be a few mics over there. >> from minnesota, i would say we recently produced a report on the network here in minnesota, particularly and with a large number of social groups, i would say in addition to the conversation, we've noticed minnesota particularly isul that we do a nice hate here. [laughter] there are three things i look for, number one is the militia groups that have focused now on the muslim community. as a group called 3% militia that have focused on the muslim

community particular. we found from the bombing in bloomington is that there were part of these groups who are much more militarized and have that type of focused and they're probably the most dangerous of the groups and then you have the second group, mom and pop shops, usually very small demographicallypo older in age d these are the groups that usually either stem from either religious -based groups or places like veterans, vfw's. if you come to a greater minnesota panel, i think you'll hear more about that specifically because in minnesota, we see the activity having in the st. cloud and also the northern region of the state. we also see that type of these groups becoming much more aggressive but mostly well w w organized and working together so there's a speaker who comes to minnesota, he will go to six

e mes in all of six times there are rallying, usually it's like five or six people but they. get these people together. so that level of the mom and pop shops groups are really the biggest ones they are impacting. for example, policy they are pushing particularly in st. cloud and the neighboring wisconsin and we are seeing these groups then put a lot of information online and they are not attacking my organization and many other organizations. we put the only report i mentioned, all the groups that be parte to sign on and of our recruit, we're all online, the needs of organizations online, we are also seeing some form of

increased, i know how he mentioned earlier, would try to talk to them and we have a conversation with them. most recently, we had a conversation with the historical society about the culture and islam. came, i seenat this group multiple times. for the first time, they started to actually technically stop me from leaving the building toai a certain extent. when i left, one of them was stupid enough to actually personally threaten me and say he would come after me and make it look like it's an accident. so we are now concerned about what's the relationship between the actual pressure groups to have that, they will try to pack information. i would say the industry is growing because of dark money.

it's growing because of people who are extremely wealthy or are giving findings to these organization who are very difficult for us to find out wo these people are. while yes, there are a conservative right, you see a lot of them there but we also see a great deal on the progressive side as well. again, the issue goesft back to what he mentioned a medical, security and fear. is islamophobia this idea congressional, it's really important because usually people slip into that. i think we are starting to see some and it's some of the hope we can also see. >> thank you. we tend to think about them having a vertical position from the very top, all the way down and we talk about industries being in terms of covering a

wide variety of people and institutions, can you talk about the industry is both vertical, ranging from the donor only down and vice versa. and across the institutions. >> it's an interesting way to think about it, the industry definitely has top donors that are feeling it. you can think about them, i imagine they do sit around and talk about how they have a certain agenda or they are aware of what they are doing. they are very deliberate and effective. we look at that, it does seemed like they are moving at a very concrete tandem way where they

are helping one another. one of the ways i think this works out at that level is a fellow named david, all these organizations, americans are a better america. it's really interesting so i was -- it's exclusively strategy to basically bring focus cases to court and advance legislation so if you look at his funding networks and the capacity, it does come from a major actress which use dark money institutions. this is very important to inrecognize and i'll stop here r a second and explain this. as an institution in the tax and

charity all, and advised fund and outside of the conversation, many of them out there are concerned about the rise of this institution in disrupting the american fletcher b. basically what it does is, to donate but i don't want anybody donated.hat i so i donate by a donator i find which might be housed as something as good-natured as california committee foundation for thech lovely. i might as well use that institution. i tell them where i want to donate to. they are donating to tens of thousands of institutions that have mechanisms so they donate straight to that. get my tax break and donation received from them.

on the other side, the get the money from the fidelity so that your transparency which is part of the tradition. we want our public spirit, watch take response money for a and i'm to have these commercial mark conglomerates doing that money goes into that space in a vertical way and summary advances legislation in partnership with somebody across the u.s. and they approach state legislatures and places that are easy to win and they pass junk resolutions, either coffee legislation or resolutions that are actually false. they are lying. there's something that recently passed a resolution against us and it is factually correct. we should document.

this is not have to, it is absolutely wrong. in congress recently, a resolution attacking hen americn humanitarian organizations. this absolutely is false. i can't think of anything else, it is just false. what's amazing is that thinking about how it works, the resolution cites journalists for sources that are also out-of-network. the journalist are pumping out the same lies every single week. there's a guy on our payroll, he's pumping out the same line over and over again. i see thehe resolution against this institution, i see the thing which and i know who wrote it.

so we can actually see the ordination. it's extremely sophisticated. about what it takes to put something like that together and think about the opportunity costs that it takes to fight something like that. but really, isad that as it is,e do have to spend the time to recognize their tactics understand the way they operatey >> it seems like some of the resolutions are on what he to start. we are one to see that in state legislatures across the country. >> i think i was thinking terms of the way you're putting it, the vertical reach, in terms of traveling around the country, in the u.s. on is islamophobia, the terms i mentioned earlier, i am seeing it gained more traction. it's not uncommon for some of them to start revoking thing which that could come out of it.

i also found they don't often know that. don't know quite the source. they can't trace the genealogy of these ideas. so many complex ways and frankly, we haven't mentioned that. the industry is very savvy with social media. they are very good as putting their message that way, platforms that really spread their narratives far and wide. much more than i used to really take serious. right to get very serious now.. in terms of the reach of the industry, places in america and populations who are repeating these, maybe they are going somewhere but the language isk coming around. so that from top to bottom, it's quite pervasive. >> talk about the legal changes, whether it's state-level or

local level changes that might help things in perspective. >> i think to launch this statement,in there's one thing i want folks to walk away with, to not think about is islamophobia has exclusively irrational. as a quick rational is coming from private but when the corporations were actual industries, it's very rational. their objective is to a specific portrayal, to achieve specific objectives whether political, legal or economic, that is entirely rational. that is the very definition of rationalism. i personally don't like the term is islamophobia industry, i think it's a hard concept. it's hard to limit of rain. i like the is islamophobia network because it will impact

corporations, what hundreds our money and what the media is doing.nt modernist actor. we think about it was not really speaking, we can look at what they are telling us about, funding them to construct specific narratives and produce scholarships what is wrong about islam's. we are getting science think that the groups are inferior, specific groups to people subordinating that body of research and scholarship is doing the same thing. things like they are not conformed with american societies because their objective is to take over american society. that research then enables politicians, especially individuals within that power to pass on legislation. it effectively says the same

thing. we can look at even before thewe rise of trump worth the tea party, they were effective with that movement. 2010, 2011, there were something like 200 bills across the country being spread effectively looked at that law is being criminal with american law. i teach first amendment law, there's no need for such thing because they restrict the entrainment or any religious law whether it muslim, jewish or christian. it's entirely absurd, political in nature because of the voters. that's what this bill does, localizes photos and influences. i mentioned another one rightht now in the state which i teach arkansas, the state of arkansas is looking to criminalize the

organization, chapter within the state of arkansas. that is crazy. looking to ban the and ra. it's completely idiotic and absurd. it's an effective portal tool because what it does is as a politician, effectively running for office and say i look to criminalize that state, locally, it's effective, horizontal chain in which the private actor and photos fund the researchers who then provide politicians with intellectual anti- intellectual emendation to pass bills that entrench the presence within government. >> talk about how you see imports into minnesota as ideas were those ideas --

>> one of the interesting things is that minnesota is not reall really -- trying to get the right word out. minnesota is a good state. [laughter] i'll just say that. it's unique but it's a good state. they have a lot of wonderful people here. however -- [laughter] i think the muslim community in minnesota has become a target for all of the islamic for the network. in fact, there was a blogger, several bloggers who came and harassed them a couple of weeks ago and one of the bloggers actually, nato -- made a false police report i making a fake twitter account and made threats to him self on the twitter account and raised money online. all of the networks in this community, the scapegoat and an

example to launch their efforts somewhere else. it's really a success in minnesota they are fighting. the success of the community here in minnesota. the success of the fact we have the first congressman. the success we are seeing in the state is becoming a problem. so all of the talking points are looking to minnesota in these areas have no go zones. i fear that because the folks who attacked must in bloomington, came from illinois. the question we keep asking ourselves, how did they argue -- attack this specific mosque works for most people, going back to the mom and pop shops, we don't know what they are doing but they do know what they are doing. there's a group called friends of smith park. it sounds like a nice group to join.

[laughter] friends of smith park. it's adjacent to the islamic center. his a group which is just two people, i think were less. [laughter] they have literally created an image of that building and community. they continually document this online. so if you hear setback, the .etwork actually picked it up and became a huge headline. that's why we believe -- that's completely logical for us, his articles from that connected to the larger network that when they decided to target them, they were probably like a couple of hundred miles on specific one. that's one of the things i would say that in minnesota outside, there are challenges obviously and i think it's an area that is

struggling. i think therere is tremendous progress happening with some community, interfaith groups there's a lot of things to allow and not understand. of the things we are really needing and this is the reason why we keep doing this, we need the actual thing. the stakeholders, to take serious leadership in the problem right now is as soon as something happens,ob these stakeholders are backing out. even politicians are afraid to push this back. most people are making decisions with very limited basic information. at the same time, i believe these groups protect themselves

to be very powerful because we kind of allow that. >> , to go back to the beginni beginning. how little information as people know about that. we think about climate change we may be naïve about the ways we contribute to climate change. what do we play in the network of climate change? recognizing that you are driving a car may contribute might lead to change individually. can you talk about what you think people may be unknowingly do to contribute to the network? i think it's clear, the worst action are most problematic. how are people unaware and contribute to the network?

>> one thing i am preaching that i hope all of you who listen today can at least do this. the space usually that is extremely toxic is social media. i've finding is that allies and advocates have fear of seeing something. the silence is killing us. reality ise usually, they are very opinionated, questions that they throw out. most of our allies are trying to answer that an intelligent answer. i trying to decipher what the question is, how can you balance it, what is the right approach? how many of you have actually typed in the common section and deleted? [laughter] we all do. i will give you the answer, if you don't have the time to figure out something smart to

say, just say something. let's fill the section with positive, something. we cannot allow he is to dominate these spaces. they just go directly to the comment section. with happening is when you go to the comments section, somebody welcome after you.ft then you get emotionally tied to this comment. it happens all the time. my biggest thing is, if we can get majority of people, when they see racism and bigotry, call it out and walk away don't carry it out. then you get emotionallyy connected. once you do that, it's like you show the other person behind you what it looks like to impose that on social media. going to the any of the local stations, just check there,

sections. people are literally going off. people are obviously responding but a lot of people don't know what is appropriate. i would say silent is the biggest problem and it's something every single person can do something about. >> thank you. very well said. i would like to pick up on that because i'm not muslim. the audience i primarily try to reach are my people. why is that? because it does not emanate muslims any more than anti-semitism am nate from jews. the u.s., the majority that is responsible for this, but there is a lot of them. remember doctor king's words, if , you're silent, you take that side. it's horrific. so that is a difficult thing to do.

the day after the election 2016, i follow with the question of why are things getting worse? by over almost every metric, it is getting worse. why? who do we talk to andta try to encourage to speak out but it's very important. a friend of mine, wrote a piece about this a couple of months go, christians included, speaking with other christians. need to be talking to each other about his islamophobia. i love talking to muslims, they do it pretty quickly. [laughter] my background, my people don't. this is hard point to make, what is is islamophobia? is a primarily ignorant? there are organizations who do such a great job, a resource for

about trying to educate the public on islam, rituals and taking traditions etc. this is important work. but we want to also understand that we can't only dork this because it's not primarily ignorant even though it is, it's racism. it's an anti- racism part. that's what makes it difficult to call this because you're askingra them, what are we doing that is complicit? through our silence and inability to recognize these practices are voting patterns and everything that contribute to a political order. here in the u.s. i would take lovely as well. that sustains his islamophobia. it's a form of racism so just remember, i want us, it's not

just about that.am you can still be a victim. robert spencer, he knows this. he can quote it. he knows the information, he's able to have different pieces of islam and show how it is portrayed. knowing information that is not enough and it imitates population is the one that needs to be addressed and they are seeking allies and need to speak more to the population. raising the barr when it comes address it, from you which i think helps push back. i fear to many of us seeking allies have not raised the bar enough. they struggle to come in terms

with history of racism. the history of white christian just one of my big talking points.ts the industry has done well to distract us. he said it so well, the function of racism is his distraction. we got to stop being distracted in draw attention to the all the other stuff that we should be looking at. [applause] >> i'm really glad he's been here, it's critical to show it as white supremacist. we understand as an extension of what we see as far more extended than a phenomenon.

it's a muslim ban be signed by trump, there's a threat that was 1790 to 1994 that restricted muslims becoming the distance. there was this narrative that muslims were not horrified religion but put ago ideology was entirely anti- cynical with american identity and values. was actually orientalism. it's a system national discourse that offensively effectively sees and sees the manufacturing of anti- muslims today it's critical to understand and i think another important point, they can bring greater is islamophobia. we see it when we look at policing, the last

administration and knowledgeable about any administration before and they use that knowledge to further the adventures like extremism, specifically where i come from, against the muslim community, this idea that knowledge actually is on his islamicce views, especially we e talking about who is more intelligent. again, critical to think about his islamophobia and white supremacist project, really critical because it helps them understand part of the project of this idea is to minimize non-christian believers. especially during this moment of considerable graphic shifts, they predicted to be majority

and minority in 2043 which is intensifying anxiety and paranoia and the main reason why this ministration has been so effective the idea like the mystical walls, muslim fans, things of that nature is because the objective is the main thing, atwhite missouri of the country and it helps deliver that promise and greater objective. >> i was struck by thinking about white supremacist over american history, you mentioned arkansas, a case in which alabama allied the naacp. it's the same thing, the same issue. repeated in a differentnt way. >> absolutely. i will say that one of the

spaces we fail in, that we can do better in is to not allow the debate of the islam of public network that they try to debate. we cannot allow it to dominate those debates. i believe we are equipped to deal with the complexity of issues out there so what's happening is that we know something is racist, we hear something racist but we can't actually find other terms or argue on their terms because the way they framed it so for an example, we know the frames, black on black violence his or racist framework. it's a way of stating state% ability and to do historic justice to black committees in the u.s. somebody falls into the trap of talking about black on black and

gang violence instead of historical discrimination, if we allow that to go forward, we lose the battle. the same way, with her, his islamophobia or shari'a, often more knowledgeable than before our own community. to be able to debate those things on those terms. i dorm believe that in additiono mobilizing our solidarity and being willing to standve up, we have to equip ourselves to be able to engage in debates which is why we have to have teachers, researchers and professors to absorb that knowledge it not be afraid to jump into understanding the complexity of the world's other. it is linked to white supremacist and complex but we have to educates ourselves. [applause]

>> we have a couple of minutes to entertain audience questions. somebody have a question to ask? i'd ask you in the interest of time, keep the question brief. >> my questionue is, how by the media, i think one of the driving forces of his on the phobia about that case, thank you. >> question about the peter, will take one question and then i'll talk about it. >> i'm wondering how this is in

everything? >> we have a question about media and the term refugee. do you want to start? >> many of you remember the story, is $100 billion being departed and it was going to small you and it started immediately on a bunch of hearings at thend capital and eventually the backtracked, multiple conversations with them about this and a few weeks ago, a report came out that said factually, it is allll the majority correct. that story and all singular stories are actually on social media all the time. that's one of the strategies of this network, to project this committee is violent so anything

that is close to that will be projected. as far as dimension along the minnesota, when it comes to muslims and immigrants, one of the ways that this is, in minnesota, one of the parties was running on this, we're going to stop immigrants from coming to minnesota. that platform was really about muslims because they were really talking about other areas. the conversation about immigrants to the committee. the muslim community. there are articles every single day about their written about this. it's something many people don't know in minnesota.th we are probably 40t or 50 in te unity percentagewise than one positive one. most people from the city like i

don't see that. reality is, all of them areth happening in small towns. they are really getting the same writing in fact, some of them are just a word search, you will find the same one published in florida. it was not even their words. particularly thend language in minnesota and also small you was muslim, too. a lot of people would say to you happy? that's when they see white they were wearing a job. >> thank you. >> something about the refugee? it's not only here but the term refugee is disparaging somehow. i've been confused about is my that media space is so dominated by the right because the refugee settlement work that happens across the country, he will find

some of the m most powerful stories of american society coming together. you all know this, it's an refugee resettlement and hosting of people coming from other parts of the country receiptch e best of america. we really do see churches, secular groups, children, we see people coming together on a regular basis to uplift, contribute and really do some amazing work. i don't understand why we don't have greater capacity around the storytelling this.e. in today's age, i'm encouraging organizations, to outfit themselves, better storytelling capacity in that regard. that to me is a very good friend to overcome. hard encourage you to consider a little investment in that way. >> and taking the stories to the media. >> absolutely. they are great stories. it's great work to be done.

again, local media is perfect. >> the media is actually emerged from the hall so the reason they are saying refugees, effectively served for muslims is because it's spatially mutual. by use of legislation and executive orders, it enables the state or maker of the law to avoid a heist scrutiny of the quarter. the media is a meeting with the law has been doingis for a long time. to appear nonracist, to appear on bigoted, the highest points of public scrutiny. his another highlight in a way in which business interest

dialogue, the media is in court that they been doing for a long time. >> two things, i think the muslim been comes to mind. i still can't shake the band was not just about refugees and immigrants from outside.wi the two are connected. policy and domestic policy toward marginalized groups almost always connected. that was an attempted political victory targeting many people sitting in this room. thought, you're fighting really complement. also pushing back against policy that is meant to demonize muslims in america.. >> especially limits them to delegitimize citizens. from right from people who have

been naturalized. >> long-standing historical battle. in terms of media, i'm trying to say something positive here. [laughter] particularly mainstream national media. maybe i'm not the best person to inspire you on this. other than that at least we should be very careful, close to mainstream media, corporate media interest in state interest are very much intertwined. i learned more and more to approach outletsor as state college. criticized in turkey, that's fine if you want to criticize me for that. if you like i'm kind of giving this media as well. in terms of political interest, you have interest and i just mentioned the war, how many jump on that quickly, right? i'm very suspicious of how we contributed to that. mainstream media frames this, particularly in termsen of

terrorism, it's incredibly disproportionate. they don't -- it's our responsibility for the high percentage of terrorist attacks. it's hard to push back on the mainstream media.. i have aam little bit more optimism for this, because of relationship with journalists to have access to in a city or town can make a difference in the long run. it's hard to investment. in terms of -- i am skeptical about the media but i don't see the media as a primary source of this, phobia. it's a mechanism. i'm not losing sleep over at night, because of his, phobia. sometimes folks like that can serve as a mouthpiece because of f the super deeper root of it. for intimacy policies and

parties. that's what we need to draw attention to in terms of structural nature and the relationship to the media. time for one're more question. >> hello. just wondering if you've spoken to the role of evangelical institutions and is, phobia, or other roles. >> if i could body that question a bit, what is the role of specific revisit religion organizations? is a complex story.

timeit to go fully demonstrate t maybe -- >> there are people who can do better work on this. i speak very quickly, my generation and older, we are very much interested in certain policy when it comes to israel. it very much feeds that industry he a broader narrative if islam phobia that we should be continuing to pay attention to in the reason wens should particularly call this group, there are exceptions. but in terms of a broader sense here, this is important because if you remember not long ago, a couple of controversies involving when she criticized that, you have to know much but christians are very much in that. this is not a jewish organization. there are plenty of juice for

their effect. they are all with the juice and therefore they were interpreted in the worst possible way as opposed to what she was trying to engage in, nuance. the debate about israel which would include even questions. calling attention to help each ofut the larger puzzle, includig a form of that drove his comments were framed. [applause] >> i think one think we should just know is that is, phobia can any group, in fact, i would say almost every group has islamophobia. i had to deal with someone who

attended the conference what hard time understanding talking spaces, is it, phobia. they share the same space but i think one of them are looking into our own committees to recognize the voices don't exist. i would say that when you pull particularly jewish community in america, they know more about islamophobia than most people. the first calls i get from the office is from the jewish committee. almost a third of the people class week who showed up for jewish americans who stood with ae islam a minute. they are muslims coming with prejudice and they set themselves that 60% in the jewish 66%. note that the jewish community, they understand the issues are

not an anomaly issue. i think we have to recognize that we have to quantify and understand the threat from white nationalism, introduction to the next part. i think some of us be to understand that islamophobia can be found in all our community's and we have to deal with it now. [applause] >> that's not necessarily a religious project so often times is the most prominent effective part, we shouldn't necessarily conflate that with i and is in. ,. [applause] i really want everybody to look up ann article, he described

checks this relationship, if there's any work that is capitalizing on thats question, that would be it. i can't articulate what heot sas but highly recommending reading it. >> he's in the other panel. [laughter] >> it's a really great piece. >> i think we need to finish our session. the next session starts at 10:30 p.m. there's a break now. thank you to our panelists. [applause] >> starting now, booktv on c-span2.