Veiled Islamophobic policies are openly espoused by elected white officials

Evidence

Overt Islamophobia was more pervasive among Republican state politicians, particularly during the 2016 presidential elections. In 2015, former Nebraska state senator Bill Kintner wanted to require Muslims to eat pork before they could enter the United States. In Rhode Island, Senator Elaine Morgan advocated placing Syrian refugees in a camp because Muslims seek “to murder, rape and decapitate anyone who is a non-Muslim.” In 2016, Tennessee state representative Susan Lynn distributed one of the Islamophobia industry’s propaganda films, America’s Mosques Exposed! Video Evidence They Are War Factories, to her colleagues in the General Assembly. Four of Alabama’s top elected officials, including the governor, a congressman, and a police chief, publicly denigrated Islam or Muslims. And New Hampshire state lawmaker Kenneth Weyler argued that giving public benefits to “any person that practices Islam is aiding and abetting the enemy.” — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 824

Categorization

• SEED: A catalog of specific anti-Muslim statements by seated officials across states offers a strong data-backed essay on how electoral venues legitimize hate speech.
• SHARE: The Nebraska pork-eating proposal and the ‘aiding and abetting the enemy’ benefits ban are details worth sending to a friend tracking right-wing legislative rhetoric.