US Government and American Muslims Engage to Define Islamophobia

On 4 December 2006, the American Muslims’ national leadership met withkey senior American government officials to discuss Islamophobia in thecountry and American-Muslim relations. The conference, organized by theBridging the Divide Initiative of the Saban Center at the Brookings Institution,was co-sponsored by the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding(ISPU) and the Association of Muslim Social Scientists (AMSS).As conference chair, I had to bring together two parties that did not seeeye-to-eye on this issue. While American Muslim leaders and participantsargued that Islamophobia was not only a reality but also a rapidly growingphenomenon in the United States, the government’s position was that whilethere have been increased incidences of anti-Muslim episodes in the country,the word Islamophobia deepens the divide between the two sides. Other government representatives also suggested that the fear to which Muslimswere referring was not that of Islam, but rather that of Muslim terrorism, asmanifested on 11 September 2001.Stephen Grand (director, United States-Islamic World program) welcomedall participants and launched the conference. The government wasrepresented by the Department of State, the Department of HomelandSecurity, and associated agencies. The morning keynote address was deliveredby Alina Romanowski (Deputy Assistant Secretary of State forProfessional and Cultural Affairs). She was introduced by AmbassadorMartin Indyk (director, the Saban Center), who proclaimed the importanceof such dialogues at a time when the gap between the United States and theMuslim world appears to be widening ...