White House announces strategy, action plan to counter Islamophobia

The Biden administration earlier this month unveiled a 60-page National Strategy to Counter Islamophobia and Anti-Arab Hate, the first ever U.S. initiative of its kind. Similar to the National Strategy to Combat Antisemitism, issued in May 2023, the strategy includes more than 100 new government-led actions to counter the growing danger that Islamophobia poses to religious liberty.

As the White House rightly noted, Islamophobia is a threat that impacts the freedom of all Americans, and requires nationwide vigilance and action:

The Strategy emphasizes that a threat to one American community is a threat to all and to our democratic system. Hatred of Arabs and Muslims erodes our democracy by spreading manipulative falsehoods, encouraging people to act based on fear instead of fact, promoting prejudice and dehumanization, discouraging active citizenship, and driving people toward authoritarianism. In short, Islamophobia and hate against Arabs impact everyone. All Americans have ample reason to join the effort to counter these forms of hate and build greater unity in our country.

The White House highlighted recent incidents of horrific violence targeting Palestinian Americans, including “the heinous killing of six-year-old Wadee Alfayoumi and assault on his mother, Hanan Shahin, in Illinois; the shooting of three young men in Vermont; and the stabbing of a young man near a college campus in Texas.’”

Action items are organized into four strategic priorities:

• Increase Awareness of Hatred Against Muslims and Arabs and Broaden Recognition of These Communities’ Heritages
• Improve Safety and Security for Muslims and Arabs
• Tackle Discrimination and Bias Against Muslims and Arabs and Appropriately Accommodate Their Religious Practices; and
• Continue to Build Cross-Community Solidarity and Collective Action to Counter Hate

The strategy discusses important actions already undertaken by the Biden administration, like rescinding the Trump administration’s discriminatory travel ban, which prevented individuals from majority-Muslim countries from entering the U.S. It also encourages new steps, like asking Congress to recognize Arab American Heritage Month and to fully fund Justice Department programs targeting hate crimes.

BJC Executive Director Amanda Tyler welcomed this detailed plan, commending its goals to work across government and civil society to both build and improve relationships with Muslim and Arab communities. “This is an important report and strategic plan that calls us to action so that our country lives up to its promise of freedom and opportunity for all,” she said. “Religious freedom must be for everyone, and this initiative encourages a deeper understanding of and accommodation for religious practices.”

The White House also calls on broader society to take action, asking state and local governments to improve hate crime reporting and build relationships with Muslim and Arab communities, and asking online platforms to “ensure … community standards explicitly cover hatred targeting Muslim or Arab and other religious and ethnic communicates,” and to “permanently ban repeat offenders, both personal accounts and extremist websites.”

These recommendations recognize that tackling a challenge as deep as Islamophobia requires action at both the government and societal levels. “We all have a role to play,” the strategy concludes, “in continuing to build a more perfect union.”