I’ve to agree, whereas I’m appalled and shaken by what I’d describe as home terrorism, I’m not stunned. I’ve seen my mother and father expertise racist violence once I was a toddler within the 80s, and I’ve confronted racist micro-aggressions all through my life in England, however over the past 12 months, I’ve seen first-hand the far proper develop into emboldened of their ant-immigrant, racist and Islamophobic rhetoric and violence. 9 months in the past, I got here head to head with EDL members whereas I used to be a steward at a Professional-Palestine protest. I needed to chaperone an aged Muslim girl in a hijab and her daughters away from a bunch of thugs who yelled Islamophobic slurs at them, earlier than directing their aggression in direction of a Black feminine steward. Simply two months in the past, I turned a sufferer of racial abuse myself on a practice in London, when a white man in his 20s talked loudly about voting for Reform UK within the common election, earlier than singling me out in a carriage of white individuals to repeatedly shout that “Islam is disgusting” in my face. He didn’t know – and didn’t care – that I’m not a Muslim. For many who look visibly Muslim, it’s even scarier, as London-based photographer Noorunisa explains.
“It’s a very worrying time for Brown and Black women, and even more so when you are a visibly Muslim woman – we’re an easy target because you can’t hide the fact you’re a Muslim when you have a hijab on,” she says. “When I heard about the Muslim woman who had her hijab ripped off, that really scared me. I feel incredibly unsafe and I’m worried about going out to work. Trying to live a normal life is scary right now.”
And whereas the violent rioters are utilizing the horrific stabbings of youngsters at a Stockport dance class as their misinformed reasoning for assaults towards immigration centres, mosques, accommodations housing asylum seekers and muslim-owned outlets, the federal government is but to establish this prison behaviour as anti-immigrant or Islamophobic.
“We need to understand that this violence didn’t come from a vacuum. Politicians and the press have demonised Muslims and migrants for decades, scapegoating minority communities for the failures of the political system,” Zarah Sultana MP for Coventry South tells GLAMOUR. “Now many of those same politicians and media outlets are refusing to call this what it is: Far-right, Islamophobic, racist violence. If politicians don’t acknowledge this, they can’t properly tackle it and they fail to show to Muslim communities that they recognise the reality of the threat we’re facing. We need to face-up to this racist far-right violence and end the demonisation of Muslims and migrants.”
Zarah, who herself is a younger Muslim girl, is the MP who receives essentially the most on-line threats and abuse, she is aware of all about feeling unsafe. “Women of colour and those perceived as Muslims are understandably terrified right now. Muslim women wearing the hijab are being assaulted in the street, mosques are being attacked, hotels housing asylum seekers are being torched,” she explains. “Friends are worried about going out to the shops; my sisters are being encouraged to work from home because it’s not safe for them to walk the streets. This isn’t an environment anyone should have to endure.”
And as news starts to roll in on social media and family WhatsApp channels that far right groups have started gathering around the UK, my heart sinks. My sisters have all admitted to having thoughts about leaving the UK to live abroad because they no longer feel safe, but at the same time, we acknowledge that England is our home, it’s where we were born and we won’t be forced out. My fear is slowly turning to a resilience that I shouldn’t have to show, but I will for those who are less privileged than me, and that’s what we need our white allies to do. Your Black and Brown friends are not ok, so step up and check in on them, and stand up for us in the spaces where we are not safe, whether that’s at an anti-racism protest or calling out Islamophobia from friends, family and colleagues.
