White House releases national plan to combat Islamophobia before Joe Biden’s term ends
Officials spent months preparing the anti-Islamophobia plan, which was released on Thursday, just five weeks before President Joe Biden's term ends.
The White House has released its first national plan to tackle Islamophobia, listing over 100 steps to address hate, violence and discrimination against Muslims and Arab Americans.
This plan comes after a similar national strategy to combat antisemitism, announced by President Joe Biden in May 2023, amid growing concerns about hatred and discrimination against Jewish communities in the United States.
Officials spent months preparing the anti-Islamophobia plan, which was released on Thursday, just five weeks before President Joe Biden's term ends. Its implementation will largely depend on the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump.
“Over the past year, this initiative has become even more important as threats against American Muslim and Arab communities have spiked,” Biden administration said in a statement announcing the strategy.
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The statement referred to the October 2023 killing of six-year-old Wadee Alfayoumi, a Palestinian American Muslim boy, who was stabbed to death in Illinois.
The plan outlines steps the executive branch can take, along with over 100 recommendations for various sectors of society.
Its priorities include raising awareness of prejudice against Muslims and Arabs while celebrating their cultural contributions, enhancing their safety and security, addressing discrimination by supporting religious accommodations, and fostering unity among communities to counter hate.
Many of those state goals are similar to the ones the Biden administration laid out in its plan to reduce antisemitism — especially the emphasis on improving safety and security and building cross-community solidarity.
“While individuals have sometimes been targeted because they are thought to be Muslim, it is also crucial to recognize that Arabs are routinely targeted simply for being who they are,” the announcement of the strategy states, noting that Muslims and Arab Americans have helped build out the nation since its founding.
It also added that new data collection and education efforts are “increasing awareness of these forms of hate as well of the proud heritages of Muslim and Arab Americans.”
The plan calls for spreading successful methods of involving Muslim and Arab Americans in reporting hate crimes and for federal agencies to more explicitly state that “discrimination against Muslim and Arab Americans in federally funded activities is illegal.”
The White House plan also encourages “state, local, and international partners, along with the nongovernmental sector, to pursue similar efforts aimed at fostering unity by acknowledging our shared humanity, affirming common values and history, and upholding equal justice, liberty, and security for all.”
Pro-Palestinian groups, criticising the administration’s strong support for Israel in its war with Gaza, often disrupted campaign events for Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris after Biden withdrew from the reelection race in July.
Trump, who introduced a travel ban on several Muslim-majority countries during his first term, won the largest majority-Muslim city in the US in last month’s elections. However, some Arab Americans who supported him have started raising concerns about certain Cabinet and administration picks for his upcoming term.
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