ACS At-Large: The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes Religious Freedom

Professor Sahar Aziz from Rutgers University Law School will be discussing her book, The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes Religious Freedom. Why does a country with religious liberty enmeshed in its legal and social structures produce such overt prejudice and discrimination against Muslims? Sahar Aziz's groundbreaking book demonstrates how race and religion intersect to create what she calls the Racial Muslim. Comparing discrimination against immigrant Muslims with the prejudicial treatment of Jews, Catholics, Mormons, and African American Muslims during the twentieth century, Aziz explores the gap between America's aspiration for and fulfillment of religious freedom. With America's demographics rapidly changing from a majority white Protestant nation to a multiracial, multireligious society, this book is an indispensable read for understanding how our past continues to shape our present--to the detriment of our nation's future.