Anti-Muslim hatred ratcheted up sharply
after the Islamic State attacks in Paris.
Then came San Bernardino and Donald Trump
BY LEAH NELSON
28 splc intelligence report
Calif. “We cannot turn against one another by letting this fight be defined as a war between America
and Islam,” he said.
Despite the president’s words — and warnings
from the Pentagon that alienating Muslims would
endanger national security — there was an extraordinary flood of anti-Muslim
attacks in the wake of the Paris
and San Bernardino massacres. There had already been
several noteworthy attacks on
Muslims in 2015, particularly
the February killings of three
young Muslim Americans in
Chapel Hill, N.C., by a man
known for his hatred of religion. But after the Nov. 13 mass murder in Paris, vandalism and arson, shootings and beatings, along with
threats and declarations of hatred and everlasting
war against Islam, seemed to explode. Egged on by a
AP IMAGES/FBI (MALIK); AP IMAGES/CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF MOTOR VEHICLES (FAROOK)
Standing with President Francois Hollande of
France 11 days after Islamic State terrorists slaughtered 130 people and injured more than 350 others in
three coordinated attacks in Paris, President Barack
Obama told Americans to refuse to give in to fear.
“There have been times in our history, in
moments of fear, when we
have failed to uphold our
highest ideals, and it has been
to our lasting regret. We must
uphold our ideals now. Each
of us, all of us, must show
that America is strengthened
by people of every faith and
every background,” he said at
the Nov. 24 press conference.
Obama took up the same theme on Dec. 6,
three days after a married couple, inspired by
Islamic State propaganda, murdered 14 in a terrorist attack at an office party in San Bernardino,