Progressive Muslim Identities: Personal Stories from the U.S. and Canada

Introduction

In the fall of 2010, I got a call from a Muslim friend in New York whose eleven-year-old son was assaulted by a schoolmate while riding the bus. The attacker was influenced by the prejudice around him and had watched comedian Jeff Dunham’s and his puppet “Achmed the Dead Terrorist.” My friend filed an official complaint with the school district at the urging of her Jewish friend, a lawyer. He told her that at a neighboring school district, kids had painted “Muslim go home” on a ...