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Words by\u00a0Sarah Fulton<\/em> Nadia Ali walks down the street in Des Moines, Iowa. She\u2019s casually playing on her phone. Suddenly, a man yells \u201cGo home!\u201d from a passing car. Her mother, a few steps ahead, turns to look, confused. She asks Ali if the man yelled at her. He did. All because Ali wore her hijab as she walked to her mosque.<\/p>\n \u201cThey look at you like you\u2019re an outsider; you\u2019re a foreigner,\u201d Ali says. \u201cThey don\u2019t look at you as you are a member of the community. You\u2019re a Muslim.\u201d<\/p>\n Her experience isn\u2019t an uncommon one for Muslims in the Midwest\u2014and for Muslims nationwide. They often face suspicion and resentment\u2014and occasionally outright violence.<\/p>\n[aesop_parallax img=”http:\/\/urban-plains.com\/2016\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/IslamGraphicsFinal3_ji.jpg” parallaxbg=”off” parallaxspeed=”0″ captionposition=”bottom-left” lightbox=”on” floater=”on” floaterposition=”left” floaterdirection=”up”]\n\n Todd Green, an associate professor of religion at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, wrote about the roots of Islamophobia in his book, \u201cThe Fear of Islam: An Introduction to Islamophobia in the West.\u201d He says that anti-Muslim attacks rose considerably beginning in 2015, spurred on by the heated rhetoric in the presidential campaign, and the violent attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California.<\/p>\n \u201cIslamophobia is worse now than ever. I won\u2019t say that we\u2019re at the peak because I don\u2019t know that it isn\u2019t going to get any worse,\u201d Green says. \u201cIt has never been as bad as it is right now, period.\u201d<\/p>\n Hibaq Salim, a drug and alcohol counselor in Des Moines, saw this hate targeted at her 10-year-old sister. As the girl walked home from school, a man yelled out his apartment window, “Go home, towel head!” Salim was shocked.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re associating me with something I\u2019m not or something I didn\u2019t do,\u201d Salim says. \u201cIt kind of makes you feel like a black sheep, I guess.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nVideo and photo by Emma Wilson<\/em><\/p>\n