Emile Bustani Seminar: "The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes Religious Freedom"

Zoom Webinar ID: 917 5897 1523
Passcode: bustani 

Watch the lecture on YouTube!

The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes Religious Freedom

Sahar Aziz
Kleh Visiting Distinguished Professor of International Law, Boston University School of Law

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.

Sahar Aziz's scholarship examines the intersection of national security, race, religion, and civil rights with a focus on the adverse impact of national security laws and policies on racial, religious, and ethnic minorities.  She is the author of the book The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes Religious Freedom and the founding director of the Center for Security, Race and Rights.  Professor Aziz is a recipient of the Derrick A. Bell Award from the Association of American Law Schools and was named a 2020 Middle Eastern and North African American National Security and Foreign Policy Next Generation Leader by New America.