The issue on racial discrimination among Muslims continually progressed as terrorism and the ISIS continually cause havoc which also jeopardized the daily lives of Muslim students in the United States. Several discrimination cases have been left unresolved, thus the federal government is reaching out to schools to protect their Muslim students from discrimination.
According to EdWeek, the US Department of Education is asking for help when it comes to protecting not only the Muslim students, but also immigrants and refugees. It was mentioned that they should be protected and they should feel safe from discrimination and harassment.
Muslim students and immigrants are often the subject of bullying and harassment among school as terrorism continually surge. The letter entitled "Dear Colleague," was signed by Arne Duncan, the former Educational Secretary and the acting Secretary, John King.
The letter urged educators, school boards and parents to protect immigrants and Muslim students as they too, are entitled to learn and receive education. Their call to show compassion among these students is due to the threats of bullying and harassment they faced daily while in school.
What caused the discrimination to heightened however is the rampant rise of terrorism. GallUp noted that most Americans named terrorism as the number problem in the United States alone. This came after several deadly attacks from ISIS occurred over the past years.
As the terrorism threat continually rise, Muslim students and refugees are greatly affected as well. Most of the Muslim and Syrian students were subjected to threats as their classmates would refer to them as terrorist. There are even those who received death threats from their classmates as they were accused of being affiliated to ISIS.
Jennifer Wicks, a lawyer who handles civil rights complaints for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, stated that some kids are concerned that they might lose their Muslim friends as they hear things their Muslims and refugees would be asked to leave the school. These concerns often cause anxiety among young children which can potentially harm their mental health.
