After four Islamic centers were attacked in the past six months in western Washington, community members gathered together at Muslim American Youth Foundation (MAYF) Center in Burien, Washington to show unity, strength, and reslience. The theme of the event: Solidarity Day.
It was a day in which community members from all four islamic centers that were attacked gathered together to show that they are stronger together. In addition to these community members, a multitude of sympathizers and government officials were in attendance, including members of other faith-based organizations that have also faced similar hate crimes. Burien’s police chief, city council members, and the governor of Washington, Jay Inslee, were all in attendance.
“We are here to say that an assault on anyone, including Muslim Americans, in the state of Washington is an assault on everyone in the state of Washington,” the governor said. While he said that “people have tried to strike fear in this community,” he urged community members to maintain hope in overcoming hate. With many youth in the audience, he appropriately added that “these kids are the future for the state of Washington.”
The state of Washington has faced dozens of hate crimes across a number of different religious organizations. Within the past year, churches, synagogues, sikh centers, and islamic centers have been the victims of these crimes. Speakers from various organizations spoke about incidents in their respective organizations.
A member of the sikh community spoke about how someone broke into their community center and vandalized the place. Kareem from the Islamic Center of Olympia spoke about how someone dropped an explosion at the center. Nasir from the Islamic Center of Tacoma spoke about how someone attempted to burn the masjid down, while congregants were in the masjid just minutes before night prayer. The perpetrator successfully burned a part of the masjid, but by-passers were able to warn attendees to stop it before it spread.
These subsequent events have worried members of these centers, as they don’t know when the next attack will be. In the ensuing days after an incident at MAYF, Dr. Yahya Suufi, imam at MAYF, said that he avoided his regular routine, as he’s usually at the center early in the morning. On the day when someone drove into the masjid parking lot to then smash a car into the side of the building, he was alone.
But instead of being enveloped in fear, the communities have all risen together even stronger than before. “If they thought they would put fear in our hearts, they [rather] just created allies and friends for us,” Dr. Yahya said at the event, in a crowd filled with people of various creeds, ethnicities, and backgrounds. “They made us feel that evil cannot stand against good.”
In the spirit of solidarity with all, speakers were reminiscent of many hate crimes around the country and around the world. Solidarity Day took place at the one year anniversary of the brutal killings of six Asians in an Atlanta spa. Speakers spoke of Solidarity Day being the day after the three-year anniversary of the catastrophic killings of dozens of Muslims in the New Zealand massacre.
And with the frequency of incidents in Washington, community members can’t help but see these incidents as coming from a very hateful, malicious place. But they are also prepared to fight back with a united front. “Our love, our unity, our solidarity, will always outweigh that [hate],” Aneelah Afzaali says.
But in addition to resisting combating hate with hate, these centers are relying on awareness, public condemnation, and the authorities to protect citizens, and especially community centers that are the antithesis of hate. And this was echoed by Hamdi Mohammed, Court of Seattle Commissioner and the director of the Office of Immigration and Refugee Affairs.
As one of the keynote speakers, Hamdi stressed elected officials’ obligation to help protect these community centers. “This [MAYF] is a space for our youth and we are committed to protecting it,” she says. “As elected officials, we will make sure we do what we can to invest in these spaces and invest in ensuring that these hate crimes are appropriately reported.”
With the support of elected officials and community members from all walks of life, Solidarity Day reflected a vision of hope and a united center for Seattle’s youth. The event was hosted at MAYF’s basketball gymnasium, which represents a home away from home for many of the youngsters – and about which Governor Inslee says “I hope to come back to shoot a few hoops with some great American Muslim youth.”
