New ad campaign to dispel Muslim stereotypes

The Virginia Interfaith Center launched a new ad campaign aimed at dispelling negative views about the Muslim community.

The ads, designed by The Martin Agency as small beige posters bearing black Arabic script, were placed in all 170 Greater Richmond Transit Company buses on Nov. 27.

The signs are also displayed at the University of Richmond and Virginia Commonwealth University.

The posters include one that is literally translated as “Paper or plastic?”. Another one is the Arabic version of the "I'm a little tea pot" rhyme, and a third could be translated to the English equivalent of "rock, paper, scissors."

All the Arabic words are translated into English at the bottom of the posters, along with remarks like: "Misunderstanding can make anything scary," and "What did you think it said?"

The organizers of the ad campaign hope to eventually expand the program all over the United States.

They say the ads could help people overcome their unjustified fears about the Muslim community because many non-Muslims wrongfully associate Islam and Arabic to violence or terrorism.

"As soon as people see Arabic, they immediately make an association with terrorism," said the Rev. C. Douglas Smith, executive director of the Virginia Interfaith Center. "That's probably because since 9/11, not only is fear overwhelming us, but that's how we're being trained to think."

Another official involved with the ad campaign, Gretchen Schoel, said that the bus company received several calls from concerned riders who complained about the Arabic signs.

One woman, described by Schoel as a well-educated university employee, called the bus company's manager, suggesting that the FBI be called in to investigate.

Even after she understood the English meaning of the Arabic signs, she remained concerned that they might contain secret messages to terrorists, said Schoel, the executive director of A More Perfect Union, a project of the Virginia Interfaith Center that is spearheading the ads.

"It's so great that we're getting feedback, even if it is negative, because it shows that people are looking, they're thinking," he said. "And it really proves the point that this script right here conjures up certain ideas in our heads that we have to work with."

Challenge

Anti-Muslim bias is a continuing problem across the United States, according to Imad Damaj, president of the Virginia Muslim Coalition for Public Affairs.

"There are so many lazy, unexamined assumptions about all of us and how we react to people," Damaj said. "We need to challenge ourselves."

The ad campaign is the latest in a series of programs carried out by U.S. Muslims to dispel negative stereotypes about Muslims and Arabic speakers.

In 2004, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the U.S.’s largest Muslim rights group, launched a nationwide TV and radio campaign, featuring Muslims from different backgrounds, each ending with the slogan: "I am an American Muslim."

Despite the hard work, high-profile misunderstandings continue. In late November, six Muslim clerics were removed from a flight to Phoenix after some airline passengers expressed concern because the imams performed their evening prayer in the terminal.

It was the latest incident in which passengers who were Muslims or, in some cases, look like Muslims, were questioned, or even removed, before or after boarding flights.

CAIR said in its 11th annual report that discrimination against Muslims in the United States reached a record high in 2005.

The advocacy group said it processed a total of 1,927 civil rights and workplace discrimination complaints last year alone, almost 30% higher than the figures of 2005.

According to Schoel, history proves that Americans can learn to let go of irrational fears toward other cultures.

"After World War II, when people saw Japanese script it was scary," she said. "But now we see it and it's fun, it's hip, it signifies a cool culture."

"That's a huge turnaround."


I am really happy of this effort at dispelling negative views about the Muslim community more and more of this kind of ads must be lunged to put forward the real ISLAM.