Three reasons US Democrats voted in a bill to address anti-Muslim bias

The US House of Representatives has approved a bill to combat anti-Muslim sentiment.

Sponsored by Democrat Ilhan Omar, the bill passed with a 219-212 party-line vote. It now needs to pass the Senate before it can be signed into law by President Joe Biden. 

It would establish a new special envoy position at the US State Department to monitor and combat anti-Muslim sentiment worldwide.

The office would record violence against Muslims, vandalism of mosques, cemeteries and schools worldwide and other forms of discrimination, harassment and incitement. Opponents of the bill say it does not define ‘Islamophobia’, and are concerned it could be used to shut down legitimate criticism. 

Here are three key reasons the Democrats voted in favour.

It started with a racist joke

During a House floor debate last month, Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert cracked a racist joke about Somali-born congresswoman Ilhan Omar, calling her a member of the “jihad squad”, a play on “the squad” group of progressive lawmakers that also include Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley  and Rashida Tlaib.

The bill was drafted as a legislative response to that controversy.

Rise in anti-Muslim sentiment around the world

 "We are in the midst of a staggering rise of anti-Muslim violence and discrimination around the world," Omar said in her speech to the House this week. 

In a report published last March, UN special rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief Ahmed Shaheed said anti-Muslim hatred had reached “epidemic proportions” around the world. He cited surveys conducted in Europe in 2018 and 2019 showing that nearly four in 10 people held unfavourable views about Muslims. In 2017, 30 percent of Americans viewed Muslims “in a negative light,” the rapporteur said.

In 2017, a crackdown by Myanmar's army on Rohingya Muslims forced hundreds of thousands to flee across the border to Bangladesh. Earlier this year, Muslim residents of India’s northern state of Assam were forcefully evicted from their homes. 

Coming back from Trump’s anti-Muslim ban

According to a recent Council on American-Islamic relations report, 69 percent of more than 1,000 American Muslims surveyed said they had experienced discrimination or bigotry.

Yet, in the United States and elsewhere, discrimination is also state-sponsored. When President Joe Biden took office, he reversed a controversial travel ban targeting first Muslims, then Africans. But many have argued that more needs to be done to counter decades of discrimination, often practiced under the guise of national security.