A month after the shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego that killed three people, nearly 9 in 10 Muslims in San Diego say they feel less safe in their communities, according to a survey released Thursday.
The new report from UC San Diego’s U.S. Immigration Policy Center surveyed 312 local Muslim adults over the past month. The survey findings show how the Muslim community feels about safety, belonging and law enforcement’s response. Here are some of the key findings:
- Eighty-eight percent of respondents agreed that the shooting made them feel less safe in their community and 74% reported worrying more about their personal safety because they are Muslim.
- Nearly two-thirds of respondents reported personally experiencing discrimination in San Diego County in the past 12 months because they are Muslim.
- Nearly half those surveyed feel that law enforcement does not take threats against Muslims seriously.
On May 18, three men were killed when two teenage gunmen opened fire on the grounds of the mosque in San Diego’s Clairemont neighborhood. The two gunmen later killed themselves.
Imam Taha Hassane, the Islamic Center's director, said the attack underscores the threat of rising Muslim hate in the U.S.
“It's not something that happened, you know, out of nothing,” Hassane said. “It is just a demonstration, unfortunately, of the hate against the Muslim community that we have experienced for so long.”
Tazheen Nizam, executive director of the San Diego Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), said she and other leaders are asking law enforcement, elected officials and the broader community to focus on why the shooting happened.
“As we step back and we reflect, the biggest thing we want to always keep at the center of our focus is why this happened, what led to this and what can be done to prevent this in the future for not just the Muslim community, but every community,” Nizam said.
Nizam said the survey results are a call to action to elected officials and law enforcement.
“This is an indication to our law enforcement and to our elected officials that it is time for them to step up, step in, take stock of all of these feelings and act accordingly,” Nizam said.
She and Hassane both highlighted the need for security and safety for their places of worship. And a coalition of leaders, lawmakers and organizations has sent a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office requesting $20 million in emergency funding to provide more security and counseling in the local Muslim community, according to the press release accompanying the survey.
Nizam said there needs to be more support and inclusion for Muslim students in the nation’s classrooms.
“The root cause of this was the hate and bigotry that is perpetrated across the nation,” Nizam said. “We need to be talking about Muslims as a fabric of this nation from a very early age, so students don't grow up and presume that their Muslim neighbor is their enemy and needs to be deported or killed.”
Nizam said CAIR is also collecting data on the online hate speech following the shooting.
Despite the concerns, survey respondents expressed strong Muslim and American identities. Among those surveyed, 96% said that they are proud to be Muslim and 94% said that they are proud to be American.
