On Feb. 27, almost 200 veterans gathered at the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center in Roxbury, Massachusetts to show support for local Muslims, reported The Boston Globe. The participants, many of whom belonged to the group Veterans for Peace, said they believed the divisive 2016 presidential race had engendered a troubling undercurrent of Islamophobia within the country.
"When you listen to what's going on in presidential politics there is a lot of misinformation and some people are really misrepresenting what this religion is," Bob Funke, an Army veteran and coordinator for Veterans for Peace, told the newspaper. "They're using it as a wedge issue and they're scaring people. It's the politics of fear."
Many in the U.S. echo Funke's sentiment. According to the Pew Research Center, 48 percent of Americans believe the relationship between followers of Islam and Westerners is damaged.
The veterans who attended the rally carried homemade signs that read "Muslims Are Not our Enemies" and "Stop The Bigotry." Members of the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center, the largest mosque in New England, mixed in with the ex-servicemembers and offered similar sentiments.
"We really appreciate that someone is standing up during this time to reflect what's right and stop bigotry," Mariam Mahmoud, a local mosque-goer, said in an interview with The Globe. "It takes a lot of courage and bravery."
Boston Police Commissioner William Evans also attended the rally and reassured local Muslims that his department would do all it could to protect them in the face of culturally-motivated violence.
The mosque prepared lunch for the supporters and hosted an informational session for those who wanted to learn more about Islam. Some even participated in afternoon prayer.
"It's like breaking walls down," Armida Commesse, a Muslim from Foxborough, told The Globe. "My heart is just so filled with love."
Sewing the seeds of conflict
The rise of the Islamic State and other terrorist organizations has led many Americans to fear Islam and its followers, reported The Wall Street Journal. In December of last year, collective trepidation over the religion seemed to hit a fever pitch when self-radicalized followers of the Islamic State carried out large-scale attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California. Soon after, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump floated the idea of banning Muslims from entering the U.S. until federal agencies could improve domestic security and institute harsher immigration policies.
According to a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll conducted at the time, almost 57 percent of Americans objected to Trump's proposal while 25 percent supported it. However, nearly 40 percent of conservative voters agreed with the plan.
Muslims, allies react
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, which supports the estimated 2.75 million Muslims who live in the U.S., called Trump's remarks "outrageous" and "reckless," reported Reuters. Groups like the United Nations and the Southern Poverty Law Center expressed similar reactions. President Barack Obama also offered criticism and told Americans to be tolerant of their fellow citizens.
The veterans who showed up at the mosque in Roxbury last month offered similar thoughts and emphasized that they were protesting an ideology, not a single individual.
"Hate speech is not acceptable," Barry Ladendorf, president of national chapter of Veterans for Peace, told The Globe. "We're not against Trump. We're against the speech."