Incidents of hate crimes and animosity against Muslims in the United States have increased since the recent terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels. This reality has caused members of the Muslim community in California to feel unwelcome in the United States.
Many Muslims say that the U.S. government has also contributed to this feeling of not being welcome. The FBI started tracking Muslims in the United States after 9/11, even if they never committed a crime. Over a thousand Muslims in the Bay Area report that FBI agents or police have showed up unannounced to speak with them. Advocates believe these officers are fishing for information about terrorism, or trying to turn Muslim Americans into informants.
Sarmad Gilani, a Pakistani American who works for Google in San Francisco, started having trouble getting on planes a few years ago. He began searching for answers about why he was having so much trouble flying. Then an FBI agent showed up at his workplace to question him, and Sarmad says his life hasn’t been the same ever since.
Credits
REPORTERS: Levi Bridges
MUSIC: The Rolling Stones, “Fingerprint File”
PHOTO CAPTION & CREDIT: Herald de Paris
Air Date
May 2016