Busboys and Poets Books Presents INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN MUSLIM
Date and Time
Sep 12, 2022 7:00 pm
Location
450K
450 K St NW, Washington, District of Columbia, 20001
Sep 12, 2022 7:00 pm
450K
On September 11, 2001, nineteen terrorists hijacked four airplanes and carried out attacks on the United States, killing more than three thousand Americans and sending the country reeling. Three days after the attacks, President George W. Bush declared, "This is a day when all Americans from every walk of life unite in our resolve for justice and peace." Yet in the days following, Bush declared a "War on Terror," which would result in years of Muslims being targeted on the basis of collective punishment and scapegoating. In 2009, President Barack Obama said, "America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace." Instead, Obama perpetuated the War on Terror's infrastructure that Bush had put in place, rendering his words entirely empty. President Donald Trump's overtly Islamophobic rhetoric added fuel to the fire, stoking public fears to justify the continuation of the War his predecessors had committed to.
In Innocent until Proven Muslim, scholar and organizer Dr.Maha Hilal tells the powerful story of two decades of the War on Terror, exploring how the official narrative has justified the creation of a sprawling apparatus of state violence rooted in Islamophobia and excused its worst abuses. Hilal offers not only an overview of the many iterations of the War on Terror in law and policy, but also examines how Muslim Americans have internalized oppression, how some influential Muslim Americans have perpetuated collective responsibility, and how the lived experiences of Muslim Americans reflect what it means to live as part of a ""suspect"" community. Along the way, this marginalized community gives voice to lessons that we can all learn from their experiences, and to what it would take to create a better future.
Twenty-one years after the tragic events of 9/11, we must look at its full legacy in order to move toward a United States that is truly inclusive and unified. Addressing its catastrophic impact, Dr. Maha Hilal will share her insights on the last twenty years of the War on Terror including the role of official narrative in justifying the creation of a sprawling apparatus of state violence rooted in Islamophobia and in addition to outlining just how vast the War on Terror's apparatus is and has become. Joining Dr. Hilal is Dr. Mariam Durrani, a feminist anthropologist, Muslim professor, and multimodal mediamaker.
This event is free and open to all. Our program begins at 7:00 pm, and will be followed by an audience Q&A. Copies of INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN MUSLIM will be available for purchase after the event, and there will be a signing. Full dinner service is available throughout the show. Please note that this event will not be livestreamed.
We ask that guests RSVP in order to receive direct updates about the event from Busboys and Poets Books. Proof of RSVP may be requested on arrival if capacity is reached.
Dr. Maha Hilal is a researcher and writer on institutionalized Islamophobia and author of the book Innocent Until Proven Muslim: Islamophobia, the War on Terror, and the Muslim Experience Since 9/11. Her writings have appeared in Vox, Al Jazeera, Middle East Eye, Newsweek, Business Insider, Truthout, among others. She is the founding Executive Director of the Muslim Counterpublics Lab, former Co-Director of Justice for Muslims Collective and was previously the inaugural Michael Ratner Middle East Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C. Dr. Hilal is also an organizer with Witness Against Torture. She earned her doctorate in May 2014 from the Department of Justice, Law and Society at American University in Washington, D.C. She received her Master's Degree in Counseling and her Bachelor's Degree in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Dr. Mariam Durrani is a feminist anthropologist, Muslim professor, and multimodal mediamaker. Her scholarship and advocacy is located at the intersection of global racialization, migration, Muslim youth cultures, and higher education studies in the US, in Pakistan, and online. She teaches in the International and Intercultural Communication program at American University School of International Service. You can find her on twitter @mariamdurrani and on instagram @mari_amdurrani and @theroticollective.
