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Muslim advocacy group says it has received 1,000 calls reporting civil rights violations since 2016

“While we received fewer requests for help this year, the nature of the complaints was still alarming.”

May 12, 2022

The Massachusetts chapter of a nationwide Muslim advocacy group has received more than 1,000 calls for assistance since 2016 from members of the faith community whose civil rights were violated, the group said Wednesday.

In a statement, CAIR-MA, state chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said it received 163 requests for legal assistance in 2021, down from an average of 240 in prior years. However, the statement said, once schools returned to in-person classes amid the pandemic, calls reporting aggressive, at times violent bullying of Muslim students spiked.

CAIR-MA’s newly released 2021 civil rights report dubbed “Protecting Our Community” documents more than 1,000 calls for assistance from members of the Muslim community since 2016, when CAIR-MA’s legal department was established, the statement said.

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