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Nashville Muslims Urge Anti-Bullying Bill

NASHVILLE – A Muslim group in Nashville, Tennessee, has been reaching out to lawmakers over the past year to present a bill that provides more security to children in schools, and guarantee that no child is bullied because of his faith.

“I am here to push you into allocating the funding instead of that and putting it into getting licensed health professionals who can reach out to these vulnerable children,” said Kasar Abdallah, a member of the American Muslim Advisory Council, Local Memphis reported.

Abdallah and other members of the group came to Tennessee’s Capitol Hill hoping to have their voices heard.

The group urged lawmakers to introduce a bill that says no child should be bullied because of his faith. Other groups urged Nashville speaker Beth Harwell to protect vulnerable children instead of arming teachers.

Harwell made no commitments on the urged bills.

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“You know I do not commit on a bill until I see it in its final version,” Harwell said.

Yet, she added that something might come out of the Governor’s special task force on school safety.

“We’ll look for a broad approach, including some additional funding for behavioral health issues in our schools,” said Rep. Harwell.

Meanwhile, Abdallah, as well as almost twelve member of the American Muslim Advisory Council, are willing to continue their fight for children safety in schools.

“I am voting, and they will see my face and they will see my emails until we find a better plan. We will work together,” said Abdallah.

A similar anti-bullying bill was signed on September 2016, in the first step towards ending harassment of students based on religious affiliation, ethnicity or sexual orientation.

The bill was co-sponsored by Asian Americans Advancing Justice, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, and the Sikh Coalition.

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