In cooperation with the Associated Ministries of Tacoma-Pierce County, a group of Muslim organizations will hold the first ‘Sharing Our Stories – Meet Your Muslim Neighbors’ event at Skyline Presbyterian Church in Tacoma city, Washington State, Public News Service reported on July 30.

“The goal is to find common ground with people through personal stories. It’s evident that his kind of relationship-building worked as an antidote to Islamophobia in the past,” believes Aneelah Afzali, head of the American Muslim Empowerment Network at the Muslim Association of Puget Sound.

The event comes as the first in a series of interfaith events organized by American Muslim groups who want to build bridges with their neighbors.

The event’s idea sparked in Afzali’s mind when she spoke with two women last year at a Longview event who never had met a Muslim.

“They actually cried to me. They admitted that they had hatred in their heart, that they had fear in their heart and that that two hours really removed that and they gave me a hug,” Afzali recalled.

“I mean, they brought me to tears. It was a profound and powerful moment and it just reminds me of the power that personal stories and those personal relationships have,” the Muslim official explained.

Afzali continued that “the goal is to bring this series to more rural and conservative parts of the state.”

Event Preparations

Interestingly, a Seattle-based public relations firm created videos of three Muslim individuals for the event. Afterward, there will be a panel discussion and then a chance for people to speak with folks of different faiths directly.

“I find this type of event necessary as political divisiveness and Islamophobia ramp up around the country. Along with an increase in attacks, an investigation by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) found Islamophobic organizations are making big money,” Afzali confirmed.

“The report entitled ‘Hijacked by Hate’ showed that mainstream philanthropic institutions funneled at least $1.5 billion to a network of 39 Islamophobic groups between 2014 and 2016,” she informed.

The Muslim female organizer said that the “amount of money, combined with a misunderstanding of the religion, is a recipe for disaster. So, when this is happening and people don’t have the personal connections with people who they know, it allows for fear and hatred and even violence to grow,” she said.

“And we’re seeing the consequences of that all around us,” she concluded while announcing that the Islamic Center of Tacoma and CAIR-Washington will also host the ‘Sharing Our Stories’ event.

Tacoma city is located in Washington state where Muslims represent no more than 0.5% of the American state’s total population which was about seven million people according to 2018 reports.

For long years, Afzali has been working on building bridges in her community.

She is also an attorney and graduate of Harvard Law School who worked at two law firms in Seattle.

In March 2018, she launched the initiative of the Muslim Association of Puget Sound in response to challenges, including the rising threat of Islamophobia.

Her initiative came as hate crimes reach an unprecedented level in the US.