CLEAR | Sahar Aziz, The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes Religious Freedom

The UCI Center on Law, Equality and Race (CLEAR) welcomes Professor Sahar Aziz to discuss The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes Religious Freedom (UC Press, 2021). Comments by Professors Mario Barnes and Rachel Moran. Discussion moderated by Professor Dana Lee.

Publisher's Description
Why does a country with religious liberty enmeshed in its legal and social structures produce such overt prejudice and discrimination against Muslims? Sahar Aziz’s groundbreaking book demonstrates how race and religion intersect to create what she calls the Racial Muslim. Comparing discrimination against immigrant Muslims with the prejudicial treatment of Jews, Catholics, Mormons, and African American Muslims during the twentieth century, Aziz explores the gap between America’s aspiration for and fulfillment of religious freedom. With America’s demographics rapidly changing from a majority white Protestant nation to a multiracial, multireligious society, this book is an in dispensable read for understanding how our past continues to shape our present—to the detriment of our nation’s future.

About the Author
Sahar Aziz is a Professor of Law and Chancellor's Social Justice Scholar at Rutgers Law School. Her scholarship examines the intersection of national security, race, religion, and civil rights with a focus on the adverse impact of national security laws and policies on racial, religious, and ethnic minorities. Professor Aziz is a recipient of the Derrick A. Bell Award from the Association of American Law Schools and was named a Middle Eastern and North African American National Security and Foreign Policy Next Generation Leader by New America in 2020 and a Soros Equality Fellow in 2021.