In the midst of a presidential campaign full of harsh rhetoric about Muslims, the Georgia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is actively seeking out conservative and Republican groups in an effort to share facts about Islam and answer questions about the faith.
“Usually, what happens is we wait for them to come to us,” said Edward Ahmed Mitchell, the Georgia CAIR executive director, “or they might say something negative about Muslims and then we contact them.”
But under Mitchell and Georgia CAIR’s new strategy, the group isn’t waiting for Republicans or conservatives to “do something that offends us.”
The group’s executive director is its only paid staffer, but Mitchell said the local chapter is looking to hire four more employees, a plan that’s not directly connected to the new strategy to focus on outreach to conservative groups. But for now, the task of contacting the many local Republican and tea party groups around Georgia will fall on Mitchell and unpaid board members and volunteers.
He said it could take a year and doesn’t expect the group’s efforts to end after the 2016 election.
Mitchell emphasizes not all conservatives are anti-Muslim, or Islamaphobic, but he said focusing on conservatives groups is a way to solve the problem.
“If all you know about Muslims is what you see on the evening news, especially on Fox News, I can understand why you might have some animosity toward Muslims,” Mitchell said.
Georgia CAIR wants to provide an educational ‘Islam 101' presentation, answer questions and talk about Muslim prayer rituals and demographics.
Mitchell said they typically get a lot of questions about terrorism, and terms like “jihad,” and “Sharia,” and he likes the opportunity to share facts.
“‘Why don’t Muslims condemn terrorism?’ We do. ‘Why do Muslims oppress women?’ We don’t,” said Mitchell, describing a typical conversation he’s had during question-and-answer sessions.
Mitchell said CAIR chapters around the country often meet with churches and political groups, but as far as he knows, the Georgia chapter is the first to seek out conservative groups.
Mitchell said he plans to contact the Georgia Republican Party this week. WABE emailed a party spokesperson to see if the party would be interested in meeting with Mitchell, but there was no response by deadline.