The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has documented a 44% increase in the number of hate crimes reported by American Muslims in 2016. This has led to the launch of a new app called Making Democracy Work For Everyone which enables Muslim victims to easily report hate crimes. CAIR intends the app to be a tool to increase reporting as they believe Islamophobic hate crimes have been under-reported.
According to Reuters, “the application allows a user to file a description of an alleged incident, which CAIR staff will then investigate. If the group concludes the incident was the result religious bias, it will include it in its reporting, and if it believes the incident was criminal, it will share the details with local police. The app offers advice about what rights are protected by the U.S. Constitution and contains contact information for CAIR’s national headquarters in Washington and chapters nationwide.”
“In a moment of trauma, you’re not thinking that I need to go online and enter something, but your phone will always be in your hand,” comments Corey Saylor, leader of CAIR’s anti-Islamophobia efforts.
