The Council on American-Islamic Relations is the largest American Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States. CAIR’s mission is to enhance understanding of Islam, protect civil liberties, promote justice, and empower American Muslims. CAIR California is the organization’s largest and oldest chapter, with offices in the Greater Los Angeles Area, the Sacramento Valley / Central California, San Diego, and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Over the past two decades, CAIR-CA has led the advocacy effort to combat Islamophobia in schools across the state. CAIR-CA has focused a substantial number of resources and advocacy efforts on legislative action to force schools and school districts to address, prevent, and remedy bullying. Specifically, the results of CAIR-CA’s direct legal services, research, surveys, and publication of our anti-bullying reports have helped convince state legislators to take a stand against bullying. Additionally, CAIR-CA has substantially contributed to advocacy efforts through our annual Muslim Day at the Capitol (MDAC). Although the most recent MDAC in 2021 was virtual due to the Covid-19 pandemic, MDAC usually gathers hundreds of Muslim community members from across the state in Sacramento and to play a critical role in shaping policies that impact California’s Muslims. Participants speak to Assembly members and state senators about proposed legislation impacting the participants and the greater Muslim community.
Upon request, CAIR-CA also provides cultural competency training to schools and works with students, parents, and school administrators to deal with issues relating to Muslim students. Additionally, CAIR-CA conducts focus groups, listening sessions, and community surveys to understand the problems American Muslim students face in schools. Parents and students should reach out to CAIR-CA if the student is experiencing bullying or discrimination at school. If a situation so requires, CAIR-CA offers free legal services for those experiencing civil rights violations, which includes discrimination at school and bullying. CAIR-CA also provides free educational workshops to the American Muslim community to train parents and children on how to address and prevent bullying at their schools and to educate them about the protections available to them under state and federal laws.
CAIR-CA also launched an annual educational campaign to encourage educators to use lesson plans on the anniversary of 9/11 to solemnly promote diversity, inclusivity, and mutual understanding in the classroom without furthering the marginalization of Muslim students. In a letter addressed to educators, CAIR-CA recommended that school administrators, district boards, and educational non-profits address the Islamophobia engendered by the events of 9/11 through a continuous, honest reckoning with explicit and implicit biases in the wider world that manifests within classrooms, from peers, teachers, and administrators alike. This letter reflects many of the recommendations we provided above.
CAIR-CA also provides direct services to students who have been victims of religious, ethnic, racial, and national origin-based bullying. CAIR-CA interacts with and assists families who have concerns about peer-to-peer bullying, biased treatment by educators and administrators, Islamophobic content in curricula, and provision of religious accommodations for Muslim students. Since 2018, CAIR-CA has responded to 133 cases related to K-12 bullying, school denial of religious accommodations, and educational administrative concerns brought by Muslim families.
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