To say that Muslim Americans have been scrambling in their attempt to restore their public image to its pre 9/11 variant would be an understatement. Although 9/11 was 20 years ago, the rampant association between Muslim people and terrorists has yet to dissipate. At one point, it seemed as if the correlation was beginning to die down in the 2010s, but Donald Trump's presidency in 2016 only caused the public distaste for Islam to grow substantially. According to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, anti-Muslim groups generated over 100 million dollars through various charity organizations between 2017 and 2019.
While the amount of money raised is a staggering display of how woefully misunderstood both Muslims and Islam are to most Americans, the bigotry behind the donations isn't surprising. As if the years of negative media representation following the events of 9/11 weren't enough, the hateful and anti-Islamic rhetoric of the 45th President only aided in furthering the global misinformation about Islam.
