Let’s be honest: Islamophobia has long been normalized in American society – quietly tolerated, rarely challenged, and too often dismissed as someone else’s problem. But in today’s toxic political climate, it’s getting worse. Here in Plymouth, that normalization has erupted into open hostility, visible both in local Facebook and social media spaces and in real-life encounters downtown and along our waterfront.
Community activists who have spoken out against taxpayer-funded violence in Palestine have been met with shouted slurs in downtown Plymouth. Alongside this, community members have openly heard genocidal language about Palestinians – phrases like “carpet bomb them all” or “kill them all and let God sort it out” – which is all the more upsetting when directed at groups that include Muslim and/or Palestinian community members.
This is not subtle. This is not imagined. This is a real and growing problem that demands acknowledgment.
Yet Plymouth’s civic response has been silence.
And that silence is part of the problem.
Anti-hate groups and civic organizations, though well-intentioned, have shown no urgency in addressing the rise of Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism. Their silence inadvertently reinforces the idea that these forms of hate are either too controversial to address or not serious enough to prioritize.
But they are serious.
And they are harming people here.
Islamophobia and Anti-Palestinian dehumanization – words that treat mass killing as acceptable – creates an atmosphere where Muslim and Palestinian residents feel unsafe, unseen, and unsupported. It emboldens individuals who see their rage as common sense rather than bigotry. It isolates activists who are trying to bring attention to a humanitarian catastrophe and makes them targets for harassment.
This is not who Plymouth claims to be.
If we want to be a community that rejects hate rather than quietly tolerating it, we need collective action, such as:
- Local media, following in the footsteps [of] Plymouth North’s intrepid media teams, should cover community activism and the hostility activists are facing.
- Anti-hate groups must address Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism directly – not as footnotes, but as priorities.
- Town leaders must speak out against dehumanizing rhetoric wherever it surfaces.
- Residents must challenge misinformation and defend the dignity of their Muslim and Palestinian neighbors.
Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism are already here. They are loud, escalating, and deeply harmful. Naming them is not divisive—it is necessary.
Plymouth cannot address a problem it refuses to acknowledge.
– Meg Ash