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Dany Doueiri and Brian Levin were interviewed for an article in The Guardian, a newspaper in the United Kingdom, that examined the impact the Dec. 2 shooting at the Inland Regional Center has had on the 2016 presidential election.
A few days after the attack that killed 14 people and wounded 22 more, the eventual Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump, called “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our leaders can figure out what the hell is going on.” The Muslims already in the US would be allowed to remain, Trump said, but would be regarded with “great vigilance,” the article said.
Doueiri, an associate professor of world languages and literature and assistant director of CSUSB’s Center for Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies, spoke at prayer vigils on behalf of the Muslim community, and co-chaired a fundraising effort for victims. He says local Muslims feared in the days after the shooting that people “might not believe that you’re genuinely sorry, and terribly sad.
“It’s almost like a wound that was healing since 9/11 but there is a scab there,” he told The Guardian. “And as soon as it happens the wound opens again, and it’s a little bit harder to heal.”
The article also cited Levin’s study that showed hate crimes against Muslims are now at their highest levels since 9/11. Levin, director of CSUSB’s Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, believes political rhetoric from Trump and others has contributed to the increase.
The article was published Nov. 3, 2016.
Read the complete article at “America divided part 5: Terror in the US - how the San Bernardino massacre triggered Donald Trump's Muslim ban, and how it has changed the country.”