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On Tuesday, January 10, 2024, ING collaborated with America Indivisible, Emgage, Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU), and the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) to conduct a first of its kind training session by Muslim Americans with the FBI San Francisco Field Office. The training aimed to work with Muslim American communities to counter Islamophobia. We express our gratitude to Robert Tripp, Special-Agent-in-Charge, for the invitation and look forward to continuing our efforts to ensure that Muslim American communities are protected from harmful law enforcement practices that breach trust and prevent Muslims from receiving FBI protections that are afforded to all American citizens.
The four-hour training covered three areas: getting to know Muslim Americans and their faith; understanding Islamophobia and its impact on Muslim Americans in institutional discrimination, law enforcement interactions, and national security policy; and best practices for engagement and building relationships. The attendees, numbering over 100, included Ismail Ramsey, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California and colleagues from his office, as well as FBI and other Department of Justice agents from San Francisco and Washington D.C.
Facilitating the training was Maha Elgenaidi, ING Executive Director and the 2022 recipient of the FBI Community Leadership Award, which recognized ING’s long history of diversity trainings for law enforcement and her advisory role with California state Commission on Police Officers Standards and Training (POST), where she contributed to policy and trainings on hate crimes and cultural diversity education for police officers.
Conducting the FBI training were the organizational representatives listed below, who are a few of our brightest Muslim American managers of Muslim-founded non-profit organizations working to protect American democracy and preserve our values of pluralism, justice, and equality. The non-profits they represented are investing in America’s progress towards realizing the goal of e pluribus unum—”out of many, one.” In accord with that goal, the FBI training on countering Islamophobia focused on increasing awareness of a marginalized religious community.
Muslim trainers included:
Zachary Markwith, a scholar of religion and Deputy Director of Islamic Networks Group (ING), which promotes peace by fostering a deeper, more nuanced understanding of Muslims and other faith-based, racial/ethnic, and cultural communities through teaching, learning, and engaging across differences.
Petra Alsoofy, Senior Outreach and Partnerships Manager at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU), an applied research organization focusing on the study of Muslim Americans.
Salima Suswell, National Senior Advisor and Pennsylvania Executive Director for Emgage, the nation’s largest Muslim American civic engagement organization.
Salam Al-Marayati, President and co-founder of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, a national public affairs organization working to promote and strengthen American pluralism by increasing understanding of American Muslims and improving policies that impact .them.
Lida Azim, Program Director for America Indivisible, which works with government officials and civic leaders to promote a racially and religiously inclusive nation.
We are eager to continue working with the FBI and Muslim Americans in Public Service (MAPS) organization to incorporate the feedback we received from the initial training, which we hope to duplicate for other federal offices.
To request a federal training on countering Islamophobia, write to Zachary Markwith, ING Deputy Director at Mail@ing.org.
To request Islamophobia training for other organizations, visit this page.
To request an Islamophobia-antisemitism panel, visit this page.
For all other presentations and trainings, visit this page.