ING's Work Dramatically Improves Perceptions of American Muslims and Their Faith: 2011 – 2012

Islamophobia, like any prejudice, rests mostly on ignorance. Among the most important outcomes of ING’s work is our audience’s increase in their sense of familiarity with Islam and Muslims. The chart above summarizes the tabulation for students in grades seven to twelve based on hundreds of surveys conducted between September 2011 and June 2012. The results are striking: the percentage considering themselves to have only a minimal knowledge drops from thirty-eight to six, while that considering their knowledge high rises from twenty-four to seventy-three.

Based on hundreds of adults surveys between September 2011 and June 2012, the results for adult audiences are equally striking as shown above. Adult audiences appear to rate their level of knowledge lower than do youth audiences; but, even so, the percentage of those rating their knowledge as minimal fell from forty-six to nine percent, while the percentage of those rating their knowledge high rose from twenty-three to fifty-nine percent. Obviously, ING presentations are effective in imparting a sense of familiarity with Islam and Muslims that is a major factor in undoing prejudice.

The total numbers for audiences of ING presentations in 2011-12 increased dramatically over last year. This is in large measure due to ING’s increased outreach to community groups and participation in community events, including the official San Francisco commemoration of 9/11. While no one event in the coming year may be as large as that one, ING’s growing outreach and marketing to the broader community, from Rotary clubs to congregations of every faith, should bring ING’s voice and presence to an ever wider public.

The charts above show the breakdown of audience types and presentations types by ING from September 1, 2011 to August 31, 2012. Live ING presentations reached over 35,000 youth and adults in the Bay Area. Combining youth and adult audiences, seventy-three percent of the presentations related to American Muslims and their faith and twenty-seven percent were interfaith panels, including the other two Abrahamic faiths and Hinduism and Buddhism. Fifty-three percent of the total presentations were to adult audiences and forty-seven percent were to youth audiences.