#IAM2020 Stop Islamophobia In Its Tracks! – Muslims In Rail

After a horrific Islamophobic incident in 2015, where an old man pushed a hijab wearing Muslim woman towards a train,  there has been an unfortunate significant increase in what is referred to as ‘train track anxiety’.  Many muslim women to this day stand back and seek precaution when a train is approaching in the fear of anyone repeating the same incident.

Many Islamophobic incidents like this happen that we are oblivious too, but we can be proactive and stay aware with November being Islamophobia awareness month. We at MEND raised awareness with Muslims in Rail (MIR) a national network of professionals from leading rail and transport organisations by hosting a talk about Islamophobia and how it can creep into the workplace.

Some hard-hearing statistics were mentioned from a year on year rise of reported hate crimes to rampant employment discrimination where 50% of hijab-wearing women feel they have missed out on promotional opportunities because of religious discrimination.

One of the speakers, Sabiha from the Central London MEND team shared her story of an incident where she was wrongly accused of serious allegations from the British transport police in 2015. She sought help from MEND’s Islamophobia Response Unit who were able to get the BTP to formally apologise.

The audience walked away with 3 easy steps to raise awareness of Islamophobia: 1. View the exhibition on http://islamophobia-awareness.org/ 2. Download the MEND app 3. Join diversity and inclusion networks at your workplace.

It was great to hear such a positive response from Muslims in Rail and we know that together we can stop islamophobia in its tracks! The full webinar is available on the Muslims In Rail YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/RAHttIKbDkw