Mission Statement

MERI Mission

Movement to End Racism and Islamophobia is a network which stands and acts together against all forms of Islamophobia and racism. We are living in an environment in which the media and other forces are inciting prejudice and hatred against Islam and Muslims. This hate is being targeted against both Muslim individuals and entire groups perceived as Muslims. We understand both Islamophobia and racism within a framework that sees how discrimination based on race, class, gender, sexuality, ability, and religion are part of multiple, interlocking forms of oppression that reinforce and sustain one another.

Our work to confront, resist, and transform Islamophobia and racism requires fighting the social, systemic, and ideological dynamics of hatred that are currently threaded through our communities. This means challenging individual acts of hatred, including anti-Black racism that gives legitimacy to racial profiling, police violence, the prison industrial complex, and other forms of institutional oppression against Black and Brown people. We believe that fighting Islamophobia and abolishing anti-Black racism are deeply connected and we work in solidarity with Black leadership. We do this by building power from those most directly affected in the grassroots.

Our work includes organizing workshops and teach-ins to educate on Islamophobia and anti-racism, cultural transformation, challenging local cases of Islamophobia, and mobilizing grassroots campaigns against the people and institutions who are spreading this hatred.

Hatred will win only if we are divided by fear. As people of conscience, we unite as a network working against all forms of oppression. We call upon people from all backgrounds to join our network and help us in building a more loving and just community.