Campaign is an effort to create bonds between the two communities facing similar challenges.
Campaign is an effort to create bonds between the two communities facing similar challenges.
Young Muslims in Toronto are extending a helping hand to the local Black Lives Matter movement.
In a campaign dubbed Love Is the Cure, Muslim youth have started a Gofundme page to raise money for the anti-racism group. Their goal is to donate at least $5,000.
Organizers say they want to express solidarity with Black Lives Matter and help unite two communities facing similar challenges.
“Our obligation, religiously, is to stand for what’s right and help others,” said Ibrahim Hindy, the imam at Dar Al-Tawheed Islamic Centre in Mississauga and one of the people behind the campaign.
Black Lives Matter has kept the conversation about racism and equality front and centre at a time when many minorities are facing discrimination, Hindy said.
“There’s a general feeling that racism is being downplayed, and people’s experiences are not being adequately represented,” he said.
Hindy said the ongoing war on terror has provoked acts of discrimination against Muslims around the world. Here in Toronto, Muslim women have been assaulted for wearing hijabs, and a mosque in nearby Peterborough was recently set ablaze.
By donating to Black Lives Matter, Hindy hopes the local Muslim community can contribute to the growing conversation around racism and justice in the city.
“Nobody is going to be born understanding these things. We have to educate people about the history other people have faced,” he said.
(This article by Gilbert Ngabo was originally published here)Â
