American Muslims: The Untouchables of American Constitutional Democracy?

This article is about the future of Muslims in the American constitutional democracy. How this future will look like depends highly on how the dominant majority as well as those sitting in the political, executive and judicial branches of power will deal with the emergence of Islamophobia. This article explores the roots of American fear of Muslims and their faith and reflects on what Islamophobia and its reinforcement bring for the future of American democracy. This article contends that the American anxiety about Islam will create huge disparities and advance a political agenda tainted with animus toward Muslims. This insidious dis-invitation to Muslims to participate in the American democracy needs to be halted to cleanse the American political scene from anxiety, bigotry and exclusion.