The California State Assembly voted earlier this week to designate August 2016 as Muslim Appreciation and Awareness Month, making California the state in the country to declare a month-long celebration of the Islamic faith.
The resolution, formally known as HR 59, was unanimously approved, but only applies to the current year. However, the bill’s chief sponsor, Assemblymember Bill Quirk, hopes it will be renewed in the future.
Local Muslim leaders celebrated the designation. “It’s a really big gesture and symbol of support for the Muslim community,” said Nashwah Akhtar, a spokesperson for the Bay Area chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Akhtar also expressed dismay at anti-Muslim rhetoric surrounding the 2016 election cycle.
Democratic assembly member Tony Thurmond criticized Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump for attempting to “classify an entire group as terrorist.” The resolution, he said, was part of a much-need effort to “reaffirm our commitment that this is a country that recognized religious freedom and religious diversity.”
Quirk, who introduced the resolution, recognized the achievement of a number of Muslim Americans on the Assembly floor, including Capt. Humayun Khan, fallen soldier and son of Khizr Khan, the Muslim-American lawyer who criticized Donald Trump at the Democratic national convention in Philadelphia.
Quick also reportedly received numerous “hateful comments” related to his involvement in pushing the resolution to passage, but said they had only reinforced his commitment the cause.
“I have to deal with these threats for only a short period of time,” Quirk said. “[Muslims] have to endure much more, every day.”