The City of Boston launched a new campaign to fight Islamophobia on Monday. The campaign includes 50 posters that hang at bus stop benches and other public areas around the city. The posters provide step-by-step instructions for bystanders on how to intervene and stop situations of Islamophobic harassment.
“These posters are one tool we have to send the message that all are welcome in Boston,” Mayor Marty Walsh told the Associated Press. “Education is key to fighting intolerance, and these posters share a simple strategy for engaging with those around you.”
One poster hangs on a glass panel of a bus stop bench at the intersection of Huntington Avenue and Mission Park Drive. Not many Boston residents there on Tuesday afternoon initially noticed the poster or thought that this campaign would be an effective way to combat Islamophobia.
“I think it can be helpful when you’re in that situation where you’re getting attacked, but generally, no. It’s not going to help you feel better later,” Meron Adhama, 19, said in response to the illustration. “If someone just walked up to you trying to make you feel comfortable, that would probably make you feel uncomfortable.”
The cartoon guide recommends that the bystander engage in non-confrontational behavior to diffuse a potentially unsafe situation for the person being harassed. It shows the bystander choosing to sit next to a woman in a hijab who initially appeared uncomfortable around a man leaning toward her on the bus.
The cartoon’s author, Maeril, encouraged onlookers to use the guide not only for diffusing Islamophobic harassment, but for any other type of harassment as well. Suzan El-Rayess, the civic engagement director at the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center, agreed.
“We encourage all of our fellow Bostonians to apply the approach in these posters to anyone targeted — whether Muslim, Latino or otherwise,” El-Rayess told the AP.
Elise Whitney, 28, thought that the poster may have the opposite intended effect and attract more unwanted attention toward hijab wearers.
“It could be unnecessary. And it might just make people who wear hijabs stick out more," she said.
Whitney added that instead, Islamophobia should be combatted early in childhood.
“A better way to approach this would be to learn about acceptance when growing up," Whitney said. "Or maybe even having a community meeting rather than having a sign like that.”
The posters will remain in place for six months.
