Here is how we can put an end to the bias

HuffPost reports that the nonprofit group called Crescent Peace Society hosts a monthly “Meet a Muslim” event in Kansas City, Missouri in the United States.

As the name suggests, the purpose of the event is for non-Muslims to sit with Muslims and just talk.

These non-Muslims get to meet a diverse group of Muslims with whom they can discuss anything from their families, sports to their faith if they want.

One of the participant Becky Plate, who is non-Muslim, says her experience was an eye-opener.

In her words, “I was surprised by my own misconceptions, particularly about the lives of women within the Muslim religion.

“I consider myself a pretty well-informed individual … but even I had allowed news stories, about things like women secretly learning to drive in Saudi Arabia, to colour my opinions.”

Feedback like this is exactly why the group’s president, Ahsan Latif, started these meetings.

He says, “It distils our mission down to one event: getting to know people on a person-to-person basis.

“It’s harder to demonize someone or think they’re monolithic when you actually get to know them.”

“We speak as average people, not as mosque officials. So people get to know who regular people are who practice the faith.”

“There are so few Muslims and so much said about them. Even just meeting people who [already] support us, they can say to their extended families: ‘I’ve met a Muslim person and this is what I found out,’ so it’s a ripple that hopefully reverberates further out.”

“My goal is to make a difference with people around me. There are things happening in the world I can’t control ― what I can control is to project the message and get to know people in the local community, and hopefully do good that way.”

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One of the table moderator Zehra Shabbir says she is constantly “surprised” by the myths and solidarity she sees from non-Muslim attendees.

In her words, “How can there be such a negative outlook on a group of people that nearly 60 percent of Americans have never even spoken to?”

“That stat alone makes initiatives like this important. We all fear the unknown, but that fear can be broken once you sit down with someone different and just talk to them.”

She is a Muslim and has been a member of Crescent Peace Society for four years.

Surprisingly, the idea of the event came from neighbours around the area. Latif says he got requests from people “who wanted to do something for the Muslim community but didn’t know how ― or had never even met a Muslim.”

These requests came in after Donald Trump won the presidency with his anti-Muslim campaign.

This group is not the only one doing creative things like this in order to combat Islamophobia.

A Muslim couple started a “dinner with your Muslim neighbour” project in Seattle, according to The Washington Post.

Another Muslim man challenges strangers across America with his an ‘Ask Anything’ sign.

The entire purpose of all these mediums is to correct the misconceptions that many Americans have about Islam while portraying a realistic portrait of who Muslims are and what they are really about.

Hopefully, this will go a long way to stopping Islamophobia across the world.