Ads hope to dispel fears of Muslims

The small beige signs bearing swirling, black Arabic script appear all over town on buses and at colleges.

One panicked bus rider wondered if they were secret messages from terrorists. Should the FBI be contacted? What do they mean?

Actual translation: "Paper or plastic?"

The signs are part of a campaign by the Virginia Interfaith Center, aimed at dispelling some of the public's fears about the Muslim community. Organizers hope to eventually expand the program statewide.

"As soon as people see Arabic, they immediately make an association with terrorism," said the Rev. C. Douglas Smith, executive director of the interfaith center. "That's probably because since 9/11, not only is fear overwhelming us, but that's how we're being trained to think."

The signs were placed in all 170 Greater Richmond Transit Company buses on Nov. 27 and many buses will continue to display them at least through the end of January. The signs, designed by The Martin Agency, have also been posted at the University of Richmond and Virginia Commonwealth University.

Besides the "paper or plastic" sign, there are two others _ one which is the Arabic version of the "I'm a little tea pot" rhyme and the other roughly translating to the English equivalent of "rock, paper, scissors." Accompanying the translations at the bottom of the posters are comments such as, "Misunderstanding can make anything scary," and "What did you think it said?"

The transit company has already fielded several calls from concerned riders, said Gretchen Schoel, executive director of A More Perfect Union, a project of the Virginia Interfaith Center that is spearheading the ads.

One woman Schoel described as a well-educated university employee placed a frantic call to the bus company's manager, suggesting the FBI be called in to investigate. Even after the signs' English translations were explained to her, she remained concerned that they might contain secret messages, Schoel said.

"It's so great that we're getting feedback, even if it is negative, because it shows that people are looking, they're thinking," Schoel said. "And it really proves the point that this script right here conjures up certain ideas in our heads that we have to work with."

Bias against the Muslim community is a continuing problem across the country, said Imad Damaj, president of the Virginia Muslim Coalition for Public Affairs.

"There's so many lazy, unexamined assumptions about all of us and how we react to people," Damaj said. "We need to challenge ourselves."

The ad push is one of the latest efforts to dispel stereotypes of Muslims and Arabic speakers. In 2004, the Council on American-Islamic Relations launched a nationwide TV and radio campaign, featuring Muslims from different backgrounds, each ending with the slogan, "I am an American Muslim."

Yet high-profile misunderstandings continue. In late November, six Muslim imams were removed from a flight to Phoenix after some airline passengers grew concerned. It was just the latest incident in which passengers who were Muslim or, in some cases, simply not Caucasian, were questioned before boarding flights.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations said it processed more civil-rights and workplace discrimination complaints in 2005 than ever before. The total jumped to 1,972 in 2005 from 1,522 in 2004.

Schoel said history has proven that Americans can learn to let go of irrational fears toward other cultures.

"After World War II, when people saw Japanese script it was scary," she said. "But now we see it and it's fun, it's hip, it signifies a cool culture."

"That's a huge turnaround."

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On the Net:

A More Perfect Union: http://www.yourvoiceouraction.org

Virginia Interfaith Center: http://www.virginiainterfaithcenter.org