Deedra Abboud, a Muslim and an attorney and a Democrat, recently posted a tribute to the United States' First Amendment on her Facebook page. Despite what you may think, she got a lot of hate for it.
Why?
Because she's Muslim.
Abboud is running for the Arizona U.S. Senate seat, currently taken by politician and member of the Republican party Jeff Flake.
Following her Facebook post, Islamophobic trolls decided to attack Abboud not for her political views, but rather for her faith.
It started with a Facebook post which had the following caption:
"Almost 250 years ago a group of dreamers came together and sketched out a revolutionary vision. No longer would they be shackled to the whims of a distant government, nor bound to the religion of an idiosyncratic king. They set out to forge their own futures, determine their own destinies, and follow their own faith. In their infinite wisdom, the Founding Fathers decreed that this nation would separate church and state, and in doing so protect both institutions. Government would be free from religious overreach, and religion would be free from government interference," Abboud wrote.
Islamophobes got pretty nasty with their comments
Soon, conspiracy theories came to life
Suddenly being American and Muslim are mutually exclusive things
That's when her political opponent Jeff Flake decided to voice his support, telling Abboud to "hang in there"
Abboud responded publicly in a tweet thanking Flake for "rejecting behavior that doesn't reflect our American values"
The fight against the hate didn't stop there. People on social media joined Flake by shutting down Islamophobes. The responses are epic.
Asking Flake to send an important message to U.S. President Donald Trump
"Keep your head up"
Simply put: "Screw the haters"
The number of anti-Muslim hate groups have more than tripled in the U.S.
Earlier this year, a study revealed that 2016 was a "banner year for hate," and a lot of that hate was targeted towards Muslims.
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, 2016 saw the highest number of anti-Muslim hate groups and the greatest surge in the number of such groups since the center began documenting them in 2010.
That's not all.
Anti-Muslim hate groups increased by 197 percent over the course of one year.
There were 34 anti-Muslim hate groups in the U.S. in 2015. That number tripled to a whopping 101 groups in 2016, a surge of 197 percent – the greatest increase among all hate groups.