(KNTV) The election of five American Muslims to local office in the Bay Area on Tuesday is a sign voters are ready for diverse leadership despite troubling increases in hate crimes nationwide, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Before Tuesday, only one elected official among hundreds of representatives on the region’s local councils, panels and boards was Muslim, Bay Area representatives of CAIR said today.
“These victories come in the face of CAIR’s recent report revealing a 17 percent increase in bias-motivated incidents and a 15 percent increase in hate crimes against American Muslims since Trump took office,” said Zahra Billoo, Bay Area executive director of CAIR.
