This guide was created by a group of educators and counselors working in New York City Schools, as part of an Inquiry to Action Group (ItAG) organized by the New York Collective of Radical Educators. We work with young people in transfer schools, international high schools, ‘regular’ high schools and elementary schools, independent schools and non-profit in-school partnerships. We came to this study group, on the heels of a hugely divisive election cycle firmly planted in anti-Muslim rhetoric. While this vitriol is neither new nor solely practiced by one political party, this moment is uniquely alarming to us. As educators and allies to those most impacted by institutional, political, cultural and social islamophobia, we came to this ItAG hungry to unpack this context and learn how we can interrupt islamophobia, inside and outside our classrooms.

MTV’s “Look Different” campaign is here to help you contextualize the current threats to equality, empower you to rebel against injustice and show you how to protect yourself from hate. We’ll help you unlearn biases, open up conversations with family & friends and always give you specific things you can do to fight for what’s right.