Reem Townsend attended a DuPage Township town hall-style meeting in early April as part of her duties as a trustee elected to a four-year position in 2021. It was a meeting just like any other, except for the fact that she had to break her fast during the meeting at sunset. As a practicing Muslim, Townsend was observing the month of Ramadan.
Many constituents were gathered to voice their feedback about the proposed location of a resource center and food pantry, and one constituent in particular, who she said was “pretty heated in the moment,” stopped to comment on Townsend eating.
“He said something like, ‘You can just go back to eating your lunch,’ because I broke my fast during the meeting,” Townsend, 36, told the Tribune. “So, basically, he was mocking me for practicing my religion. In that moment I heard it, so I stood up and said to him, ‘Excuse me, I’m fasting for Ramadan. We eat this late, and I am going to sit here and eat my food.’”
The rhetoric escalated as the April 6 meeting progressed. The same man again addressed Townsend and said he voted for her in 2021. When Townsend thanked him, he responded by saying he “wouldn’t do that again,” she recalled.
That’s when another man, who was taking a video of the meeting, said something to the effect of, “Well, he didn’t know she was a suicide bomber,” Townsend recalled.
“That wasn’t just an attack on my religion,” she said. “It was also an attack on me as a Palestinian. He was also sitting with people that I ran against in the election that attacked me for being Palestinian.”
The racist outburst drew immediate condemnation from the DuPage Township Democrats, the Will County Progressives and the Council on American Islamic Relations.
“Islamophobia and bigotry have no place in our society, and we urge local officials to take appropriate action to address and prevent such incidents from happening in the future,” the statement from CAIR said. “We also encourage the community to come together in support of our Muslim neighbors and to work toward building a more inclusive and welcoming society for all.”
Despite the number of Muslims growing across the country, slurs against Muslims in elected office remain nothing new, with even former President Donald Trump once posting racist tweets about four female lawmakers. However, more members of the community continue to get politically involved in more visible ways, activists say.
According to a report released last July, which showed that the state’s Muslims are the most diverse and one of the fastest-growing faith communities in the country, there are more Muslims per capita now in Illinois than in any other state.
In January, state Rep. Nabeela Syed, a Democrat from Inverness, became one of the first Gen Z legislators to serve in Springfield after she defeated a Republican incumbent for a seat representing the northwest suburbs.
Qasim Rashid, a human rights lawyer from Naperville who also lived in Bolingbrook for about 10 years, said he reached out to Townsend after hearing about what had happened and offered his support. In solidarity, he attended the next DuPage Township meeting on April 18 because, he said, “being able to call out and condemn that kind of bigotry in a public setting can show others how to become better allies and is a great way to stop hate in its tracks.”
”There isn’t a single piece of this country’s major history that Muslims were not a part of,” Rashid said. “Not only are Muslims part of this country, but this country never existed without Muslims. There is no America without American Muslims. I want my 7-year-old American Muslim daughter to grow up and not have to experience any of this bigotry, and that only happens if we play an active role in our communities without shying away from our faith and our backgrounds.”
Townsend said both her parents are first-generation immigrants from Palestine and that she wears her religion and her culture on her sleeve. She said she is “100% very proud and very vocal about it.”
Townsend lives with her family in Bolingbrook, which she said makes up most of DuPage Township along with small parts of Naperville and Romeoville. She works for the township part time while working full time as an executive assistant for a health care company CEO.
She said she heard similar discriminatory remarks when she was running for trustee, and that her family has also been subjected to some negativity from the community.
“I just think it’s so ignorant,” Townsend said. “There are millions of Muslims in the world and even in DuPage Township we have a large Muslim population, and people don’t even know it was just Ramadan? I practice my religion, but I’m also making sure that I am fulfilling my duties in public office. It’s just disrespectful and offensive that there are still people like this out there.
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“The other people who were running against me even said racist and hateful things, not just about my religion, but about being a Palestinian,” Townsend said. “I grew up hearing that stuff, so it was like, really? You’re still saying the same stuff. Then I’m in office and you‘re still saying that stuff.”
Townsend said that at another township meeting on April 18, the township supervisor Gary Marschke made an announcement saying anyone who makes comments similar to the ones made earlier about Townsend will be removed from the meeting and not be allowed back.
At that meeting, Townsend said several people came out to support her in light of what had happened earlier in the month.
Suzanna Ibarra, chair of Will County Progressives, said she has known Townsend for a few years, even before they both got involved with the Will County group. She said she was happy to show up at last week’s meeting to show solidarity for Townsend. Ibarra, who is Catholic, said that not speaking up against hateful voices is like “allowing it to continue and perpetuate.”
“Being silent never got anything solved,” she said. “To me, silence is actually complacency, and complacency can lead to violence. Silence is violence.”
The Tribune reached out to the DuPage Township Republican Organization for comment. Antonio Timothee, chair of the DuPage Township Republican Organization, said in a statement Friday that he is “repulsed and saddened by this situation.”
“As an immigrant and a person of color, I understand what Trustee Townsend must be going through,” Timothee’s statement said. “It’s disheartening to see that in this day and age, we still have to deal with ignorance and insults leveled at people because of their ethnicity. My hope is that people learn from this situation and that it does not create more division and hate. It’s times like these where we must reflect on our own biases and attempt to grow as individuals for the sake of our communities. As for any person of color that one day may have the desire to run for office, this should increase your resolve.”
