Source: Brattleboro Reformer
On July 14, 2003 the Brattleboro Reformer reported that "the attention to Islam that has crystallized in the United States in the last several years has also brought religion into sharper focus for Muslim Americans, sometimes overshadowing other facets of their identity, according to several local [VT] residents... Speaking to about a dozen people gathered at the School for International Training on Friday night, five residents contemplated the way the country's scrutiny of Islam has affected Muslims. The discussion ended the school's Salaam/Shalom/Peace program, a weeklong series of presentations and language lessons focusing on Islam and Judaism... Abdoul Karim Samake, who grew up in Mali and who now lives in Turner's Falls, Mass., said his religion had not been a strikingly visible aspect of his identity until recently... Firas Amad, a Palestinian Muslim born in Jerusalem, also noted that coming to the United States had prompted national identity to give way to religious identity -- even before the country's sudden attention to Islam."