To this day there are individuals who believe President Obama is a Muslim, and of them, those who believe this is a deficit. Every few years the American Psychiatric Association revisits the question of whether racism and other forms of extreme bias should be considered forms of mental illness, to the dismay of those who predict hate crimes being committed by those who will then be able to claim insanity in defense of their actions.

The origins of negative images surrounding Islam will be a topic for discussion this Wednesday at the Hartford Public Library. The panel discussion will include: Dr. M. Reza Mansoor, MD Founding Member of Muslim Coalition of CT; Kareem W. Shora, Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security; Rabia Chaudhry Esq, President, Safe Nation Collaborative; and Mongi Dhaouadi, Executive Director, Council of American Islamic Relations.

This discussion will begin at 6p.m. in the “Center for Contemporary Culture.” A free screening of Amreeka, a comedy, will immediately follow the discussion at 7:15 on May 23, 2012.