"For Amina Sharif, communication director of the Chicago branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the mainstream interest in Islam and Muslims began after September 11, but the negative feelings were always there. "For Sharif much of the blame lies with the media and popular culture in the US, which she says is often "orientalist and slanted" in its depiction of Muslims and Islam."

Flashing cameras from around the world illuminated Keith Ellison last January as he stood in a packed drawing room in the Capitol, taking the oath of office on Thomas Jefferson's Qur'an.