"Hate crimes are designed to hurt an entire group of people and therefore should receive extra attention," said CAIR-Chicago Communications Intern, Nicholas Short.

Thank you for printing your Sept. 10 article "Survey: Muslims face a lot of bias," featuring a Pew Research Center study on growing tolerance by Americans toward Muslims. This piece brings awareness to the fact that Muslims all over America have often been victims of discrimination.

I was disappointed that the letters you chose to run in response to your Aug. 22 editorial "The burquini ban" expressed an extremely inaccurate portrayal of Islam. Sharia actually condemns forced marriages and so-called "honor killings."

I was surprised that your article on Jose Flores, who described himself as a Christian priest after hijacking a jetliner, does not call Flores a terrorist (“Police nab jet hijacker in Mexico,” Sept. 10, 2009).

I enjoyed reading “Faithfully delicious,” about Yvonne Maffei, a Muslim of Puerto Rican and Sicilian heritage who blogs about halal cooking. The article on Maffei and her husband, who is of Mexican and Italian heritage, reflects the ethnic diversity among American Muslims.

Regarding reader Keyvan Rafii’s inflammatory comments about what he called the “violent backwardness” and “dysfunction” of the Middle East, I would like to point out that dysfunction is not native to the Middle East. In many cases, dysfunctional leadership was directly transplanted in the Middle East by the West and continues to be enabled by the United States.

I was pleasantly surprised to note the level of perception and nuance in Mike Thomas's column about Fathima Rifqa Bary ("Anti-Muslim bias obvious in girl's case," Orlando Sentinel, Sunday).

I was pleasantly surprised to note the level of perception and nuance in Mike Thomas's column about Fathima Rifqa Bary ("Anti-Muslim bias obvious in girl's case," Orlando Sentinel, Sunday).

Thank you for printing "Ramadan Reflections," which features firsthand accounts by Muslim college students celebrating Ramadan in the United States.

Thank you for the August 19 article, “Soldier’s death ‘killed all of us.’” The story of the tragic death of Illinois Guardsman Simone Robinson gives readers a more detailed look into how our wars overseas inflict so much pain on not only the people in Iraq and Afghanistan, but right here at home.

I was pleasantly surprised to read the Daily Herald article by Ruben Navarrette, “Latinos know profiling all too well”. (08/11/2009) I can’t remember the last time I read a Latino point-of-view on discrimination.

I was surprised that the Daily Herald printed the blatantly racist article by Susan Estrich, “The reality of racism.”

I would like to thank you and Amy Taxin of the Associated Press for exposing the unfair and unconstitutional conditions that immigrant prisoners are forced to endure in American prisons. The article, “Report: ICE violates rights” (from the July 29 issue), provides your readers with a much needed opportunity to learn about how the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are stripping away the rights and privileges of immigrant inmates.

I want to thank the Chicago Tribune for their July 8 article which discussed the tragic case of Ronald Kitchen and Marvin Reeves, who spent 20 years in prison for five murders they did not commit after Chicago Police literally beat a false confession out of them.

The Tribune’s July 21st photo-essay on Afghanistan is a commendable piece that breathes humanity into the life of Afghans. Unfortunately, for many Americans Afghanistan remains merely a distant land inhabited by a people veiled behind burqahs and turbans.

A wave of hope flowed through me after I read, “Democrats may probe secret CIA program” in your July 13 issue. I am glad that some of the Democratic lawmakers are planning to dig deeper into the CIA’s practices and the Bush Administration’s counter-terrorism methods.

Steve Huntley’s July 14th article entitled “Obama handed Abbas excuse to foil progress” is biased and promotes misconceptions of Obama’s foreign policy and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

I am disappointed in the Star Press for publishing a biased and uninformed opinion piece in its Sunday, June 21 paper. The article “A Peaceful Religion?” manages to malign the faith of over a billion people around the world today by claiming that Islam “is intrinsically not a peaceful or tolerant religion.”