I Am London: Muslims featured in this year's campaign about immigrant success

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An annual campaign to fight stereotypes and discrimination against newcomers in the London region is using this year’s edition to pay tribute to the Afzaal family and send a message against Islamophobia.

As part of this year’s I Am London campaign, the London and Middlesex Local Immigration Partnership, an agency whose goal is to create more welcoming communities for immigrants, will highlight the success stories of nine immigrant members of London’s Muslim community.

They come from a wide variety of backgrounds, including Pakistan, Nigeria and Jordan, and work in sectors such as policing, health care and manufacturing, said Huda Hussein, project co-ordinator for the London-area agency.

“We wanted to find Muslims who are contributing and doing good things in the community,” she said.

“Let’s have a different spin. Let’s not talk about racism or discrimination; let’s talk about people who are contributing members and who are proud to call themselves Londoners.”

The theme of the campaign comes a few months after the one-year anniversary of the hit-and-run collision that killed three generations of the Afzaal family.

Talat Afzaal, her son Salman Afzaal, his wife Madiha Salman, and the couple’s 15-year-old daughter Yumnah, were struck and killed by a pickup truck while out for an evening walk in their Hyde Park neighbourhood on June 6, 2021.

Fayez Salman, 9, the couple’s son, was the only survivor of the crash that London police allege was deliberate, the family targeted because they were Muslims.

Though in previous years the I Am London campaign ran mainly on social media platforms, organizers have partnered with the London Public Library to also create an exhibit that will travel across four of the library branches, including the Central Library on Dundas Street.

The hope is the four-month campaign will, besides fighting stereotypes, help showcase London as an attractive destination for newcomers and a place where they can succeed, Hussein said.

“We are hoping people can look at these people as immigrants contributing to this country, and that we need immigration for the prosperity of our country,” she said.

To follow the campaign online, Londoners can follow the London and Middlesex Local Immigration Partnership on Twitter (@LMLIP), Facebook (@londonmiddlesexlip), Instagram (@liplondonmiddlesex) or by visiting www.iamlondonon.com.