Hammad Alam

The Project

Hammad will provide legal and policy advocacy and outreach to Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim, and South Asian (AMEMSA) students and families who are victims of school bullying in San Bernardino County, California.

School bullying on the basis of ethnicity or religion disproportionately affects AMEMSA students, many of whom are immigrants or children of immigrants. Such incidents have increased drastically in recent years, due in part to a sharp rise in hate incidents targeting Muslims and other groups. American Muslim children are nearly four times as likely to suffer from school bullying as the general population, while over 50% of Sikh children experience bullying. The month following the 2016 general election saw over 1,000 hate incidents nationwide, with the highest number of incidents occurring in California. K-12 schools were the most common location of such incidents.

Hammad is the right person for the project because he:

• Has years of experience working with AMEMSA youth as an activist, mentor, and counselor.
• Has long-standing investment in and connections to AMEMSA organizations, community spaces, and leaders across Southern California.
• Has three years of legal experience as a litigator, including direct advocacy and complex federal and state litigation, as well as federal judicial clerkship experience.
• Will provide culturally competent representation, including bilingual skills.
• Has personal experience with bullying as a child of immigrants, with a deep understanding of the challenges faced by immigrant students and their families.

Fellowship Plans

In the first six months, Hammad will:

• Connect with educators, counselors, community centers, and places of worship to identify affected students.
• Build relationships with organizations to conduct needs assessment, identify litigation and policy reform strategies, and develop a mental-health and bullying resource guide for schools and students.
• Work with organizations to develop a safe referral network for victims.
• Develop Know Your Rights materials.
• Collaborate with sponsor to develop pro bono opportunities.