Omar Lopez, a University of Iowa sophomore and a member of the UI Muslim Student Association, started a petition for the UI Student Government to create a Muslim constituency seat, and he has collected more than 250 signatures from people of numerous campus organizations, he said.

“That [Iowa] has seen an increase in [religious] hate crimes made me question why there wasn’t a seat,” Lopez said.

Lopez’s father is a Christian and his mother is a Muslim, he said, and he affiliates himself with Islam. Lopez said seeing hate speech, in entertainment and in politics, pushed him to advocate for Muslim rights.

On Wednesday, Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a Muslim Recognition Day proclamation.

Reynolds communications director Brenna Smith wrote in an email to The Daily Iowan that Rep. Ako Abdul-Samad, D-Des Moines, requests the proclamation each year. Abdul-Samad did not respond to the DI in time for an interview.

Part of the proclamation states that “… each Muslim-American who adheres to the teachings of Islam and is living in an American society will exhibit acts of compassion and charity in the name of the beneficent.”

RELATED: City event moves against hate speech

It goes on to recognize the individuals in the Iowa community who choose to practice the faith and why it is important that they be recognized.

In the spring of 2016, the state experienced an increase in the number of religious hate crimes. The previous year, the FBI reported only six such crimes; in 2016, there were 17 reported crimes.

Amna Haider, a sophomore and graphic-design director for the Muslim Student Association, said the best thing the Legislature can do to recognize Muslims and other minorities is to reach out to those communities and simply have a conversation.

“That is what is missing right now,” Haider said. “[The Muslim Association] is very open — we try to have conversations with non-Muslims, and I don’t really see that translating outside the college, I don’t see it happening in law, and in local offices.”

She said she doesn’t want to take away from the signing of Reynolds’ proclamation, but she does think something should be done beyond paper.

“I feel like the government is colorblind, but there aren’t any direct things that I see that help hate crimes,” Haider said.

Lopez said the proclamation is a good step forward, but he would like to see that recognition last longer than just one day.

“I find it hard to believe that it wasn’t for publicity,” he said.

Both Lopez and Haider said they have experienced Muslim hate speech and hate crimes.

Haider said she spent half of her life in New York and then went to high school in Cedar Falls. She wears a hijab, and she said that in Iowa, she notices people staring or that they seem a bit wary. In New York, she said, she has seen women get their hijabs pulled off their heads.

Lopez said that he has experienced Muslim hate speech. Once he was in an Iowa City grocery store in and overheard two people saying openly racist things about Muslims, he said. He also said he believes Muslims are seen on a lower tier, even when compared with other minorities.