Countering Jihadi Cool and the Case of Raza v. City of New York

This Article begins with an explanation of the rhetoric, aesthetics, and culture of jihadi cool/chic, which is a crucial factor in the formation of self-radicalizing individuals. It then analyzes the jurisprudence, and legal and cultural ramifications of Raza v. City of New York, in which the New York Police Department had initiated an intense covert surveillance operation that focused on Muslims in New York and beyond without probable cause. This led to a lawsuit that claimed that the New York Police Department’s Muslim Surveillance Program violated the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause, the First Amendment’s Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses, and the New York State Constitution. The Article concludes with analyzing the hidden assumptions that underlay the legal and cultural dynamics in Raza to illustrate that both sides ironically assumed one of jihadi cool’s corollaries: that Islam is the gateway to radicalization.