News & Views, April 2014

Islamophobia in the US, a CAIR Report of April 6, 2014

CAIR, April 6, 2014

As-salaamu alaykum (peace be with you).

I am pleased to share with you the news of an unprecedented week of organized Muslim advocacy in the U.S. Congress. 

Recently, dozens of CAIR activists from around the country were on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., to share your concerns with members of Congress and their key staffers.
CAIR scheduled a record-breaking 190 congressional meetings with offices representing 23 states; 130 of those meetings took place despite a snow storm and resulting government closures. Few other organizations can say they have scheduled this high a number of Hill visits in a single advocacy effort.

CAIR representatives walked the halls of Congress, meeting with elected officials and their staffers and urging them to address issues such as growing anti-Muslim hate speech, the placing of American Muslims on watch lists and no-fly lists without due process or legal recourse, and the NSA's bulk collection of communications data from law-abiding citizens.

We hear about the issues many American Muslims face and report to us every day. For government-related issues, the only way for them to be resolved and prevented in the future is with this kind of political advocacy. 

In the past, these advocacy efforts have resulted in policy changes. Previously we lobbied to end the use of anti-Muslim trainers for law enforcement, and at the end of 2011, the White House announced plans to overhaul its counterterrorism training and remove all unqualified trainers with anti-Muslim bias.

We understand that these changes will not come about instantly. It takes time and persistence to build a presence and political voice. For years Muslims complained about not having a voice in government. Now things are changing. 

Alhamdulillaah, the momentum is growing year by year. This is our 8th annual Hill days event, and it's been growing steadily. Last year we scheduled 163 meetings; this year, it was 190. We're looking forward to having a bigger presence next year so your issues will be heard by more representatives in Congress inshaAllah.

Your contribution to CAIR has helped us to do this. Thank you. Because of people like you, we are able to have this growing, organized lobbying effort on Capitol Hill.

This grassroots advocacy work on your behalf has positive benefits -- but it's not cost free.

We need your help to continue voicing your concerns to those elected to public office. Without your contribution, this work cannot continue. Help CAIR keep the volume turned up on issues of importance to the American Muslim community! 

Your donation will help us expand our reach. The only way we can hold even more congressional visits next year is by training more community members and support staff, by providing the resources they need to travel to Washington, D.C., and by having the necessary legislative resources once they get here.

Please take a minute today to show your support for our work by making a donation.

CAIR is a 100% donor-supported, tax-deductible (Tax ID Number 77-0646756) and zakat-eligible nonprofit organization. 

Please go to www.cair.com right now to make a contribution. We also accept donations using PayPal. You can also mail your contribution to: CAIR, 453 New Jersey Ave. S.E., Washington, D.C., 20003. Many employers offer matching gift programs that could double your donation to CAIR. Please check with your human resources department to see if yours does.

Together, with Allah's blessing, we can do it.  

Sincerely, 

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Brandeis University to Honor Islamophobe Who Claims 'We are at War with Islam'

Watch: 

CAIR Video News Update |

Brandeis University to Honor Islamophobe Who Claims 'We are at War with Islam' [The univeristy will honor] Ayan Hirsi Ali. Readers will recall that she is the executive producer of Honor Diaries, the latest bit of Islamophobe propaganda from the Clarion Project shop. . . Hirsi Ali: I think that we are at war with Islam. And there's no middle ground in wars. Islam can be defeated in many ways. For starters, you stop the spread of the ideology itself; at present, there are native Westerners converting to Islam, and they're the most fanatical sometimes. There is infiltration of Islam in the schools and universities of the West. You stop that. . .You look them in the eye and flex your muscles and you say, "This is a warning. We won't accept this anymore." There comes a moment when you crush your enemy. Reason: Militarily? Hirsi Ali: In all forms, and if you don't do that, then you have to live with the consequence of being crushed.

Send POLITE comments to Brandeis University: Fred Lawrence, President, Brandeis University

 Email: lawrence@brandeis.edu, cdharris@brandeis.edu, mlwalsh@brandeis.edu, elisa@brandeis.edu, mswig@brandeis.edu, obrien@brandeis.edu

Copy to: info@cair.com

I was Almost in the Honor Diaries - Why I Backed Out I had not heard of the Clarion Fund, so I googled them and perused their website, which was "radicalislam.org" at the time.  I felt like I was going to throw up. This group wasn't about women's rights. 

Megyn Kelly Keeps Hate Alive With More Islam Bashing While Fox News promotes right wing Christianity, there is, as we saw with its coverage of the "Ground Zero Mosque," no depth to which Fox will sink in its efforts to use any issue to smear Islam and, in so doing, reinforce its characterization as an "echo chamber" for the well-oiled national machinery of Islamophobia.

CAIR: The Slaughter Muslims Tweet (Religion News Service) In response to the deadly shooting Wednesday (April 2) by a mentally ill soldier, heavy-hitting Hollywood agent turned right wing activist Pat Dollard tweeted that "If there is even one more act of Muslim terrorism, it is then time for Americans to start slaughtering Muslims in the street."

FBI Document Details Terrorist's Plan to Attack Texas Mosque Talbot planned, for Friday, an attack on a mosque in Texas. "Mosques are to be a blast!" he wrote on his Facebook page titled American Insurgency Movement. "With three of my guys with FA (fully automatic), AK's, we will send that white house worthless piece of dirt and his Muslim brotherhood a message they will never forget."

Todd Fine: The Rhetoric of "Islamic Terrorism" and the September 11 Memorial Museum 

U.S. Islamophobes Daniel Pipes, Frank Gaffney Stand by Geert Wilders

Dutch politician Geert Wilders has once again become the subject of controversy after he led supporters in an anti-Moroccan chant during a campaign rally last month. Despite the mass condemnation he has received for the remarks, Wilders' anti-Muslim counterparts in the United States are standing by his draconian approach to immigration. 

IL: YWCA Video Features Police and Muslim Dialogue

West Point Cadets Meet Jersey City's Muslims (Jersey Journal) Interfaith Dialogue Event Planned in Oklahoma City An interfaith event featuring a rabbi, Catholic priest and Muslim imam is set for Wednesday at St. James the Greater Catholic Church in Oklahoma City.

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CAIR: What 'Alice in Arabia' Teaches Us About Making Hollywood More Diverse "When these things are in the can, it's really tough to change them. You've really got to get them in the initial stages," [CAIR's Ibrahim] Hooper said. "If you're not at the table when these pitches are being made, when these pilots are being planned, when these things are in the initial stages, you're not going to have much impact down the road."  Hooper said that the most important thing is a balance of depictions, not on a project-by-project basis, but in the narrative mix as a whole. And he said he has no interest in any sort of rule that might ban negative depictions of Muslims or Middle Eastern countries. "If there are issues of women's rights in the Muslim world, we're on your side," Hooper said. "We believe if women are denied rights in the Muslim world, that's un-Islamic. If you discuss these things or portray these things in a way that shows the reality, that doesn't indict the entire faith for some cultural practice, for some individual's wrongdoing, we don't have a problem with that." (Washington Post)

New Film'Jinn' Based on Islamic Folklore: Indian American Director

CAIR-Texas Offers Condolences to Loved Ones of Ft. Hood Victims The San Antonio chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-SA), the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today offered condolences to the loved ones of those killed in a deadly shooting spree yesterday at Fort Hood in Texas.

Pat Dollard Promotes Slaughtering "All" American Muslims Texas Terror Suspect Planned Mosque Attack (LA Times) Robert James Talbot Jr. considered himself a revolutionary seeking to create a different society by robbing an armored car, killing police and even blazing a bloody path though a service at a mosque where he would shoot men, women and children at prayer, officials said.

CAIR-Chicago: Anti-Boycott Resolution Rejected in Ill. Senate The resolution was a direct response to boycotts against Israeli academic institutions, called for by Palestinian civil society in response to human rights abuses against Palestinians, and recently endorsed by the American Studies Association (ASA) and other organizations.

CAIR Action Alert: Last Chance to Defeat Anti-Education Bill in Florida Motivated by Islamophobia

CAIR-WA: Imam Claims Crew Kicked Him Off Plane Because Restroom Use Syed Muhammad Abbace Ayleya has joined with the Washington state chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) to lodge a complaint with the Delta. According to CAIR, a Delta Airlines crew ordered him to leave a Atlanta to Toronto flight on March 8 because the way he "used the restroom" was objectionable.

Video: CAIR-WA Seek Investigation of Imam's Removal from Delta Flight Annual Conference on Islamophobia at UC Berkeley

CA: Understanding the War on Error -- A Former FBI Agent Speaks Out NY: Students, Faculty Wear Hijabs to Raise Awareness About Islam

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FBI: Texas Terror Plot Suspect Planned Mosque Massacre to Launch Insurgency

The FBI contends Robert Talbot Jr. was ready to launch his nationwide insurgent movement in the Houston area by robbing an armored car and killing a Texas state trooper, then spraying a mosque with machine-gun fire and traveling to the nation's capital for more bloodshed. FBI special agent Renee Cline testified that Talbot "wanted to go to a mosque on Friday and take women, children, men and shoot them," Cline said, adding that he planned to hit during a prayer session when there would be the most people. (Houston Chronicle) CAIR-WA: Imam Claims Discriminatory Treatment by Delta Air Lines Representatives of the Washington chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, as well as clergy and activists from other local organizations, denounced Delta on Tuesday at the Sea-Tac Airport before delivering a complaint letter intended for Delta.

Video: CAIR-WA Asks for Probe of Why Imam was Forced Off Delta Flight

Video: CAIR-MN Sponsors Jewish-Muslim Youth Day at the Capitol CAIR ISLAM-OPED Submission: The Trouble with an All-Knowing NSA ISLAM-OPED commentaries are offered free-of-charge to one media outlet in each market area. . . There was a time not long ago when the vast size of our world and the sheer number of people inhabiting it provided a degree of privacy protection against an intrusive government. No government could monitor everything that happened everywhere. So instead, governments had to pick and choose who to follow, what to listen to, and which information to collect. God might be omniscient, but we hoped our government never would be. CAIR-Chicago: Coalition Claims Victory Over Anti-Arab Hate Legislation

Statement by Desmond Tutu on U.S. Efforts to Curb Freedom of Speech I am writing today to express grave concern about a wave of legislative measures in the United States aimed at punishing and intimidating those who speak their conscience and challenge the human rights violations endured by the Palestinian people.

CAIR-San Diego Action Alert: Ask GOP Group to Drop Anti-Muslim Speaker CAIR-San Diego is calling on American Muslims and all those concerned about the proliferation of Islamophobia and other forms of bigotry in our society to contact the NCRWF (Navajo Canyon Republican Women Federated) to ask the group to end its support of anti-Islam organizations and speakers.

UPDATED: GOP Group's Invitation of 'Anti-Muslim' Speaker Starts Debate

CAIR-FL: University Safety Compromised with Bugging of Muslim Prayer Room As a student that has attended FIU for five years, much of my time is spent on campus; it's my other home. When I found out that the Serenity Room was bugged, as confirmed by Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations Nezar Hamze, it hurt and scared me. I no longer feel safe in the prayer room or anywhere else on-campus.

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CAIR Asks GOP to Drop Anti-Muslim Speakers in CA, MI

CAIR's Michigan chapter today called on the Oakland County Republic Party to drop notorious Islamophobe Richard Thompson as a speaker for its April 1 meeting. CAIR's San Diego chapter yesterday called on Navajo Canyon Republican Women (NCRW) to drop notorious Islamophobe James Horn as a speaker for the group's April 8 meeting.
CAIR: Fox News Gins Up Honor Diaries Controversy 

The University of Michigan-Dearborn initially agreed to screen the Clarion Project's new faux-feminist film, Honor Diaries. Then faculty and staff began to weigh in on the biased, shallow orientations of the documentary and the administrators who'd scheduled the screening had second thoughts. MEDIA ADVISORY

CAIR: Seattle Interfaith Leaders to Seek Probe of Imam's Forced Removal from Delta Flight
Incident part of nationwide trend of Muslim religious leaders being forcibly removed from flights

(SEATTLE, WA, 3/31/2014) –

On Tuesday, April 1, the Washington state chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-WA), along with a group of pastors, rabbis, imams, and labor leaders, will hold a news conference to ask Delta Air Lines and the U.S. Department of Transportation to investigate the apparently bias-motivated removal earlier this month of a Seattle-area imam (Islamic religious leader) from a flight by Delta employees.

The imam, who is a Delta Platinum Elite member, was forced to disembark his flight and take another flight. He was reportedly informed by the Delta employee who escorted him off the plane that this was being done because a crew member judged "the way you used the restroom" to be "doubtful."

WHAT: 

Seattle Interfaith Leaders to Seek Probe of Imam's Forced Removal from Delta Flight

WHEN: Tuesday, April 1, 2014, 10:30 a.m.
WHERE: SeaTac International Airport, Delta Airlines Ticketing Area
CONTACT: CAIR-WA Executive Director Arsalan Bukhari, 206-367-4081 or 206-931-3655, abukhari@cair.com

"The Department of Transportation must investigate this shocking incident to hold Delta Air Lines accountable for discriminating against a respected religious leader," said CAIR-WA Executive Director Arsalan Bukhari. "Not all passengers who go to the bathroom get kicked off their flight, so Delta's discriminatory act was due solely to the imam's perceived racial, ethnic and religious affiliation."

Bukhari noted that there have been a number of similar incidents nationwide in which Muslim leaders and community members have been forcibly removed from airplanes after boarding due to their language, religious attire or appearance. 

Video: Muslims Call Plane Incident Islamophobia
Video: Family in Muslim Clothing Ejected from Flight
Video: AirTran Apologizes to Muslims Kicked Off Plane

In 2011, CAIR and United Firm of Carolina Law (UFC Law) announced the filing of a lawsuit against Delta Air Lines and Atlantic Southeast Airlines for removing two imams from a flight to a conference on Islamophobia in Charlotte, N.C.

Video: Tenn. Muslim Leaders Sue Delta for Discrimination (CAIR)

CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

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Scam Alert: Beware of Callers Misrepresenting Themselves as Government Employees CAIR chapters continue to receive numerous complaints from community members who have received calls from individuals falsely claiming to be from the DHS, FBI and IRS.

Largest IRS Phone Scam Ever Targets Indian Americans Indian Americans and other South Asian Americans are being predominantly targeted by scam artists pretending to be Internal Revenue Service officials who threaten to send out an arrest warrant if money is not paid to them immediately over the phone, the Federal Trade Commission reported in a bulletin released Mar. 21.

TN GOP Event Speaker: U.S. Mosques are 'Terrorist Recruiting Stations' He's not anti-Islam, he said, and in fact likes to barbecue lamb for his Muslim friends. He's simply bringing to light documents proving that the nation's Islamic centers are terrorist recruiting stations and that America is in danger of falling under Shariah.

Editorial: Tenn. Faithful Need to Add Voices of Support for Mosque Challenges to the presence of the mosque and to the rights of Muslims to follow their rituals in burial of their dead are affronts to this community in which many seem to hold faith in high esteem.

CA: Iraq Refugee Gunned Down For Looking Muslim

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CAIR-San Diego Asks GOP Women's Group to Drop Anti-Muslim Speaker

(SAN DIEGO, CA, 3/30/14) – The San Diego chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-San Diego) today called on Navajo Canyon Republican Women (NCRW) to drop notorious Islamophobe James Horn as a speaker for the group's April 8 meeting.

SEE: San Diego Republican Women's Group to Host Anti-Muslim Speaker

Horn, who is scheduled to speak about "Bengazi and Islam in America," has called Islam a "cult, nothing more" and said terrorists are "honest" Muslims. He also stated that anyone who believes Muslims are not the "enemy" is "incredibly ignorant or a simple-minded fool." He criticizes Christian leaders for failing to deal with what he calls the "rapacious ideology of Islam."

In a twist on old anti-Semitic falsehoods, he claims "the Moslem lobby in the state houses and the White House" can "predetermine votes" and that Muslims "have thousands of bankers and lawyers increasingly in control of our everyday life" and have "infiltrated our government." Video: GOP Women's Group Promotes Anti-Muslim Hate

"We urge Navajo Canyon Republican Women to recognize that they are promoting an individual who is recycling anti-Semitic lies to target American Muslims," said CAIR-SD Executive Director Hanif Mohebi. "We ask that instead of hate-mongers like James Horn, Republican groups invite speakers who will promote mutual understanding, not religious and ethnic hatred."

Earlier this month, CAIR called on the National Federation of Republican Women (NFRW) to end its support of anti-Muslim organizations and speakers. That call came following a letter it sent to NFRW leaders asking them to institute internal reforms to end the promotion of bigotry and after a number of events sponsored by NFRW affiliates that featured anti-Muslim speakers.

SEE: CAIR Calls on GOP Women's Group to Stop Promoting Anti-Muslim Speakers

CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

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WATCH:

 Colo. GOP Candidate Says He Joined White Supremacist Website Because of Anti-Islam Views "I still do have some views against Islam and shariah law. And that was pretty much the basis of my joining that website."

TN: 'Republican' Label on Anti-Islam Event Confuses Some Calling themselves "the Republican Wing of the Republican Party," the Tennessee Republican Assembly will host anti-Islam activists Michael Del Rosso and Andy Miller at its annual conference Saturday. But according to assembly President Sharon Ford's Facebook page, Frank Gaffney, a nationally recognized anti-Islam author and speaker who testified in a lawsuit aimed at stopping Murfreesboro mosque construction, had to bail on the event due to a scheduling conflict. Nice Tennessee Lady Will Not Stand For Muslim Student Journalist Putting Her In Back Of Bus

CAIR-MN: For Muslim Leader Lori Saroya, Challenges are Opportunities At the Capitol Thursday, Lori Saroya used an example from her own life to tell a group of Muslim and Jewish high school students about the impact profiling can have on a person's life.

CAIR-MN Sponsors 'Jewish-Muslim Youth Day' at the Capitol

CAIR-SV: Family Mourns Artist Who Fled Violence in Iraq Only to Be killed in a Sacramento Parking Lot (Sacramento Bee) "He left a war-torn Iraq to find a safe place to live with his family, and now he's going back in a casket," said Basim Elkarra, executive director of the Sacramento Valley chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations at a news conference Thursday attended by a dozen community leaders and elected officials decrying Alawsi's seemingly senseless slaying. CAIR: Sacramento Muslim 'Stalked' by Killer Prior to Shooting (Video)

CAIR-SV: Detectives -- Shooting of Calif. Muslim Racially Motivated (Video) CAIR-SV: Community Leaders Gather After Muslim's Shooting Death

CAIR-FL: Muslim Students Want Spying Device Back If CAIR and the MSA obtain the device from UPD, Hamze said an expert and private investigator will be hired to carry out an investigation. MN: Administration, students respond to 'Turban' Bias Incidents One of the incidents involved a student who posted an image of herself at a sorority-sponsored event to which she wore a turban and a sign that read "terrorist." CAIR-CA: 2014 Muslim Day at the Capitol

CAIR-CT: Civil Liberties Conference at CCSU this Weekend The conference, organized by the Connecticut Coalition to Stop Indefinite Detention, the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut, the Council on American Islamic Relations in Connecticut and United Action-Connecticut, will take place from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday at Central Connecticut State University in New Britain. ... Other participants include Dawud Walid, executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations of Michigan.

St. Louis Muslim Women: One Religion, Many Cultures

OH: Minister Explores Bonds Muslims, Christians Share (Dispatch)

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CONTACT:

CAIR-SD Executive Director Hanif Mohebi, 858-278-4547, E-Mail: hmohebi@cair.com;

CAIR Department to Monitor and Combat Islamophobia Director Corey Saylor, 202-384-8857, E-Mail csaylor@cair.com;

CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, E-Mail: ihooper@cair.com;

CAIR Communications Coordinator Amina Rubin, 202-488-8787, 202-341-4171, E-Mail:arubin@cair.com

Council on American-Islamic Relations 453 New Jersey Ave, S.E., Washington, D.C., 20003  

Opinions expressed in various sections are the sole responsibility of their authors and they may not represent Al-Jazeerah & ccun.org.

editor@aljazeerah.info & editor@ccun.org