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Chronology of Islam in America (2013)
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
December 2013
ADC appoints Samer Khalaf as president
Dec 4: The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) announced today the appointment of Mr. Samer Khalaf, Esq. to serve as ADC National President. Mr. Khalaf will leave his current position of senior associate with the New York law firm of Barnes Iaccarino & Shepherd, LLP., specializing in union-side labor law and ERISA. He received his BA in political science from Virginia Commonwealth University and his JD with a Certificate in Law and Public Policy from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He is admitted to practice in New Jersey, Maryland, District of Columbia, US District Court for the District of NJ, and the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Mr. Khalaf served as the Interim ADC Legal Director in 1997, and was an intern with the organization in 1996. Since 2006, Mr. Khalaf has been a member of the Board of Directors of The Arab-American Family Support Center and served as its Board Chair. He also served as a member of the Arab-American Institute (AAI) National Policy Council and is the co-founder and co-chair of the NJ Arab-American Democratic Caucus. [ADC]
‘Kill him, he’s a f–king Muslim!’
Dec 9: A man acquitted of attempted murder after shooting four members of a Borough Park community-watch group in self-defense says his attackers were yelling, “Kill him, he’s a f–king Muslim!” “I hope you die, you son of a bitch!’’ one of the Brooklyn men hissed at David Flores, 37, before shooting him, Flores told The New Post in his first interview since the verdict. Flores — who is Christian but thinks the “vigilantes’’ from the Boro Park Shomrim mistook his religion because he was wearing a small woven cap — took a bullet to his left arm. Flores, a Brooklyn native who now lives in Pennsylvania, said he was simply driving from his childhood home to a nearby bakery to buy pastries on Sept. 2, 2010, when a van stopped short in front of him. A “mob” of about 20 Hasidic men quickly surrounded his car and began banging on his windows and kicking his doors — with one Shomrim member brandishing a black gun, Flores said. “They (Shomrim members) say, ‘Get him out of the car, he’s a f–king Muslim!’ ” Flores said. “They had this look that was just complete rage. Prosecutors argued at his Brooklyn Supreme Court trial that the Shomrim members jumped Flores — who has a long rap sheet — only after he pulled his gun. [New York Post]
Award to NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly described 'Cheap PR Stunt'
Dec 10: New York Police Department Commissioner Ray Kelly has received an award from the Muslim Advisory Council, set up by the NYPD in 2012. The Council's 10 members were hand-picked by the NYPD. Not surprisingly, for the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, an advocacy group, the award was something very different: a "cheap public relations stunt." "While there may be a tiny minority of Muslims who do support Ray Kelly's actions -- those who are perhaps unaware of the damage done by NYPD predatory policing -- the vast majority of Muslim New Yorkers do not support or applaud his ineffective and biased policies," Ryan Mahoney, president of the group's New York chapter, said in a statement. In August 2013, CAIR-NY, along with a number of other civil rights organizations, urged the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate reported violations of the constitutional rights of Muslims by the New York City Police Department (NYPD). That request came following new revelations by The Associated Press (AP) that the NYPD "has secretly labeled entire mosques as terrorism organizations, a designation that allows police to use informants to record sermons and spy on imams, often without specific evidence of criminal wrongdoing." [Media Reports]
Adventist Church sides with Muslim woman in workplace religious freedom case
Dec 11: The Seventh-day Adventist Church (Silver Spring, Maryland) today filed an amicus, or “friend of the court” brief in support of an American Muslim woman who claims she was denied a job because her head-covering violated company policy. In 2008, Samantha Elauf wore a hijab when she applied for a sales position at an Abercrombie & Fitch store in Tulsa, Oklahoma. After a manager confirmed that her headwear crossed store policy, she was deemed ineligible for hire without discussion of religious accommodation. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which filed a lawsuit on Elauf’s behalf, said the move defies Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The title obligates employers to take steps to “reasonably accommodate” a prospective employee’s “religious observance or practice.” While a federal judge sided with the EEOC in 2011, a recent ruling by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upends that decision, claiming Elauf never told Abercrombie she needed a religious accommodation, even though she was wearing a hijab in the interview. Dwayne Leslie, director for Legislative Affairs for the Adventist world church, said the 10th Circuit’s ruling sets a troubling precedent. “Under the 10th Circuit’s new standard, employers would be able to insulate themselves from the duty to accommodate via willful ignorance [of the religious needs of employees],” Lesie wrote in a Huffington Post Op-Ed. [Adventist Church]
Edmond City Council rejects mosque addition permit
Dec 11: Members of the Edmond City Council (Oklahoma) turned down a request for a permit to build an 8,307-square-foot addition next to the Islamic Society of Edmond's mosque. Council members did not agree with plans for parking and the size of the building. The 8,307-square-foot addition would have been built to the west of the 680-square-foot prayer hall built in 1990. [News Oklahoma]
Natomas students promote Hijab awareness
Dec 12: Natomas (California) Pacific Pathways Prep High School’s Muslim Student Association hosted a Hijab Day. The educational event was organized to raise awareness about the the Hijab, the head covering worn by Muslim women. MSA currently has 15 core members. The Hijab Day event, however, was spearheaded by a handful of 12th grade girls focusing on Islamophobia for their senior project. Islamophobia is the fear of people who practice the religion of Islam. Stereotypes about Islam prompted MSA club members to educate their NP3 peers that women are not oppressed by, or forced to, wear the Hijab. More than 100 girls participated in the event by wearing a Hijab for the day. Boys were given necklaces with written messages about the Hijab. [Natomas Buzz]
Anti-Islam Extremists wage Anti-Learning Campaign Against Alabama Textbooks
Dec 12: Concerns that Alabama could recommend social studies textbooks with pro-Islamic bias caused the state board of education to cancel a planned vote on the books today, pending further review. State Superintendent Tommy Bice said he would review the 12 books criticized by conservative groups and issue a recommendation to the board in January. He had not decided whether he would recommend any of the books be excluded from the state's recommended textbook list for social studies. The board was slated to adopt the recommended textbook list for social studies, which includes more than 500 books, at its meeting today in Montgomery. But concerns over 12 of the books were raised by the Eagle Forum of Alabama, a longtime conservative interest group, and the Birmingham chapter of ACT! for America, a conservative group dedicated to protecting freedom and security in America -- though it has been criticized nationally as anti-Islamic. Specific concerns raised by the groups in a letter sent Dec. 4 to school board members included that the books under reported the positive impacts of Christianity and failed to accurately represent the spread of Islam through violence. "Islam was spread by the sword in most every case. The Muslims have killed millions in their 1,400-year history and enslaved millions more," wrote Larry Houck, the founder of ACT! for America's Birmingham chapter. [www.blog.al.com]
New Remonstrance targets NYPD tactics
Dec 13: The religious leaders of the Flushing Interfaith Council gathered recently at St. George’s Episcopal Church in Flushing to sign a second Flushing Remonstrance in protest against racial profiling in the policing and surveillance of Muslims by the NYPD. The original Remonstrance was signed in 1657 by English settlers opposed to the persecution of Quakers by Director-General Peter Stuyvesant and the colonial government of New Netherland. The new Flushing Remonstrance is translated into nine languages, all but one on display at the second signing of the Remonstrance. About 25 Flushing residents of various ages, religions and ethnicities signed the new Remonstrance, which addresses Mayor Michael Bloomberg directly with grievances related to the NYPD’s controversial stop-and-frisk policing as well as the department’s surveillance of mosques and places where Muslims gather. Many consider the Flushing Remonstrance the precursor to the Bill of Rights and one of the first attempts in the Americas to protect religious freedom. The creation of a second Remonstrance was inspired by Naomi Paz Greenberg, of the Morningside Quaker Meeting, after a boycott of the mayor’s Interfaith Breakfast two years ago by religious leaders to denounce the NYPD’s surveillance of the city’s Muslim community. [Times Ledger ]
Hate probe urged for West Virginia Mosque vandalism
Dec 19: Police in Princeton, West Virginia, are investigating after someone spray-painted anti-Muslim words onto an Islamic center in Mercer County this week. Staff at the Islamic Society of the Appalachian Region near Princeton discovered the vandalism on Dec 16, said Mercer County Sheriff's Deputy E.P. Parks. The graffiti was sprayed onto the front of the center and on the center's sign sometime Sunday night or early Monday morning, Parks said. Deputies are beefing up patrols around the center, Parks said, which is located near U.S. 460. Dr. Riaz Riaz, president of the center, told the Bluefield Daily-Telegraph that the building was last targeted for hateful graffiti after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The Council on American-Islamic Relations issued a statement on Thursday calling for federal authorities to investigate the vandalism as a hate crime."Just as we have requested following past hate incidents targeting American mosques, we urge the FBI to join with local authorities in investigating this case and bringing the perpetrators to justice," said CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper in a news release.[West Virginia Gazette]
Florida Muslim files suit against Feds after being imprisoned for months
Dec 15: The Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-FL) today announced the filing of a federal complaint against the United States by Irfan Khan, an American Muslim citizen, alleging false arrest, false imprisonment and malicious prosecution. Khan was arrested and imprisoned for 319 days and made to endure what he describes as "some of the worse conditions imaginable" in solitary confinement in federal prison. The government dropped all charges against Irfan before trial. "Being an American is about having the right to be who you are. We look forward to pursuing justice on behalf of Mr. Khan," said Michael Hanna, a discrimination attorney. [CAIR]
Over 50 groups oppose Sen. Feinstein’s FISA Improvements Act
Dec 18: Today, ThoughtWorks, a global technology firm, joined more than 50 organizations in an open letter to Congress opposing the FISA Improvements Act sponsored by Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and issued the following statement: “The recent federal judge’s ruling that the National Security Agency’s phone surveillance program is likely unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment is the latest confirmation that mass surveillance is incompatible with a democratic society,” said Joanna Parke, Managing Director of ThoughtWorks in North America. “Meaningful legislative reform is urgently needed in many countries, but the FISA Improvements Act falls unacceptably short of the mark by actually codifying practices that undermine constitutional and human rights. Dragnet surveillance is destroying the trust that enabled the global internet to drive unprecedented levels of efficiency, engagement and innovation and it must be unconditionally ended.” The letter to House and Senate Leadership strongly opposing the FISA Improvements Act was signed by ThoughtWorks and over 50 civil liberties groups and other organizations advancing the public interest, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, American Civil Liberties Union, reddit and CREDO Mobile. [OC Politics Blog]
Muslim children, teens report bullying in California schools
Dec. 19: A new survey of Muslim students ages 11-18 in California schools reports that half experienced some sort of social bullying along the lines of taunting or remarks, and one-tenth experienced physical bullying. Seventeen percent of girls who wear hijab said they'd had someone inappropriately touch or pull on their hijab. A new survey that tracks bullying directed at Muslim children and teens in California finds that half have at some point been subject to "mean comments and rumors" over their religion. The survey was put together by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a national American Muslim civil rights and advocacy group. It surveyed 471 Muslim students in California public schools between the ages of 11 and 18. For the most part, students reported "a healthy school environment in which they were comfortable participating in discussions about their religious identity" and in which they felt safe and respected by teachers and safe at school. But there were problems, too. Of the 5o percent who reported social bullying, along the lines of name-calling and other remarks, it was "stuff you would expect," said report author Fatima Dadabhoy, a staff attorney and civil rights manager and staff attorney with CAIR in Anaheim. "Being called a terrorist, or 'What is that thing on your head?'...girls being called a towel-head, or jokes like 'Don't throw that bomb on me' or 'Don't bomb us today,' " Dadabhoy said. "These were the most common ones we heard about." Ten percent of the kids surveyed reported physical bullying like slapping, kicking, or punching. Girls, in particular, were subject to bullying for wearing their hijab, the traditional Islamic head scarf: At least 17 percent of girls who wore hijab said they had experienced "offensive touching or pulling" of their hijab, four percent of whom reported experiencing this often. [89.3 KPCC Southern California Public Radio]
UK anti-Muslim hate crime soars, police figures show
Dec 26: Hate crimes against Muslims have soared in the UK this year, figures show. Hundreds of anti-Muslim offences were carried out across the country in 2013, with Britain's biggest force, the Metropolitan police, recording 500 Islamophobic crimes. But the figures could be much higher as nearly half of the 43 forces in England and Wales did not reveal how many hate crimes had targeted Muslims. Some forces admitted they did not always record the faith of a religious hate-crime victim. Freedom of Information requests were sent by the Press Association to every police force in England and Wales. Of the 43 forces, 24 provided figures on the number of anti-Muslim crimes and incidents recorded. Tell Mama, a group which monitors anti-Muslim incidents, said it had dealt with 840 cases since April, with the number expected to rise to more than 1,000 by the end of March. This compared with 582 anti-Muslim cases it dealt with from March 2012 to March 2013. [The Guardian]
Federal judge rules NSA's metadata-snooping is constitutional
Dec. 28: In a very big win for the Obama Administration, a federal judge in New York City today ruled that the National Security Agency (NSA) program that collects the telephone metadata for every call made in the United States and many of those made overseas is legal and constitutional. Judge William Pauley III ruled in favor of the Obama administration, dismissing a lawsuit against the NSA spying program brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The 53-page opinion completely accepts the official rationale for the assumption of police state powers by the US government. It is all justified, Judge Pauley declares in his opening paragraphs, by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. These attacks succeeded “because conventional intelligence gathering could not detect diffuse filaments connecting al-Qaeda,” he claims. This is a slightly more flowery version of the long discredited claim that US government agencies failed to “connect the dots” before 9/11. This contention has been promoted by the intelligence agencies and echoed by the media to conceal the fact that many of the 9/11 hijackers were known to US intelligence agencies and at least some were under their direct surveillance in the months before the attacks. Pauley concedes that the NSA metadata collection is a threat to democratic rights. “This blunt tool only works because it collects everything,” he writes. “Such a program, if unchecked, imperils the civil liberties of every citizen.” He then spends the rest of the document arguing against any effort to impose such a check. [World Socialist Website]
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