|
Chronology of Islam in America (2013)
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
June 2013
Muslim leaders sign 'intra-faith code of honor' at national Shia convention
June 1: In a ground-breaking show of unity with other Muslims, the Shia organization, the Universal Muslim American Association (UMAA), signed an Intra-faith Code of Honor, wherein leaders of the Shia and Sunni communities pledged their devotion to preventing the rise of sectarianism in the American Muslim community. Intra-faith Code of Honor was signed on May 27 on the eve of UMAA' ) 11th annual convention “The Conference of Ali” in Dearborn, Michigan. Five years ago, Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) first brought together American Muslim leaders to sign onto the “Intra-Faith Code of Honor” to address the increasing sectarian violence abroad and, most importantly, ensure that American Muslim communities are not divided or infected by international events. To date, the Code has been adopted by more than 50 major American Muslim Sunni and Shia leaders including Dr. Maher Hathout, MPAC's Senior Adviser; Tariq Ramadan of Oxford University; and Imam Hassan Al-Qazwini of the Islamic Center of America. It reads, in part: "As Muslim Americans who live and struggle together in harmony and cohesion, and who agree that the challenges of the future should supersede the problems of the past, we are eager to offer any help and join hands with all those who wish well for our Ummah (community) toward stopping this vicious cycle of violence in the Middle East, which is abhorrent to all Islamic values and principles." The UMAA Convention is one of the largest Shia Muslim gatherings in the U.S. with more than 3,000 people in attendance from all over the country. UMAA is a nonprofit organization created in 2003 with the purpose of advancing the social, economic and political affairs of the Muslim community in America, with a particular focus on the Shia Muslim community. [MPAC]
Missouri Governor Vetoes Anti-Islam Bill
June 3: Missouri Governor Jay Nixon today vetoed an anti-Islam bill (SB 267) passed by the state's legislature. In a statement announcing the veto, Governor Nixon said: ““Senate Substitute for Senate Bill No. 267 seeks to introduce a solution to a problem that does not exist and, in so doing, puts in jeopardy some of the very liberties that the bill purports to protect….Senate Substitute for Senate Bill No. 267 would have a chilling effect on foreign adoptions. This legislation raises serious questions as to whether a Missouri court could consider the foreign decree or order that is necessary to finalize the adoption of a child from a foreign country. This obstacle would complicate an already challenging process facing a Missouri couple seeking to adopt a child from another country whose legal system is deemed "inconsistent" with ours. …..In Missouri, we value adoption. In the last ten years, Missourians have adopted more than 5,000 children from foreign countries. This bill is out of step with our basic belief that we should encourage adoption and make it easier, not more difficult, for children to grow up in strong, supportive families…..Senate Substitute for Senate Bill No. 267 is misguided, unnecessary and needlessly undermines certainty in important areas of the law. Missourians expect and deserve a judicial system that is both fair and predictable. Senate Substitute for Senate Bill No. 267 fails to meet that very basic standard and does not receive my approval.”
In 2011, the American Bar Association (ABA) passed a resolution opposing legislation like SB 267, noting that it is "duplicative of safeguards that are already enshrined in federal and state law," and saying, "Initiatives that target an entire religion or stigmatize an entire religious community, such as those explicitly aimed at 'Sharia law,' are inconsistent with some of the core principles and ideals of American jurisprudence." The bill was written based on draft legislation put together by David Yerushalmi, head of the anti-Islam hate group Society of Americans for National Existence (SANE). He once proposed to banish Islam from the United States by making make “adherence to Islam” punishable by 20 years in prison. He also called for the immediate deportation of all non-citizen Muslims and urged Congress to declare war on the “Muslim Nation,” which SANE defined as “all Muslims.” The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) named Yerushalmi a member of the “anti-Muslim inner circle.” The Southern Poverty Law Center lists Yerushalmi’s ideology as “anti-Muslim” and said besides his problems with Muslims, he “also rails against liberal Jews and the “progressive elites” he says they influence. He’s described blacks as “the most murderous of peoples” and reportedly once called for undocumented immigrants to be placed in “special criminal camps,” detained for three years, and then deported.” [AMP Report]
FBI To start tracking hate crimes against Sikhs, Hindus and Arabs
June 5: After years of pressure from civil rights groups and lawmakers who say attacks against religious and ethnic minorities are not adequately monitored by law enforcement, the FBI will begin formally tracking hate crimes against Sikhs, Hindus and Arabs. Meeting in Portsmouth, Va., , an FBI advisory board voted to expand standard hate-crime incident reports used by thousands of police departments across the country to include crimes motivated by bias against the two religious groups, as well as Arabs. The changes, which go into effect by 2015, are being praised by Sikh, Hindu and Arab advocates hoping to avoid underreporting of hate crimes and increase awareness among law enforcement of their religions and cultures. In particular, members of the Sikh religion, in which men typically grow beards and wear turbans, have said crimes against them are often misreported as anti-Muslim. "We can't go to policy makers or law enforcement to make the case about crimes against our communities unless we have the official data," said Rajdeep Singh, director of law and policy for the Sikh Coalition, a civil rights group that has pushed law enforcement for two years to take action. Specific hate-crime statistics, Singh hopes, will help law enforcement prevent crimes against Sikhs, Hindus and Arabs. Statistics on the population of each group in the United States vary. Singh's organization estimates 500,000 Sikh-Americans; the Hindu American Foundation says there are 2.3 million Hindus in the United States. According to the Arab American Institute, there are about 3.5 million Arab-Americans.
In recent years, there have been violent anti-Sikh attacks in California, Florida, New York, Washington, and most prominently in Oak Creek, Wisc., where a white supremacist shot and killed six worshipers at a temple in August. In another high-profile attack in December, a woman pushed a Hindu man to his death on a New York City subway track, and then told police, "I hate Hindus and Muslims ever since 2001." Criminals also have targeted Arab-Americans, who they often assume are Muslim. The changes follow a letter 26 senators sent earlier this year to the FBI asking it to include the religious groups and Arabs in hate-crime tracking. In March, more than 100 members of Congress requested the same of the FBI, and Attorney General Eric Holder recently spoke in favor of the changes in front of the House Judiciary Committee. The FBI currently tracks reports of hate crimes against Jews, Catholics, Protestants, Muslims and atheists/agnostics. The bureau also tracks hate crimes motivated by race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity and gender. Tracking formally began in 1990, when Congress passed the Hate Crimes Statistics Act.
In 2011, the most recent year for FBI hate-crime statistics, there were 1,318 anti-religious crimes reported, which accounted for less than 20 percent of total hate crimes. Most of the reported religious hate crimes -- 62.2 percent -- were against Jews, while 13.3 percent were against Muslims. Anti-Catholic, anti-Protestant, anti-atheist/agnostic and attacks against multiple religious groups altogether accounted for 14 percent of the reports, while 10.5 percent of them were about crimes against other unspecified religions. [Huffington Post]
Chase bank criticized by civil rights group for closing business bank account
June 6: JPMorgan Chase has come under fire by civil rights groups for abruptly closing a business account for an Arabic language business, without explanation. The Council on American-Islamic Relations-Michigan (CAIR-MI) is asking the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which is a division of the U.S. Department of Treasury, to investigate JPMorgan for closing the account of Alif Arabic, an online business that teaches Arabic to non-Arabic speaking citizens. According to Alif Arabic, their business was notified by JPMorgan in a letter, dated May 30, that their account would be terminated within 10 business days, without detailing the reasons for the action. When an Alif Arabic affiliate requested clarification from the bank, they were told that an analytical tool had alerted them that the account "could pose a possible risk." Dawud Walid, executive director of CAIR–MI, believes that the move by the bank could suggest discrimination, based on religion and ethnicity, and he is urging the Department of Treasury to take action immediately. Earlier this year, the Arab-American Civil Rights League (ACRL) also asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate complaints made by local Arab American and Muslim individuals whose accounts were closed by various banking institutions, including Huntington Chase and Flag Star, without explanation. The ACRL had even established a hotline for individuals to report similar cases. ACRL says that they now plan to file a lawsuit against numerous banks, as they have retained information related to over 50 cases of banks closing accounts for Arab Americans. [Arab American News]
Muslim women in Seattle speak out on discrimination because of their head scarves
June 6: Seattle's Office for Civil Rights is seeing more complaints from Muslim women who say they have been discriminated against because of their hijabs, which is Arabic for headscarf. "When it comes to civil rights I think that we've made some progress as a society but clearly there's more progress that needs to be made," said Julie Nelson, director for Seattle's Office for Civil Rights. Nafiso Samatar is Muslim and said more women have come forward with their complaints at recent workshops held by the Office for Civil Rights. Because complaints based on discrimination relating to religious accommodations in the workplace are handled on the federal level, the city has not been able to investigate them. Mayor Mike McGinn has recently proposed legislation that would give the City's Office for Civil Rights the ability to investigate these claims. The ordinance is expected to be heard by the City Council in the next month. [Kirotv]
Muslim, Arab-American groups say banks closing accounts without explanation
June 13: Two groups are seeking answers to what they say is a growing practice of Muslim and Arab-American groups having their bank accounts closed without cause or explanation. The Council on American-Islamic Relations–Michigan is asking the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, part of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, to investigate the complaints and the Arab-American Civil Rights League in Dearborn is pursuing a lawsuit against major banks.One of the latest reported incidents, according to CAIR–MI, involved Alif Arabic, a business described as teaching Arabic to American citizens online . Officials there were notified May 30 by JPMorgan Chase their bank account would be terminated within 10 days. JPMorgan Chase officials did not detail why, according to the letter. When an Alif Arabic employee asked the bank for clarification, they were told an analytical tool “alerted them that Alif’s account could pose a possible risk,” the letter read .Meanwhile, the Arab-American Civil Rights League plans to file a lawsuit after nearly 50 incidents of individual and business accounts being closed. The group earlier this year asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate and launched a hotline for complaints after some area residents were notified by Huntington National Bank and other institutions their accounts were terminated without explanation. That affected professionals and others who believed they acted lawfully, said Nabih Ayad, the league’s board chairman. “It’s just a shame this continues to happen. It’s not fair to the community,” he said. “These sort of circumstances, they’re basically telling Arab Americans: ‘You’re not at the same level or beneath the average American and we don’t want you to bank with us.’ ” [The Detroit News]
Are we living in Orwell’s1984 Oceania surveillance state?
June 13: Perhaps, Georg Orwell's worst nightmare has come true in the wake of whistleblower Edward Snowden's startling revelations of secret government surveillance. Writing under the title, “So Are We Living in 1984?” Ian Crouch of New Yorker argued that Edward Snowden, sounded, in the Guardian interview in which he came forward, like he’d been guided by Orwell’s pen. The book aims to serve as a warning for what can happen when government overextends its powers; the term “Orwellian” has become associated with the idea of a totalitarian society. The haunting, but much-loved, book celebrated its 60th anniversary on June 6 amid the backdrop of real-life controversy that made the novel seem more prophetic than fictional. Not surprisingly, sales of 1984 have been soaring in the wake of startling revelations of secret government surveillance. Now, sales of George Orwell’s classic have spiked — increasing by an incredible 337% on Amazon.com. As of noon on June 11, the book was number 5 on the “movers and shakers list,” which represent the biggest gains in sales over the past 24 hours. Are we living in “Nineteen Eighty-Four”, the New Yorker asked and added: The technological possibilities of surveillance and data collection and storage surely surpass what Orwell imagined. According to Silicon Beat, a San Francisco man has started a movement called “Flood Washington with 1984.”Brian Morearty, an independent software consultant who has worked at such companies as Intuit and Oracle, is calling for people to send copies of Orwell’s book to their legislators to protest the spying by the National Security Agency.. His official goal is to send 100,000 copies to Washington by July 4, although he told Silicon Beat in an email there’s no real way for him to know when that goal is reached. Morearty said he sent a copy of “1984″ to Feinstein’s Washington, D.C., office. [By Abdus Sattar Ghazali - AMP Report]
Republican Congressman broad-brushes American Muslims
June 13: The American Muslim community was alarmed by Republican Congressman Mike Pompeo’s statement that the Muslims here have not condemned acts of terrorism against the U.S. and therefore are complicit in those and any future attacks. In a statement on the House floor on June 11, Kansas Congressman Pompeo said that there has been a relative silence from leaders in the Islamic community in the two months that have passed since the bombings in Boston, calling the silence ‘deafening’ and ‘dangerous.’ Listing off a number terrorist acts committed by extremists, including the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and several more recent failed plots, Pompeo blamed the leaders of the Islamic community for not doing more to prevent these actions, hinting that they could be complicit in the deaths they’ve caused. “Instead of responding, silence has made these Islamic leaders across America potentially complicit in these acts, and more importantly still, in those that may well follow. I know not all Muslims support these actions, [but] the silence in the face of extremism coming from the best funded Islamic advocacy organizations and many mosques across America is deafening,” Pompeo accused.
God Discussion, reported Pompeo’s statement said perhaps he needs to learn the Google, as the Islamic community has been extremely vocal over the years regarding the actions of the extremists. In fact, the Council on American-Islamic Affairs (CAIR) responded almost immediately following the revelation of the identity of the Boston bombing suspects, stating,“As Americans, we are a united force against any form of tyranny, whether it be in the form of terrorism or otherwise. Terrorism has no allegiance to faith or ethnicity, and we have been witness to that over the past few years. What happened in Boston and Watertown last week does not reflect on anyone except for those who carried it out. It is not a reflection of ethnic identity, religion, or national affiliation.”..... “It should be noted that Pompeo and those who hold similar points of view rarely, if ever, use a similar broad brush on Christians when one of their own commits atrocious acts. Instead, they claim the Christian perpetrator acted alone, not according to ‘doctrine,’ and are ‘false Christians’,” God Discussion concluded.
Surprisingly, Pompeo lauded the condemnation by Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, the founder of a fringe group known as American Islamic Forum for Democracy but he failed to notice repeated condemnation of terrorism by the major civil advocacy groups like CAIR , Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), Muslim American Society (MAS) and Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC). The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, has called on Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.) to correct “false and irresponsible” remarks. In a letter to Pompeo today Corey Saylor, the director of CAIR’s Department to Monitor and Combat Islamophobia, wrote on June 13: “We are writing to address your June 11, 2013, remarks on the House floor alleging that Muslim leadership has failed to condemn or act against terrorism. These remarks are false and irresponsible. You opened your comments by saying, ‘Mr. Speaker, it’s been just under 2 months since the attacks in Boston, and in those intervening weeks, the silence of Muslim leaders has been deafening.’ In the hours after the Boston bombings on April 15, which occurred at approximately 2:49 p.m., a number of Muslim institutions issued statements whose themes included prayers for the victims, calls for Muslims to assist humanitarian efforts, and condemnations of terrorism.These included, but were not limited to, the Universal Muslim Association of America (5:17 p.m.), the Muslim Public Affairs Council (5:53 p.m.), the Council on American-Islamic Relations (7:46 p.m.), the Muslim Peace Coalition (8 p.m.), the Muslim American Society Public Affairs and Engagement (10:52 p.m.), and the Islamic Society of North America (12:09 a.m. on 4/16).” Saylor concluded his letter by stating: “It is our sincere hope that you will return to the House floor, correct your remarks, and acknowledge the strong messaging coming from American Muslim leadership that clearly states there is never any justification for terrorism, that denounces violent extremist leadership and is a reliable partner in pushing back against the ideology of Al-Qaeda and its allies.” [AMP Report]
Continued on next page
2013 January February March April May June
July August Sept Oct Nov Dec
|
