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Chronology of Islam in America (2014)
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
March 2014 page two
Bias probe urged of shots fired into Mississippi Mosque
March 20: The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today called on state and federal law enforcement authorities to investigate a possible bias motive for a shooting incident targeting a Mississippi mosque. The CAIR said police are investigating the incident (March 18)in which several shots were fired into doors, windows and walls of the Islamic Center of Hattiesburg. Police are currently looking into the incident as an act of "malicious mischief," but CAIR is urging a probe of a possible hate motive. "We have seen too many attacks on mosques nationwide to ignore the possibility of a bias motive for this shooting incident," said CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper. Hooper noted that CAIR's Washington state chapter recently held a news conference to ask the FBI to investigate apparently bias-motivated incidents targeting a mosque in that state. Just yesterday, a man threatened staff at CAIR's Columbus, Ohio, office. Also recently, CAIR's Sacramento Valley chapter called on state and federal law enforcement authorities to investigate vandalism of a California mosque as a possible hate crime. In December, CAIR urged a hate crime probe of graffiti sprayed on the Islamic Society of Appalachian Region near Princeton, W.Va. The graffiti spray-painted on the mosque and its sign made obscene references to "Allah," the Arabic word for God. Mosque members say the house of worship was similarly targeted following the 9/11 terror attacks. [CAIR]
Muslims who sued NYPD over spying at New Jersey mosques file appeal
March 21: Muslim-Americans who sued over NYPD spying at New Jersey mosques are embarking on a new two-pronged strategy in their fight against the surveillance. The plaintiffs in the case will file an appeal today, a month after a judge dismissed their claim that the Police Department spying was unconstitutional because it focused on religion. Beyond that, they're turning up the heat on Mayor de Blasio. "Today we take this important legal fight against police discrimination to the next round," said Glenn Katon, legal director of Muslim Advocates, an organization representing the plaintiffs, referring to the appeal of the lawsuit’s dismissal. The court battle involves surveillance practices launched under the Bloomberg administration. Starting in 2002, the NYPD snooped on ordinary people in at least 20 mosques, 14 restaurants, two grade schools and other locations, according to the lawsuit filed in 2012. Now that de Blasio has turned the tide on stop-and-frisk, the controversial police policy criticized for racial profiling, he should also scrap NYPD spying on Muslims, said Baher Azmy, legal director for the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights, which is also representing the plaintiffs. “The de Blasio administration has already disavowed racial profiling in the context of stop-and-frisk," Azmy said. “We certainly hope it disallows religious profiling in the case of Muslim surveillance as well. These are equivalent and illegal practices." In tossing out the lawsuit in February, Newark Federal Judge William Martini said there was no evidence the NYPD's intelligence unit chose its targets "solely because of their religion." [New York Daily News]
Two Minnesota county jails allow religious head coverings
March 21: The Ramsey County (Minnesota) Sheriff's Office will provide head coverings to inmates on request, said spokesman Randy Gustafson. Although officials had been working on a policy for months, they made it official yesterday, shortly after the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office said that it would allow inmates to wear a hijab, the Muslim head scarf, or other religious headwear in jail, Gustafson said. "We've been working on this for a long time," Gustafson said. The sheriff's office this week received a shipment of head coverings approved for inmates to wear in the jail. [Twin Cities]
Disney and ABC Family Drop "Alice in Arabia" following backlash
March 24: The Disney Company, parent company of ABC and ABC Family, had dropped the controversial show Alice in Arabia following widespread condemnation of its plot, which had been accused of racial and cultural stereotyping. The Muslim and Arab civil advocacy groups - American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) - have condemned the script centered on kidnapping of an American girl by her Saudi Arabian family. Following an enormous backlash on social media, Buzzfeed obtained an early draft and dismissed the script as “exactly what critics feared.” Following the uproar, ABC issued a statement announcing that Alice of Arabia would not go ahead. “The current conversation surrounding our pilot was not what we had envisioned, and is certainly not conducive to the creative process, so we’ve decided not to move forward with this project,” they said. [AMP Report]
‘Alice In Arabia’s cancellation shows we’re ready for real portrayal of Arabs and Muslims
March 24: In the space of about seven days, ABC Family’s new pilot Alice In Arabia went from one-paragraph blurb to leaked script to being cancelled over overwhelming outrage. That’s a great sign that we’re not willing to accept tired stereotypical stories about Arabs and Muslims wrapped in a veneer of sensitivity — and that we should soon have shows by Arab and Muslim writers that ditch these tired formulas. TV and movies often try to get away with negative stereotypes by including “good” stereotypes as a false balance. It’s made far worse when writers try and portray people of a community they aren’t a part of, inevitably projecting their own concerns about that community instead of creating realistic, whole characters. Alice seemed to be on track to commit all of these faux pas. The show got off to a bad start — the short summary released by ABC Family featured kidnapping, a royal patriarch, repression of Muslim women, and the phrase “behind the veil.” That was enough to provoke a backlash and trending topic on Twitter, and concerned statements from the Council of American-Islamic Relations and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. ABC Family and the pilot’s writer, Brooke Elkmeier, responded predictably, with assurances that the show would be a “nuanced and character-driven” take, without disputing that the central conflict would be “backwards East” versus “liberated West” as implied in the blurb.....American media has virtually no characters of Arab or Muslim background who aren’t defined by stereotypical political issues. As expressed in a tweet from Khaled Bey: In that way, the debacle over Alice has served to highlight how absent realistic depictions of Arabs and Muslims are from TV. It makes sense to ditch a rare show-length treatment of Arabs and Muslims if it’s just going to repeat the same old cliches without any nuance. [Think Progress]
Woman says man called her 'terrorist,' tried to run her down
March 25: A Stockton (CA) woman is seeking hate crime charges against a man she said called her a "terrorist" and then tried to hit her with his car in the Costco parking lot on Hammer Lane. The prominent civil rights group Council on American Islamic Relations is supporting the woman. CAIR said it suspects the man targeted the woman because she is a Muslim who wears a hijab - a veil that covers the head and chest. CAIR said the woman, who does not want to be identified placing purchased items in her car when a man pulled into the spot next to hers, got out of his car and shouted "terrorist" at her.Later, the man came out of the store and got back into his car. The woman said she tried to take a photo of the man's license plate, but he backed out quickly. She alleges he tried to hit her with the car, then allegedly taunted her further. CAIR Executive Director Basim Elkarra said the Muslim and Sikh communities are often the target of negative comments by "extremists." Stockton police spokesman Officer Joe Silva confirmed that a police report has been filed. A charge has not been filed. [The Record]
California Muslim shot dead in hate attack
March 26: Hassan Alawsi’s assailant stalked him in the Home Depot parking lot for about eight minutes – cutting up and down aisles as he followed his victim to his car – before felling him with two gunshots in a racially motivated killing, according to Sacramento County sheriff’s detectives. Eleven days after the shooting, detectives are awaiting transfer of their suspect, Jeffrey Caylor, from Butte County, where he is being held on charges related to the crimes leading up to and following Alawsi’s March 16 death on Florin Road, according to Sacramento County sheriff’s Sgt. Lisa Bowman. When Caylor, 44, returns to Sacramento County, he will be booked on suspicion of murder, as well as other charges, she said. Detectives allege that Caylor did not know Alawsi, 46. But they believe he had a “severe hatred” of people of Middle Eastern descent, Bowman said, and began following the victim after seeing him with his sister, who was dressed in an “Arabic-style dress” and headscarf. Alawsi was pronounced dead at the scene, less than one hour after he and his sister arrived at the store to buy gardening supplies, according to a sheriff’s request for Caylor’s arrest warrant. Alawsi’s sister ducked back into the store to use the restroom as Alawsi headed out to the car. When she tried to go back outside, employees had locked the doors, telling customers there was an emergency outside, according to the warrant affidavit. She eventually made it outside, only to find deputies and police tape surrounding the area where she and her brother had parked, according to the warrant request. Deputies soon told her that her brother was dead. [The Sacramento Bee]
Clarion Fund’s new Islamophobic film “Honor Diaries”
March 27: The Clarion Fund (now the “Clarion Project–#1 news site on the threat of Islamic extremism“) rides again. After producing three classic Islamophobic films, Obsession, Third Jihad and Iranium, T-H-E-Y’R-E B-A-C-K with a new one, Honor Diaries. The new project focuses on honor killings and Islam’s supposed hatred of women. One has to ask why a film about the purported abuse of Muslim women was produced by Jews, and ones with a distinct ideological agenda at that. Honor Diaries calls itself a “woman’s film” (it was launched on March 8th, International Women’s Day) when its focus is decrying the alleged backwardness and misogyny of Islam. Behind the film are the usual cast of characters including Rabbi Raphael Shore, formerly (according to him) of the settler-linked Aish HaTorah and Israel media-advocacy group, Honest Reporting. Alex Traiman, who wrote the previous films is back for another reprieve. But there are some intriguing new figures, Ayan Hirsi Ali, one of the early African female of assailants of Islam, who is a visiting fellow at the right-wing American Enterprise Institute. Another “expert” interviewed extensively is Dr. Qanta Ahmed, a Manhattan sleep disorder specialist, who’s transformed herself into a feminist Muslim and darling of the pro-Israel world. She celebrates Israel’s achievements as an unapologetic voice of Arab hasbara. A writer and producer of the film, Paula Kweskin, has penned anti-Palestinian articles in the Jerusalem Post arguing that Israel does not occupy Gaza. Despite Kweskin’s claim of special interest in international humanitarian relief and the plight of Arab women, her NY Times wedding announcement proclaims that she is an employee of Clarion Fund (not just an independent producer of the film). She and her husband appear to be Orthodox Jews. So rather than a feminist filmmaker, she’s little more than a hasbara professional. [RichardSilverstein.Com]
Islamophobe Daniel Pipes takes Polish nationality
March 27: Islamophobe Daniel Pipes has adopted Polish nationality, according to his statement published in the National Review. His parents were Polish born. In his statement Pipes related the story of his acquisition of the Polish nationality. "In 2009, my elder two daughters both had plans to move to western Europe, so they asked me to apply for Polish citizenship. This would allow them in turn to derive citizenship through me and acquire a European Union passport that allows them freely to live and work in 28 countries. I began what turned into a four-year process of bureaucratic challenges to request the president of Poland to grant me citizenship."
ADL condemned for stereotyping of Muslims in bill 1062 debate
Feb 28: The Arizona chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-AZ) today called on the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) to apologize for stereotypical statements made about Muslims during recent debate over Arizona Senate Bill 1062, which would have shielded businesses from lawsuits if employees acted on religious beliefs to discriminate against customers. In testimony before a state Senate committee the ADL's assistant regional director posed a scenario in which, "A Muslim-owned cab company might refuse to drive passengers to a Hindu temple." "It is unconscionable that a group purporting to defend civil rights would resort to religious bigotry to promote its political agenda," said CAIR-AZ Board Chair Imraan Siddiqi. "The introduction of this stereotypical scenario gave way to the narrative that Muslims are in some way serial abusers of 'religious freedom based denials of service,' which is completely baseless." Siddiqi noted that Muslims, like the majority of other Arizonans, believe that those serving the public must treat all customers equally, or be prepared to seek another line of work. In 2010, CAIR called on the ADL to retract its statement against the construction of an Islamic community center in New York City. [CAIR]
Detroit jury awards Muslim man a record $1.1M in ‘beard-related’ discrimination case
Feb 28: A jury in Detroit federal court has awarded one of the largest verdicts in an employment discrimination case to a Muslim American. Ali Aboubaker, 56, came to Michigan over two decades ago, chasing the American dream. But he never expected what would happen, according to his attorney Shereef Akeel. “He had come from overseas from Tunisia and became a naturalized citizen,” Akeel told WWJ’s Charlie Langton. ”He came to America for a better life and he was fired after 17 years, wrongfully fired.” Akeel said Aboubaker was passed over for promotions and eventually fired from his job as a maintenance worker with Washtenaw County partially because of his religious mark of manhood. Aboubaker lost everything after he was fired, Akeel said, and was unable to find another job. “The man lost his house, he was literally homeless, he lost his family and his wife of 26 years. He was destitute,” he said. “If you look at him, he definitely would be profiled, he definitely would be picked out of the line at the airport. He fits the stereotype and he has a big strike against him.” Aboubaker decided to file a lawsuit claiming employment and religious discrimination. After six long years, judgment day finally came on Thursday when a jury awarded him $1.1 million, one of the largest discrimination awards for a Muslim. The verdict shows, Akeel said, that Americans really can look past the surface and realize all citizens deserve the same basic rights, no matter where they came from or what they look like. [CBS Detroit]
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