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Chronology of Islam in America (2011)
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
November 2011 - Page Two
Anti-Muslim 'hate crimes' up 50 percent in US: FBI
Nov 14: So-called "hate crimes" against Muslims rose nearly 50 percent in the United States in 2010, according to FBI statistics released today. The figures, part of a report on hate crimes, showed actions motivated by anti-Muslim prejudice rose to 160 in 2010 from 107 the prior year. The total number of incidents classified as hate crimes rose marginally in 2010 to 6,628. Of the total, 47.3 percent were motivated by race and 20 percent by religion, the FBI statistics showed. The organization Human Rights First expressed dismay over the figures. "After hate crime declined in 2009, it's disturbing to see it rise again in 2010," said the group's Paul Legendre. "The rise in anti-Muslim violence is particularly significant. Human Rights First has long maintained that anti-Muslim violence, as well as other forms of hate crime, must be viewed and responded to as a serious violation of human rights. The US government can and must do more to confront these abuses." [AFP]
Multi-State records requests filed on anti-Muslim law enforcement trainings
Nov 15: The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) announced today that 15 of its chapters nationwide have filed 87 separate public records requests about possible Islamophobic training of local, state and national law enforcement personnel. CAIR is seeking information about state-level trainings that may have used federal taxpayer dollars to fund anti-Muslim trainers, a phenomenon highlighted in recent research and media reports. In a statement, CAIR said: "CAIR's public records requests seek to ensure that law enforcement agencies are using qualified trainers who present objective and unbiased information to help protect Americans from violent extremists of all types. We firmly believe that good training leads to good investigations, while biased training leads to biased investigations. We are particularly concerned with ensuring that taxpayer dollars are not wasted on training that is agenda-driven, inaccurate or Islamophobic."
Both Attorney General Holder and FBI Director Mueller have acknowledged that the Department of Justice and the FBI are reviewing their training materials to remove inaccurate and biased information. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which provides most of the Federal funding for state and local training, recently issued a set of recommendations for countering violent extremism training. CAIR has in the past called on the Obama administration, DHS, the Department of Defense, and Congress to provide oversight for apparently widespread anti-Muslim bias in the training of law enforcement, security and military personnel nationwide. Trainers for American law enforcement and military personnel have included Islamophobes such as Robert Spencer, co-founder of Stop the Islamization of America (SIOA), and "former terrorist" Walid Shoebat. SIOA has been designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center and CNN aired a two-part series exposing Shoebat as an anti-Islam fraud. Washington Monthly magazine also published a major investigative article showing similar anti-Islam attitudes by private trainers of law enforcement agencies. A number of recent reports have documented the disturbing growth and promotion of Islamophobia nationwide. [CAIR]
Muslim protesters demand end to NYPD surveillance
Nov 18: Hundreds of Muslims gathered in lower Manhattan (New York) today to pray and march in protest against a decade of New York Police Department spying on Muslim communities. Demonstrators gathered in New York’s Foley Square chanting for an end to surveillance, the VOA reported. They also held signs condemning the New York City Police Department for allegedly infiltrating mosques, spying on Muslim student groups, cataloguing Middle Eastern restaurants and compiling data on Arab cab drivers. An Associated Press investigation revealed widespread NYPD spying programs that built databases on every aspect of Muslim life in New York. Police infiltrated mosques. Plainclothes officers catalogued Middle Eastern restaurants. Analysts built databases on Arab cab drivers and monitored Muslims who changed their names. Many of these programs were built with the help of the CIA as part of an unusually close collaboration that is now the subject of an internal CIA investigation.
In a sermon at the rally during traditional Friday Muslim prayers, Imam Talib Abdur-Rashid said Muslims in the United States are unapologetic about their faith and uncompromisingly American.
“Our American identity is based on ideals, and principals and affirmation of truth. We affirm the American dream,” Rashid said adding that it was no secret that police have been watching mosques. But the news that the NYPD was monitoring everything from Islamic schools to restaurants was unacceptable. According to AP, the protest was joined by about 50 members of the Occupy Wall Street movement, who marched to Foley Square just north of City Hall chanting "Surveillance is violence, we won't remain silent!"
A team from the non-profit federation of lawyers, legal workers, and law students came to the rally to observe interaction between the protesters and police. Guild member Bina Ahmad said government surveillance without probable cause violates the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. She said there is no valid reason for infiltrating the Muslim community. “We all have the right to be free and equal citizens, have the right to free speech, to be free of a police state," said Ahmad. "We have the Fourth Amendment, your right against unreasonable search and seizure. And we’re all law-abiding citizens.”
The NY1 quoted one protester as saying: "The NYPD has had its nefarious dealings for quite a while now. There is no need for it. We are taxpaying citizens. It’s like I'm being black twice. I'm Muslim and I’m black and I have to go through this? It’s not right.” The NY1 also reported: Protesters said they feel as if they can't practice their religion freely. They say they want an independent investigation of the NYPD surveillance of their community. Activists say innocent people are being accused of plotting terrorist crimes. "Too many to count, the Newburgh Four case was a case of entrapment, the Fort Dix Five case was a case of entrapment," said one protester. The activists say they are urging people not to talk to the police about anything without lawyers present. [AMP Report]
The Muslim-bashing blogger says your Thanksgiving bird is yet another front in the stealth jihad
Nov 21: Anti-Muslim blogger Pamela Geller, one of the driving forces behind the Ground Zero mosque controversy, has set her sights on a new manifestation of the stealth jihad: Your Thanksgiving turkey. Geller is calling for a boycott of Butterball, accusing the company of selling "stealh halal" turkeys prepared in accordance with Muslim dietary laws: “Across this great country, on Thanksgiving tables nationwide, infidel Americans are unwittingly going to be serving halal turkeys to their families this Thursday. Turkeys that are halal certified -- who wants that, especially on a day on which we are giving thanks to G-d for our freedom? I wouldn't knowingly buy a halal turkey -- would you? Halal turkey, slaughtered according to the rules of Islamic law, is just the opposite of what Thanksgiving represents: freedom and inclusiveness, neither of which are allowed for under that same Islamic law.” Just in case you're wondering, Jewish and Muslim dietary laws regarding meat are very similar. Similar enough, in fact, that a proposed ban on the ritual killing of animals in the Netherlands has both the Jewish and Muslim religious communities up in arms. [Mother Jones]
Sheepshead Bay (NY) mosque approved
Nov 22: The Board of Standards and Appeals today gave approval of the Sheepshead Bay mosque that was vehemently opposed by a group of residents. The Board unanimously rejected opponents claims. Though it hasn't attracted as much attention as Park 51, the Islamic community center in Lower Manhattan, the mosque planned for 2812 Voorhies Avenue, on a residential block between East 28th and East 29th streets, has inspired protests, a lawsuit and challenges before the Department of Buildings. Bay People, an organization formed to oppose the project, claims the mosque will increase traffic and noise in the neighborhood, decreasing property values. But the group has also come under fire for what is seen as its anti-Muslim bias. Developer Allowey Ahmed bought the property -- comprised of a vacant lot and a lot with a single-family home -- for $800,000 in 2007, from a couple who had owned there since 1974, according to city property records. Last October, he got the green light from DOB to erect a three-story brick building, with a 2,465 square foot structure on a 4,500-square-foot lot, department records show. In February, the opponents filed a nuisance claim in New York state court seeking to block the project. The developers fired back with counterclaims for malicious prosecution, defamation and abuse of process, seeking at least $56,000, plus punitive and other damages.
In September, Kings County Supreme Court Judge Mark Partnow dismissed both filings. [The Real Deal]
GTA woman has niqab pulled off in assault
Nov 22: A Muslim woman from Mississauga, Ontario, who had her niqab pulled from her face at a local mall, says her young children no longer feel secure with only her nearby. Inas Kadri, whose assault at Sheridan Centre in Mississauga was caught on a security camera, spoke to CBC News as she awaits the sentencing of the woman who attacked her. Kadri was shopping with her three-year-old son and two-year-old daughter when she was approached by two women. One of the women began swearing at her, about her religion and her veil, telling her, "Leave our country. Go back to your country," Kadri said. The woman can be seen in the video grabbing Kadri's veil and pulling her off-camera. The attacker walked away while Kadri ran for help. "Being attacked for no reason — for no reason — that's something difficult," she said. Kadri's victim impact statement reads, in part, that, "My kids don't feel secure with me alone, and always prefer to have someone bigger in size than me to feel safe." The accused, Rosemarie Creswell, pleaded guilty after the video was played in court. [CBC News]
Santorum denounced for promoting religious profiling
Nov 23: The Council on American-Islamic Relations is calling out Rick Santorum for supporting religious profiling against Muslims, and appealed Wednesday to the Republican Party to rebuke Santorum for his views. In a national security debate Tuesday, the former Pennsylvania senator and GOP presidential candidate said he would support profiling Muslims at airport checkpoints as a tactic to protect against terrorist attacks. “Obviously Muslims would be someone you’d look at, absolutely,” Santorum said. “The radical Muslims are the people who are committing these crimes, by and large, as well as younger males — not exclusively, but these are things that you profile to find your best, most likely candidates.”The Council on American-Islamic Relations pointed to a number of other comments Santorum has made about Islam and Sharia law, and called for the GOP candidates to reject rhetoric that denigrades Islam.
“Last night, Rick Santorum casually tossed aside every American’s constitutional right to equal protection under the law in favor of discriminatory profiling of Muslims,” Corey Saylor, the group’s legislative director, said in a news release. “Mr. Santorum’s obvious lack of appreciation for the Constitution and for the rejection of profiling by top law enforcement experts raises reasonable questions about his ability to lead our multi-faith nation.” The group reminded Santorum that Jesus Christ was also from the Middle East and could fit the profile that law enforcement would use under a Santorum-like policy. Santorum, a Catholic, speaks frequently about his religious convictions and their role in his political ideology. [The Hill]
Civil rights group asks Republicans to reject Islamophobia
Nov 23: The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today called on the Republican Party to repudiate GOP presidential hopeful Rick Santorum's call for profiling of American Muslims. In a debate aired on CNN last night, Santorum was asked if he would support ethnic and religious profiling. CNN's Wolf Blitzer, the debate's moderator, asked Santorum: "So just to be precise, is it ethnic profiling, religious profiling, who would be profiled?" "The folks who are most likely to be committing these crimes," replied Santorum. "Obviously Muslims would be someone you'd look at, absolutely." Earlier this year, Santorum called "Sharia," or Islamic principles, "evil." He told a group in New Hampshire: "We need to define it and say what it is. And it is evil." In a past "lecture on Islam," Santorum falsely claimed the Quran, Islam's revealed text, was written in "Islamic." Last week, CAIR called on state and national GOP leaders to demand the resignation of a Tennessee lawmaker after he suggested in a radio interview that U.S. Muslims should "go back to where they came from" if they objected to his recent call for the removal of all Muslims serving in the military. A number of recent reports have documented the disturbing growth and promotion of Islamophobia in American society. [CAIR]
FBI asked to Probe Internet Threats to Mosques
Comment on anti-Islam hate site: 'I want [Muslim] blood on my hands'
Nov 25: The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a prominent national Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization today called on the FBI to investigate a number of threats of violence targeting mosques posted online on an anti-Islam hate site, including the comment "I want [Muslim] blood on my hands" by an individual who claims he regularly drives past a Virginia mosque. CAIR said articles and comments posted on the anonymous blog "Bare Naked Islam" (BNI) routinely urge attacks on and desecration of American and European mosques. "Keith Mahone (aka Charles Martel)," who states that he regularly drives by a Virginia mosque, wrote: "[I]f you see a Muslim licking an ice cream cone in the park and you blow his head off you are technically committing an act of self defense. . .Muslims must learn they they are not safe anywhere outside a Muslim country. . .My heart does a back flip to see a mosque "desecrated". . .Burn every mosque to the ground in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and kill every Muslim twice. . .I want their blood on my hands as a matter of principle." [CAIR]
Obama orders government to clean up terror training
Nov 29: The White House quietly ordered a widespread review of government counterterrorism training materials last month, following Danger Room’s reports that officials at the FBI, military and Justice Department taught their colleagues that “mainstream” Muslims embrace violence and compared the Islamic religion to the Death Star. According to a Pentagon memorandum acquired by Danger Room, the White House’s National Security Staff in October requested “Departments and Agencies” to “provide their screening process for CVE trainers and speakers.” CVE refers to “Countering Violent Extremism,” the euphemism du jour for the war on terrorism. The memorandum says that “recent media attention” led to the review, and contains a single attachment to demonstrate that attention: “Spencer Ackerman’s Wired.com article.” The ongoing review will examine whether counterterrorism training material throughout the government is accurate and relevant, and will make sure the briefings given to federal field offices and local cops meet the same standards as FBI headquarters or the Pentagon.
Jose Mayorga, a retired two-star general who now serves as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense, oversaw the Pentagon’s contribution to the White House review. In the memo, dated Oct. 16, Mayorga asked aides to the Joint Chiefs of Staff to collect counterterrorism training materials at the “service academies and major academic centers (e.g., Joint Special Operations University, U.S. Army Combined Arms Center and National Defense Intelligence College)” by Oct. 31, a deadline that Pentagon spokesman Robert Ditchey says has “been extended” so the department can be “comprehensive and deliberate.” The purpose of the review, Mayorga writes, is to “determine the criteria used to establish professional qualifications for teachers and lecturers providing instruction on countering violent Islamic extremism; with particular focus on Military Information Support Operations, Information Operations, and Military Intelligence curriculum.” Mayorga adds that information on “cultural awareness” for troops preparing to deploy to Iraq and Afghanistan is also subject to the White House review. [Danger Room]
DC hotel claims national security exemption in discrimination lawsuit
Nov 30: An exclusive Washington, DC, hotel’s claim that it was following State Department security rules when it barred a Muslim employee from accessing rooms occupied by an Israeli diplomatic delegation are “unprecedented,” said a Muslim civil rights group. The claim was contained in the latest court filings in a discrimination lawsuit filed by Mohamed Arafi and the Council for American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) against the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. A federal court in Washington is currently deciding on whether to allow the suit to proceed. The Mandarin Oriental filed a motion in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Nov. 28 that said the employee's lawsuit should be (rejected) because the hotel was following a "national security exemption” in its actions. Arafi and CAIR filed their suit in Washington in August against the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group claiming Arafi had been prohibited from going on certain floors occupied by a visiting delegation of Israeli diplomats in the fall of 2010 because he is Muslim. Arafi, a valet at the hotel and a nationalized U.S. citizen from Morocco, is responsible for services like retrieving and delivering dry cleaning to hotel rooms. He also has keys to access most of the rooms in the hotel to perform his daily duties, Gadeir Abbas, CAIR attorney told Government Security News in an interview. Arafi claims his supervisors told him he could not work on the 8th and 9th floors of the hotel in December, 2010, when those floors were occupied by a delegation of Israeli diplomats. The lawsuit charges that the hotel and its supervisors discriminated against Arafi because the delegation requested that he be barred from the floors during their visit because of his faith. Abbas said the hotel is arguing it is exempt from anti-discrimination law because of national security concerns. While such exemptions exist for government agencies, this is the first time a private company has claimed one, said Abbas. [GSN: Government Security News]
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