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Chronology of Islam in America (2011)
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
November 2011
GOP Hillsborough court clerk candidate's letter says Islam is 'not a religion'
Nov 1: A Republican candidate for Hillsborough Clerk of Circuit Court has fired off a letter saying Islam is "not a religion" but a theocracy that is "totalitarian and littered with human rights violations." Scott D. Barrish, a 35-year-old private security officer who previously ran unsuccessfully for the Hillsborough School Board, sent the letter to the Council of American-Islamic Relations. He signed it as a member of the Hillsborough County Republican Party's executive committee. "Your efforts in espousing Islam in America and Florida will not succeed," Barrish wrote. "This is us vs. you. In the great words of the late President Ronald Reagan, 'I win, you lose!' " Barrish said in an interview that he sent the e-mail letter because the group had engaged in what he called publicity stunts. CAIR, for instance, thanked Gov. Rick Scott and Sen. Marco Rubio for declining to speak at the upcoming Florida tea party convention because it featured a presentation by an "anti-Islam extremist." "I don't sugarcoat things and I don't use (political correctness)," Barrish said. "I'm like a (New Jersey Gov.) Chris Christie. I say it like it is." [St. Petersburg Times]
Worker suing intelligence agency claims anti-Muslim bias
Nov 1: A Northern Virginia man is suing one of the nation’s most secretive intelligence agencies, claiming it revoked his security clearance because his wife attended an Islamic school and works for a Muslim nonprofit. Mahmoud M. Hegab, 30, hired las year as a budget analyst for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, filed the discrimination lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Alexandria last month. In court papers, Hegab, who lives in Alexandria, said he joined the agency in January 2010 and told officials during his orientation that he had gotten married to Bushra Nusairat, 24, between the time of his security clearance investigation and the date he reported to work. Mahmoud M. Hegab is suing the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, claiming anti-Muslim bias. The NGA supplies satellite imagery to the military and requires its 16,000 workers to obtain a top secret security clearance as a condition of employment. But the agency revoked Hegab’s clearance in November 2010, citing concerns about Nusairat’s background. Hegab was placed on unpaid leave in January. Nusairat is a program associate with Islamic Relief USA, a global nonprofit that provides food aid and public health and educational programs in poor or disaster-prone regions and whose director advises the U.S. Agency for International Development at the State Department. Hegab’s attorney, Sheldon Cohen, argued in court papers that the decision to revoke his client’s clearance “was based solely” on his wife’s “religion, Islam, her constitutionally protected speech, and her association with, and employment by, an Islamic faith-based organization.”
Nusairat then attended George Mason University, where she studied international diplomacy and Islamic studies and led the campus group Students for Justice in Palestine. Court papers also said that during the course of its investigation, the NGA discovered a photo believed to be of Nusairat attending a 2003 anti-Iraq war protest in Washington — when she was 16 years old. As Hegab appealed the NGA’s decision in a series of written responses, he told the agency that his wife had been born and raised in Virginia and attended the Islamic Saudi Academy because her parents believed the school provided an education on par with other ethnic and religious-affiliated schools in the Washington area, according to court papers. Hegab said his wife attended the anti-war rally along with thousands of other Americans, including military veterans and lawmakers. In March, the NGA told Hegab that he had mitigated the agency’s concerns regarding his wife’s educational background, but the agency maintained its concerns with Nusairat’s “current affiliation with one or more organizations which consist of groups who are organized largely around their non-United States origin.” [Washington Post]
Poster showing hanging Iranian sparks outrage at Texas BBQ restaurant
Nov 4: A poster on the wall of a barbecue restaurant depicting a hanging Iranian has sparked outrage and accusations of racism. The sepia picture in Nonmacher’s Bar-B-Q in Katy, Texas shows armed men surrounding the hanged man and includes the caption: ‘Let’s play cowboys and Iranians.’ One member of the lynch mob wears a shirt that reads: ‘Iranians Suck.’ But despite cries of racism and threats of a protest on Saturday, the owner of Nonmacher’s has refused to remove the poster. John Nonmacher said: ‘This is still America. If they're not happy here, then they should go back to Iran. ‘It’s my choice to have it up. It’s your choice to go where you want to go. But I’m not going to take it down.’ The poster has garnered criticism from across the country after one customer took a picture and posted it on Facebook, creating the group ‘Nonmacher's BBQ racism towards Iranians’. 'Spreading like wildfire': The barbecue restaurant in Katy, Texas is receiving scores of phone calls every day from people complaining about the poster. Now hundreds of users of the social networking site have vented their anger on the page and vow to stage a protest at the restaurant. Hundreds have also signed an online petition to remove the poster. [The Daily Mail]
Florida county official blocks the Muslim animal slaughter ritual
Nov 6: In the name of protection of animals, Sunrise (Florida) commissioner, Sheila Alu, has stopped Muslims from slaughtering (sacrificing) animals as part of the Eid Al Adha ritual. During the celebration of Eid-al-Adha, Muslims commemorate the willingness of Prophet Abraham to sacrifice his son Ishmael as an act of obedience to God, before God ordered him to sacrifice a sheep instead. The feast of Eid-al-Adha re-enacts Ibrahim's obedience by sacrificing a cow or ram. Muslims from local mosques had planned to gather at a 45-acre farm on Hiatus Road in Sunrise to celebrate the Eid ul-Adha, the Festival of Sacrifice. The South Florida Sun Sentinel quoted Sheila Alu as saying she was trying protect animals from being slaughtered. "I have no ill will toward the Muslim faith," Commissioner Sheila Alu told the newspaper. "I'm just an animal lover." Consequently, the venue for the Eid ul-Adha, the Festival of Sacrifice, on November 6, 2011 was moved to another undisclosed location. Sheila Alu’s move symbolizes the anti-Islam and anti-Muslim environment prevailed in the post-9/11 America that witnessed the cropping up such Islamophobic groups as David Yerushalmi’s Society of Americans for National Existence with acronym SANE which has a mission to demonize and banish Islam from the US by making adherence to Islam a felony punishable by 20 years in prison. Recent years have witnesses an exponential rise in Islamophobia which should be understood as a potent political tool that is used to exploit fear to gain political mileage. According to the CAIR/UC Berkeley report of June 2011, Muslim-bashing factored into the 2010 midterm elections and is already front and center in the upcoming presidential campaign. It says that Islamophobia has actually increased since the election of President Barack Obama, with right-wing Republicans feeding on anti-Muslim sentiments and fears over the so-called Sharia law. [AMP Report]
U.S. Muslims get their turn at reality TV
Nov 7: From rich housewives to hoarders to the Kardashian clan, practically every kind of family has received the reality TV treatment — except for American Muslims. That changes Nov. 13 with the premiere of TLC’s “All-American Muslim.” Advertised with the tagline “One Nation, Under Suspicion,” the eight-part series aims to be an antidote to Islamophobia, documenting five Muslim families in Dearborn, Mich., home to one of the nation’s largest Muslim communities. “This is something that hasn’t been done before in the way we’re doing it,” said show producer Alon Orstein, TLC’s vice president of production and development for the East Coast. “We felt like (American Muslims) hadn’t been profiled in a way where you really get to know regular, everyday folks, their daily challenges, their life experiences.” The Discovery Communications network developed the concept late last year, partnering with Los Angeles-based Shed Media U.S. (the production company behind “The Real Housewives of New York City”) and Mike Mosallam, a Dearborn native, Muslim and director of film initiatives for Michigan’s Wayne County. Amy Winter, TLC’s general manager, said the show follows a network tradition of showcasing households outside the norm — from Kate Gosselin and her eight church-going kids to the polygamy-practicing Browns from “Sister Wives.” [Washington Post]
Fired Muslim man claims Whole Foods bias
Nov 7: A Muslim man who once was employed at the Whole Foods Callowhill store claims he was heckled by supervisors for praying in a storage area and fired from the supermarket for his religious beliefs. The allegations are especially troubling because Whole Foods had a Ramadan promotion featuring its halal foods this year, said Amara Chaudhry, Philadelphia civil-rights director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which is representing the dismissed employee. Glenn Mack Jr., 24, who worked for Whole Foods since 2008 and claims he never took a vacation, alleges that after he took 18 vacation days in November 2010 to attend a religious pilgrimage to Mecca, he was downgraded from full-time to seasonal status. When he complained to the company's human-relations department that he felt he was being discriminated against because of his religion, he was returned to full-time status, Chaudhry said. However, after he complained, Mack claims that on three or four occasions he was followed to a storage area where he'd always prayed without problems and was now being heckled by supervisors, Chaudhry said. The only place he felt safe to pray after that was near the store's Dumpster, she said. Three months later, in February 2011, Mack was fired from the store, on Pennsylvania Avenue near 20th Street in Franklintown, and was told it was for attendance reasons, although he claims Whole Foods fabricated that rationale, Chaudhry said. Mack filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in March, Chaudhry said. [Philadelphia Inquirer]
High court troubled by warrantless GPS tracking
Nov 8: The Supreme Court invoked visions of an all-seeing Big Brother and satellites watching us from above. Then things got personal Tuesday when the justices were told police could slap GPS devices on their cars and track their movements, without asking a judge for advance approval. The occasion for all the talk about intrusive police actions was a hearing in a case about whether the police must get a search warrant before using GPS technology to track criminal suspects. The outcome could have implications for other high-tech surveillance methods as well. The justices expressed deep reservations about warrantless GPS tracking. The justices were taken aback when the lawyer representing the government said police officers could install GPS devices on the justices’ cars and track their movements without a warrant. To get a warrant, investigators need to convince a judge that there is reason to believe a suspect is involved in criminal activity. “So your answer is yes, you could tomorrow decide that you put a GPS device on every one of our cars, follow us for a month; no problem under the Constitution?’’ Chief Justice John Roberts said. Not only that, government lawyer Michael Dreeben replied, but FBI agents wouldn’t need a warrant either if they wanted to rummage through the justices’ trash, use a low-tech beeper to track them or tail them around-the-clock with a team of agents. Dreeben said the court has previously ruled that people have no reasonable expectation of privacy in those circumstances. Justice Samuel Alito captured the essence of the court’s concern when he said, “With computers around, it’s now so simple to amass an enormous amount of information. How do we deal with this? Just say nothing has changed?’’ Justice Stephen Breyer alluded to George Orwell’s novel “1984’’ when he said surveillance in the past depended on human beings and their sometimes flawed memories. But computers don’t have that problem, he said. [Associated Press]
Lomita, CA under investigation over rejection of Islamic Center expansion
Nov 8: The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating whether the city of Lomita discriminated against a religious institution when its council denied an application from the Muslim community to expand the Islamic Center of South Bay. Lomita City Atty. Christi Hogin said federal investigators interviewed 13 people this week involved with the city’s decision after launching an initial inquiry in June. She said there is not “any evidence at all” of anti-Muslim sentiments in Lomita. In a unanimous vote in March 2010, the Lomita City Council rejected a plan for a new consolidated worship center, citing neighbors’ concerns and increased traffic. The 4-0 vote occurred despite a study from city staff that concluded that traffic would remain the same. Iraj Ershaghi, a founding member of the Islamic Center and manager of the redesign project, said council members faced “a lot of pressure” from residents to reject the proposal. “There was a feeling that they just don’t want us there,” Ershaghi said of the March meeting. [Los Angeles Times]
Tenn. State Republican legislator calls for purging Muslims from the military
Nov 11: Tennessee state Republican legislator, Rick Wommick today called for the removal of all Muslims serving in the military. In an interview on the sidelines of an anti-Shariah conference in Nashville, TN, Womick told ThinkProgress that he doubts that any devout Muslim could be loyal to the US military. “Personally, I don’t trust one Muslim in our military,” he said. “If they truly are a devout Muslim and follow the Quran and the Sunnah, then I feel threatened because they’re commanded to kill me.” He went on to say: “Personally, I don’t trust one Muslim in our military because they’re commanded to lie to us through the term called Taqiyya. And if they truly are a devout Muslim, and follow the Quran and the Sunnah, then I feel threatened because they’re commanded to kill me.” Womick then answered, “Absolutely, yeah,” when asked whether Muslims should be removed from the military. It may be recalled that Womick was a co-sponsor of a Tennessee bill that, in its original form, would have effectively outlawed basic Islamic principles (Sharia) and made the practice of Islam illegal in that state.[AMP Report]
FBI reports dramatic spike in anti-Muslim hate violence
Nov 11: Anti-Muslim hate crimes soared by an astounding 50% last year, skyrocketing over 2009 levels in a year marked by the vicious rhetoric of Islam-bashing politicians and activists, especially over the so-called "Ground Zero Mosque" in New York City. Although the national statistics compiled by the FBI each year are known to dramatically understate the real level of reported and unreported hate crimes, they do offer telling indications of some trends. The latest statistics, showing a jump from 107 anti-Muslim hate crimes in 2009 to 160 in 2010, seem to reflect a clear rise in anti-Muslim rhetoric from groups like Stop Islamization of America. Much of that rhetoric was aimed at stopping an Islamic center in lower Manhattan. [Dramatic increase in Anti-Muslim hate crimes] occurred in a year when many watchdog organizations, including the Southern Poverty Law Center, reported an increase in Islam-bashing rhetoric. The year 2010 saw multiple verbal attacks on planned mosques, along with several violent attacks and arsons.It's not provable precisely how hateful rhetoric from public figures drives criminal violence. But anecdotal evidence suggests the link is a tight one. Immediately after the 9/11 attacks, anti-Muslim hate violence skyrocketed some 1,600%. But then-President Bush gave several speeches that fall emphasizing that Muslims and Arabs were not our enemies -- only Al Qaeda was. Almost certainly thanks to that, anti-Muslim violence declined the following year by almost two thirds. [Mark Potok is Director of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project - Huffington Post]
American Muslims: Where is the vote going?
Nov 14: As the 2012 presidential caucus election draws near, a sizeable segment of the Muslim vote remains a mystery and up for grabs. “If I was going to vote, I would vote for Ron Paul,” said Sehiha Kraina, who lives with her husband and young daughter in Iowa City. She has lived here for 12 years. But Kraina, 27, a European-Muslim from Kosovo, isn’t sure if she will vote in the 2012 presidential elections – and she’s not alone.About 26 percent of Muslim-Americans don’t see themselves as part of any party, said Karam Dana, an associate at the Center for American Political Studies and the Department of Government at Harvard University. Dana co-led a survey of Muslims with Matt A. Barreto, an associate professor at the University of Washington. Although their population in the U.S. may be small, the voting power could become significant in a close election.
More religious Muslims are less likely to select a political party. Barreto, in a 2009 study with Dino Bozonelos of the University of California at Riverside, found that Muslims who practice their religion everyday were over 30 percent more likely to cite no political party. Most Muslims have remained Democratic leaning since President Barack Obama took office, but recent events, particularly his opposition to the Palestinians effort to become a member of the United Nations, contribute to their political ambivalence. Moreover, a rise in anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States has fueled wariness. Kraina cites several reasons for favoring Ron Paul. One key point is his position on U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, which is to remove American troops from the region. But, ultimately she remains on the fence on whether to vote
A Pew Research Center survey in 2011 found that 19 percent of Muslim voters were Independent or had no party preference, and 70 percent affiliated with the Democratic Party or were Democratic leaning. Brian Gaines, a political science professor specializing in voting behavior and elections at the University of Illinois, says Muslims will usually vote Democratic. He notes that generally the Muslim population in modern U.S. politics doesn’t follow suit with other religions’ voting patterns. “Muslims are unique in that the more religious they are, the more Democratic they tend to vote,” said Gaines. He finds it unlikely that Obama would lose votes from this population to a Republican candidate. However, Gaines says it is hard to draw conclusive data from surveys that do not over-sample the Muslim population.
Muslims in the U.S. haven’t always leaned Democratic. Before the 9/11 attacks and the Bush administration, many Muslim-Americans were Republican voters Dana said. “The way Muslims were treated changed the way they vote,” Dana said, referring to the generally negative feelings towards Muslims after the 9/11 attacks. “Anti-Muslim attitude has not been something they are comfortable with.” According to the 2011 Pew Research Center findings, 55 percent of Muslim-Americans say it has become more difficult in live in the United States since the 9/11 attacks. Shams Ghoneim, a native Egyptian and the coordinator for the Iowa chapter of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, agrees that the backlash of anti-Muslim sentiment has dramatically changed the way Muslims live in America. “It has been 10 years of on-going unawareness,” said Ghoneim in the wake of the 10-year 9/11 anniversary. She advocates for education on Islam, including an accurate understanding of the controversial Shariah law among members of Congress. [Iowa Watch]
Tennessee Republican leaders turn zealotry into bigotry
Nov 14: Based on what our Republican leaders are doing and saying, the local party is being reduced to a group of Islamophobes, starting with former party chair Lou Ann Zelenik, who is now heading the so-called Tennessee Freedom Coalition and gained a big bounce in the polls during her 2010 congressional race when she went on the attack against the Murfreesboro mosque plan, and down through our state legislators. State Sen. Bill Ketron, a Murfreesboro Republican, sponsored a bill last year that, in essence, would have banned Shariah law, the moral, ethical and religious code Muslims follow. He wound up dropping references to Shariah in the bill, which targeted material support of terrorism, as Muslims flocked to the Legislative Plaza in protest. Now, Republican state Rep. Rick Womick, an Air Force veteran and former chair of the local GOP, is calling for the removal of all Muslims from the U.S. military. He made the comments on Veterans Day at an anti-Shariah conference in Madison, with Zelenik cheering him on. In an interview with The DNJ, Womick said he distrusts Muslims in the military because they are not allowed to kill fellow Muslims and America is at war with extremist Islamic groups, al-Qaida and the Taliban. Furthermore, he says he feels threatened that "they're commanded to kill me" if they truly follow the Quran and the Sunnah. Can anyone explain why it's worse for a Muslim to commit murder than it is for the average white Anglo-Saxon to kill somebody or to molest a child, for that matter? All sorts of Americans have perpetrated heinous crimes against each other, and we haven't banned their races or religions from serving in the military. Yet, Womick believes he holds the keys to preserving the nation by imposing an illegal and immoral rule on an entire religious group. [DNJ.com]
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