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Chronology of Islam in America (2012)
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
October 2012-page two
The Muslim swing vote in 2012 election
Oct 15: The American Muslim minority community has become a more important player on the political landscape, especially in key swing states, says a report titled Engaging American Muslims: Political Trends and Attitudes released in April last by the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding. According to Farid Senzai, author of the report, although it is true that American Muslims constitute a small percentage of the national population, they are concentrated in key swing states such as Michigan, Ohio, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Florida. “Despite being very diverse and far from monolithic, this constituency is growing faster than any other religious community and has become increasingly visible and sophisticated in its political engagement. Republicans who found the Muslim community an easy target in the primaries may find themselves in trouble in the states that may determine the winner of the election.” The report primarily draws upon surveys conducted by the Muslims in the American Public Square (MAPS) project in 2001 and 2004, the Pew Research Center’s national surveys on the American Muslim Community in 2007 and 2011, and the Muslim American Public Opinion Survey (MAPOS) conducted between 2006 and 2008. Surveys have also examined the community’s opinions on a number of policy issues. The data suggest that American Muslims, much like the American public in general, are more concerned with domestic than foreign policy and with the economy in particular. They generally demonstrate a high level of support for immigration and support the view that immigrants strengthen, rather than burden, the country. However, there are important racial distinctions on this issue, as African-American Muslims have a much less favorable view of immigrants. During the past decade, American Muslims have also become more accepting of homosexuality.
When it comes to American policy in the Middle East and the “war on terror,” American Muslims have been largely unsupportive of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, with the lowest amount of support being found among African-American Muslims. There has been, however, a decreasing skepticism about the sincerity of the “war against terror” over the decade. Most community members believe that the best way to combat terror is to change American policy in the Middle East and to address the region’s social, economic, and political issues. The majority of them continue to believe that Israel and Palestine can coexist and that a solution to the conflict is possible. The Florida case study suggests that the American Muslim voter community is increasingly engaged, in part due to the mobilization efforts of Emerge USA and similar organizations. In a swing state, the community has the potential to impact the election’s outcome. Similarly, American Muslims in Michigan were found to be very active and politically engaged.
Muslim bashing by Republicans
Oct 15: In an OpEd in New York Times, Farid Senzai, pointed out that as the 2012 presidential election picks up steam, Republican candidates find it tempting and beneficial to bash Muslims as a way to attract voters. He went on to say: “In the wake of the 2010 midterm elections, “Americans are learning what Europeans have known for years: Islam-bashing wins votes,” the journalist Michael Scott Moore wrote that November. At the time, many of the 85 new Republican House members buoyed by the surging Tea Party movement found the political virtues of anti-Muslim rhetoric an easy way to prove their mettle to the surging conservative base. Since then, the animosity against Muslims has only intensified. Republican presidential hopefuls Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich frequently warned that Muslims were attempting to take over the government and impose Shariah law, using “stealth Jihad,” as Gingrich put it in a speech at the American Enterprise Institute late last year. The problem for the United States, the former speaker of the house argued, is not primarily terrorism; it is Shariah — “the heart of the enemy movement from which the terrorists spring forth.” Rick Santorum, not one to shy away from the subject, continues to conflate Muslims with radical Islamists. He has often warned audiences of the dangers of losing the war to “radical Islam,” even suggesting in a 2007 speech at the National Academic Freedom Conference that the American response to the threat should be to “educate, engage, evangelize and eradicate.”
Farid Senzai believes that this type of anti-Muslim rhetoric is deployed by some candidates in an apparent attempt to tap into hostility among the voters who make up the base of the party. In a sense, this approach is validated by recent polls suggesting that Republicans are more likely to have anti-Muslim sentiments. The political scientists Michael Tesler and David Sears wrote in their 2010 book, “Obama’s Race,” that feelings about Muslims are a strong predictor about feelings about Obama. They found that “general election vote choice in 2008 was more heavily influenced by feelings about Muslims than it was in either 2004 voting or in McCain-Clinton trial heats.” As we get closer to the November election, the most likely Republican nominee, Mitt Romney, will have to balance between pandering to voters on the far right of his party, some of whom are already wary of him, and more moderate voters. While an anti-Muslim strategy may have worked in the past, it is risky because many agree that the outcome of the 2012 presidential election will probably be determined in no more than twelve states, Senzai warned and added that these are the same states where minority groups, including American Muslims, are likely to play a decisive role. According to Dawud Walid is the Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Michigan: "With the local races that are in the areas in which Muslims are a significant population and block, we believe that more Muslims will be voted in, in local races and particularly in the state of Michigan. From the national level we believe that there are certain key states where the Muslim community has a large enough percentage of eligible voters in a close race that the Muslim community could actually swing the vote one way or another. In Michigan, Ohio as well as in Virginia if the election goes to a few thousand votes or maybe ten thousand, fifteen thousand votes we believe that the Muslim community is a large enough voting block that we could influence the election, of who gets the electoral votes in those particular states.” [AMP Report]
ADC calls for tracking of anti-Arab hate crimes
Oct 18: The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), represented by Legal Director Abed Ayoub, recently attended a meeting of the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Subcommittee of the Criminal Justice Information Services Division (CJIS). The ADC was called by the UCR in response to its request that the Department of Justice should to include “Arab” among the “race” identities that may be recorded on the Hate Crime Incident Report (Form 1-699) in hate crimes data collection pursuant to the Hate Crime Statistics Act (HCSA). At the UCR Subcommittee meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, the ADC official gave a presentation which highlighted and stressed the importance of including an “anti-Arab” category. ADC provided multiple examples of hate crimes based on anti-Arab sentiment, which have occurred over the past decade. Ayoub stressed to the UCR Subcommittee that enumeration will have many benefits, stating, “Over the past decade, and for decades prior, Arab Americans have suffered from violent hate crimes and discrimination. Providing law enforcement the ability to track crimes based on anti-Arab bias will increase the likelihood that such incidents of crimes will be reported by the victims." The data will also help reveal finely distinct realities of hate crimes; and, most importantly, allow law enforcement to accurately prosecute hate crimes on behalf of the community. [AMP Report]
FBI entraps Bangladeshi student in fake terror plot
Oct 19: Federal authorities have arrested a Bangladeshi student in New York City and presented a criminal indictment charging him with conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction and providing material support to Al Qaeda in a plot to blow up the Federal Reserve Bank of New York with a truck bomb. The case is only the latest in a seemingly endless series of "sting" operations in which hapless individuals are ensnared by FBI provocateurs in supposed "terrorist plots" that are entirely the creation of the federal authorities. Unveiled with barely two-and-a-half weeks to go until the US presidential election, the case serves a definite political agenda of terrifying the American public with a wholly fabricated threat of terror in order to justify US militarism abroad and the relentless buildup of police-state powers at home. Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, 21, was ordered held without bail after a brief arraignment in Brooklyn Federal court. He had entered the US on a student visa last January to study computer sciences. He is accused of trying to blow up the Federal Reserve building, which is two blocks from Wall Street, with what he believed was a 1,000-pound bomb loaded into a van. In reality, however, the bomb, consisting of 20 50-pound bags of purported explosives, was a fake. It, like a phony detonator and the van used to transport it, were all supplied by undercover agents of New York's Joint Terrorism Task Force, which combines the resources of the FBI and the New York Police Department. In announcing the arrest, the FBI assured the public that it "was never at risk," as the agency had controlled the "entire operation to ensure the safety of ... New Yorkers." Indeed, the predominant role in the alleged conspiracy appears to have been played by an undercover FBI agent posing as an "Al Qaeda facilitator." Even the act of delivering the fake bomb to the site of the Federal Reserve building was carried out by the FBI agent, as Nafis does not know how to drive. While the federal authorities included in their criminal complaint the claim that Nafis "actively sought out al-Qaeda contacts within the United States," it gives no indication of how he did this and how this led him directly into the waiting arms of the FBI. What seems far more likely is that agents trolling the Internet and carrying out fishing expeditions within immigrant Muslim communities came across some statement made by the Bangladeshi expressing anger over US policies abroad and decided to frame him up as a terrorist. In Bangladesh, authorities said that there was no indication that Nafis had any ties to Islamist groups there. The youth's father, Quazi Mohammad Ahsanullah, the senior vice president of a bank in Dhaka, denounced the charges against his son as "a racist conspiracy." "The intelligence of the USA is playing with a mere boy whom we sent for higher study," he told Reuters. "The allegation against my son is not true at all. He could not even drive a car. How was he caught with a van?" "He fell into a trap," Nafis' father said. Just since the inauguration of Barack Obama as president, there have been nearly 50 separate cases in which individuals have been charged with alleged terrorist plots that were organized and led by FBI or other police agency informants/agent provocateurs. [By Bill van Auken- OpEdNews]
Informant: NYPD paid me to 'bait' Muslims
Oct 23: A paid informant for the New York Police Department's intelligence unit was under orders to "bait" Muslims into saying inflammatory things as he lived a double life, snapping pictures inside mosques and collecting the names of innocent people attending study groups on Islam, he told The Associated Press. Shamiur Rahman, a 19-year-old American of Bangladeshi descent who has now denounced his work as an informant, said police told him to embrace a strategy called "create and capture." He said it involved creating a conversation about jihad or terrorism, then capturing the response to send to the NYPD. For his work, he earned as much as $1,000 a month and goodwill from the police after a string of minor marijuana arrests. "We need you to pretend to be one of them," Rahman recalled the police telling him. "It's street theater." Rahman said he now believes his work as an informant against Muslims in New York was "detrimental to the Constitution." After he disclosed to friends details about his work for the police — and after he told the police that he had been contacted by the AP — he stopped receiving text messages from his NYPD handler, "Steve," and his handler's NYPD phone number was disconnected. Rahman's account shows how the NYPD unleashed informants on Muslim neighborhoods, often without specific targets or criminal leads. Much of what Rahman said represents a tactic the NYPD has denied using. The AP corroborated Rahman's account through arrest records and weeks of text messages between Rahman and his police handler. The AP also reviewed the photos Rahman sent to police. Friends confirmed Rahman was at certain events when he said he was there, and former NYPD officials, while not personally familiar with Rahman, said the tactics he described were used by informants. Informants like Rahman are a central component of the NYPD's wide-ranging programs to monitor life in Muslim neighborhoods since the 2001 terrorist attacks. Police officers have eavesdropped inside Muslim businesses, trained video cameras on mosques and collected license plates of worshippers. Informants who trawl the mosques — known informally as "mosque crawlers" — tell police what the imam says at sermons and provide police lists of attendees, even when there's no evidence they committed a crime. The programs were built with unprecedented help from the CIA. [New York Times]
25 percent of Muslim voters undecided in presidential election
Oct 24: At least 25 percent of American Muslim registered voters are still undecided about who to vote for in this November's presidential election, according to a survey released today. The survey also indicates that 91 percent of registered Muslim voters will go to the polls on November 6. The random survey of 500 registered Muslim voters was conducted in the first two weeks of October. It was held by an independent research firm on behalf of the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a leading American Muslim civil advocacy group. Sixty-eight percent of the survey respondents said they will vote to re-elect President Obama. Only seven percent said they will vote for Mitt Romney. American Muslims tilt toward the Democratic Party was reflected when more than 100 Muslim delegates representing some 20 states attended the Democratic convention in Charlotte, N.C., in September last. That’s up from 25 delegates in 2004. The seven million strong American Muslim minority community has become a more important player on the political landscape, especially in key swing states, says a report titled Engaging American Muslims: Political Trends and Attitudes released in April last by the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding. According to Farid Senzai, author of the report, although it is true that American Muslims constitute a small percentage of the national population, they are concentrated in key swing states such as Michigan, Ohio, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Florida. It may be recalled that American Muslims overwhelmingly voted for the Democratic Presidential candidate Senator Barrak Obama in the 2008 election. On November 6, 2008, the American Muslim Task Force released a poll of over 600 Muslims from more than 10 states, including Florida and Pennsylvania, and it revealed that 89 percent of respondents voted for Obama, while only 2 percent voted for his Republican opponent John McCain. It also indicated that 95 percent of Muslims polled cast a ballot in this year's presidential election—the highest turnout in a U.S. election ever—and 14 percent of those were first-time voters. In 2008 presidential election, Muslim Americans changed their party affiliation from Republican to Democratic – a stark change from the strong Muslim support for George Bush in 2000 when they voted for Bush in an en bloc vote. The major shift occurred as many Muslim Americans became subject to wiretapping, mishandling of civil liberties, religious, ethnic, and racial profiling. According to the Newsweek, in 2008, many more Muslims were drawn into the Democratic party by Obama himself since Muslims across the country were captivated by the senator's promise of unity and hope. [AMP Report]
DOJ orders probe into rejection of planned Islamic Center in Minnesota
Oct 29: The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN) today welcomed a decision by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to launch a civil rights investigation into the rejection of the planned Abu Huraira Islamic Center in St. Anthony, Minn. The DOJ will investigate whether the city violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA). “We applaud the commitment by the U.S. Department of Justice to uphold federal laws and take a strong stance against recent anti-mosque bigotry in Minnesota and nationwide,” said CAIR-MN Executive Director Lori Saroya. She added that St. Anthony is the fourth mosque opposition incident in Minnesota in the past year. The other three mosque projects - Plymouth, Willmar and Bloomington - were eventually approved despite community opposition. CAIR-MN asked for the federal investigation in June after the St. Anthony City Council voted 4 to 1 to deny a conditional use permit for the Islamic center, despite a recommendation by the St. Anthony Planning Commission to approve the project. The project had been on hold since a March moratorium by the council. At the June council meeting, the proposed Islamic center faced opposition from intolerant speakers who -- Islamic center proponents assert -- clearly exposed the real reason for the approval delay and rejection. Several residents made anti-Muslim comments at the city council hearing, including: “There is no other religion in the world that condones violence. Islam is evil,” and, “Where did you come from? [Go] change your own country.” [CAIR]
FBI probe sought in anti-Muslim attack on Sikh cabbie
Oct 29: The Washington state chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-WA) called on the FBI to investigate an apparent anti-Muslim hate attack on a Sikh taxi driver in that state. The driver was allegedly attacked by a man shouting anti-Muslim slurs after he commented on the cabbie's turban. It may be pointed out Sikh men who wear beards and turbans as part of their faith are often targeted by bigots who mistake them for Muslims. The perpetrator reportedly referred to the victim as Iranian and Iraqi, and used several anti-Arab slurs during the attack, which witnesses described as "savage." According to police, the alleged assailant tore out chunks of the man's beard and loosened one of the driver's teeth. "This vicious attack needs to be addressed by the FBI and federal prosecutors in the context of growing anti-Sikh and anti-Muslim prejudice nationwide, said CAIR-WA Executive Director Arsalan Bukhari. "We have asked the FBI to open a federal hate crime investigation into this case." Earlier this month, CAIR-WA held a news conference in Seattle to call for a more thorough investigation of an emailed bomb threat sent last month to a mosque in the Seattle area. [CAIR]
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