www.amperspective.com Online Magazine
Executive Editor: Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Chronology of Islam in America (2015)
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
July 2015
Push for federal hate crime investigation at Chico CA hookah lounge
July 2: Flames burned today some Juniper bushes and a tree in front of Fusion Hookah Lounge on Walnut Street in Chico CA. The owners and customers told firefighters two men in a pickup truck drove by yelling derogatory comments, and making gestures. A few minutes later, the truck returned. Someone threw an incendiary device or firework from the truck into the bushes, sparking the fire that grew into large flames. The owners believe they were targeted because they are of Middle Eastern heritage. Basim Elkarra, the executive director for the Sacramento Valley chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-SV), said it is imperative that authorities investigate the possibility of a bias motive and hate crime. [KRCRTV]
Rep. Peter King’s Bigoted Advice To American Muslims For 4th Of July
July 4: Peter King has a message of suspicion and hostility for Muslim American communities this 4th of July. Congressman Peter King wants Muslims to watch other Muslims very carefully this 4th of July to make sure that none of them will be planning a secret terror attack. But if you can’t trust Muslims to begin with, how can you trust them to reliably inform on secret terror attacks? Rep. Peter King chose a great time for all this because after all, there’s nothing better for the celebration of Independence Day than yelling at people that are different than you. Yeah, well- let me say, I am addressing it largely- or certainly, to a large extent- to, you know, the Muslim community in this region,” said King when talking about terrorism to a radio show called "L.I. in the AM." “Because if there is a real threat, if there is gonna be something happening, it’s gonna come from the Muslim community.” Peter King serves on the House Homeland Security Committee and even though a New York Times report found that American extremists have killed far more Americans than Islamic jihadists, he said he totally “disregarded” the findings. What have “findings” and “numbers” and “empirical evidence” done for us in the past anyway? [Carbonated.tv]
Release questioned of Tenn. man who planned 'Charleston-style' attack on NY Muslims
July 4: The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today questioned the release of a Tennessee man who admitted to planning a Charleston-style terror attack on a Muslim community in New York. A federal judge rejected a plea agreement reached between prosecutors and attorneys for Robert Rankin Doggart, an ordained minister of the Christian National Church, who admitted to plotting a massacre at a Muslim school and mosque in Hancock, N.Y., in collaboration with members of a South Carolina militia. Doggart, 63, was recorded on a wiretapped phone call planning to burn down a mosque and Muslim school, while shooting anyone who tried to stop the attackers. "Our small group will soon be faced with the fight of our lives. We will offer those lives as collateral to prove our commitment to our God," Doggart wrote in a Facebook post. "We shall be Warriors who will inflict horrible numbers of casualties upon the enemies of our Nation and World Peace." "When we meet in this state, the people we seek will know who we are," Doggart said in a recorded phone call. "We will be cruel to them, and we will burn down their buildings. If anyone attempts to harm us in any way, our stand gunner will take them down from 350 yards away. The standoff gunner would be me." Doggart was arrested April 10 and charged with soliciting others to violate civil rights, attempts to damage religious property because of the religious character of the property and making threats through interstate communication. He pleaded guilty to interstate communication of threats and was released on bond to home confinement. A federal magistrate has now allowed the 63-year-old Doggart to go free until the case is resolved. In May, CAIR called on the Obama administration to treat Doggart's planned religiously-motivated attack as an act of domestic terrorism. [CAIR]
A coalition of U.S. Muslim groups are fundraising to rebuild burned black churches
July 7: A coalition of Muslim groups have begun a LaunchGood page to get funds in order to help rebuild the black churches recently burned down. A note on the site explains the feelings of solidarity: Imam Zaid Shakir on this urgent need: "The American Muslim community cannot claim to have experienced anything close to the systematic and institutionalized racism and racist violence that has been visited upon African Americans. We do, however, understand the climate of racially inspired hate and bigotry that is being reignited in this country. We want to let our African American brothers and sisters know that we stand in solidarity with them during this dark hour. As a small symbol of that solidarity, during this blessed month of Ramadan, we are gathering donations to help rebuild the seven churches that have been burned down since the racist murders in Charleston, South Carolina." Their timeline for the churches they are helping: June 17 Charleston church shooting. Nine African Americans killed and tenth shot and survived the mass shooting. (Arrest made); June 22 College Hill Seventh Day Adventist Church in Knoxville, Tennessee (arson); June 23 God’s Power Church of Christ in Macon, Georgia (arson); June 24 Briar Creek Road Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina (arson); June 26 Glover Grove Baptist Church in Warrenville, South Carolina (arson); June 26 The Greater Miracle Apostolic Holiness Church in Tallahassee, Florida, also burned to the ground (electrical wiring); June 24 Fruitland Presbyterian Church in Gibson County, Tennessee (still under investigation); and July 1 Mount Zion AME Church, which the KKK torched 20 years ago, burned to the ground (still under investigation) [Daily Kos]
Man who threatened CAIR Executive Director gets 6 months house arrest
July 7: A Queens man who sent death threats to the executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) Nihad Awad was sentenced on today to 13 months in prison, the time he has already served. The man, Bernhard Laufer of Rego Park, who pleaded guilty in federal court in Brooklyn in March, was also sentenced to six months of home arrest and three years of supervised release. Laufer was accused of sending emails last year to the Council on American Islamic Relations threatening to maim and kill Nihad Awad. "I'm sorry for what I did," Laufer said in Brooklyn Federal Court. "I was not thinking logically. I need medical help." Bernhard Laufer, 57, is still facing attempted murder as a hate crime charges in state court for stabbing the caretaker of the Masjid Al-Saaliheen Mosque in Flushing in 2012 after uttering an anti-Muslim epithet. Laufer made references to the stabbing attack in the vile rants to CAIR in 2014. He was free on $200,000 bail at the time. [New York Daily News/New York Times]
Judge: Muslim trooper fired for his faith
July 8: A federal judge has deemed the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security guilty of discrimination in the firing of a Sunni Muslim state trooper. U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell found the agency violated the rights of De’Ossie Dingus by firing him in 2010 after a military liaison dubbed the 10-year Tennessee Highway Patrol veteran a budding terrorist without any proof. Military liaison Maj. Kevin Taylor labeled Dingus a potential terrorist after a brief encounter in November 2009 in which Dingus complained about the airing of a video on the radicalization of children during a training class that was supposed to teach troopers how to recognize weapons of mass destruction. Taylor claimed Dingus was disruptive and belligerent during the class and confrontational afterward. But none of the 35 other troopers in the training class backed up Taylor’s claim. An internal investigation showed none of Dingus’ co-workers shared Taylor’s view. Most said they’d never once heard Dingus mention his faith. But THP commanders fired Dingus anyway, relying on a psychological evaluation even the examiner said was based entirely on Taylor’s conclusion.....The judge ruled safety department officials were “all too eager to accept Maj. Taylor’s belief that because Mr. Dingus was a Muslim, he was dangerous.” The judge also credited testimony showing Dingus had been a target of religious discrimination from the start of his career at the THP in 2004.....She did not award Dingus the roughly $300,000 he sought in damages, saying he did not file any documents to support his claims of pain and suffering. Dingus’ legal team are asking Campbell to award more than $150,000 in attorney fees to be paid by the agency, calling its actions “mind-boggling” and the agency in need of a financial deterrent. [Knox News]
Is 'Death to Islam' good for business? Yes, in York, Pennsylvania
July 8: Attention over a 'Death to Islam' sign in its window has boosted business at a York, Pennsylvania bar, reports say. On a recent visit to the bar which features multiple "Death to Islam" signs inside and at least one on the exterior, TV station Fox 43 found that according to staff, business has been on the upswing since their anti-Islam message was posted on social media. Owner Jeff Seitz has defended the sign to media, telling the York Daily Record, "All my customers agree with me ... Everybody says, 'I love your sign.'" Death to Islam signs were posted inside the small bar after the September 11 attacks. But the printed-out signs in the window were posted more recently. York Muslims said they feel the sign is a threat. [Metro.us]
Hate message scrawled on Spokane, WA, Mosque
July 9: Spokane Police said today they’ve forwarded the graffiti report to their Joint Terrorism Task Force for investigation. A detective has been assigned to the case, said police spokeswoman Teresa Fuller. Original story follows. Graffiti left at a Muslim prayer center in East Central Spokane over the weekend has prompted calls for a federal hate crime investigation. The message, “Death to Islam,” was spray-painted on the outside of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Heritage Association of Spokane, as worshippers inside recited prayers for the holy month of Ramadan, according to a statement from the Washington state chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. [The Spokesman-Review]
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