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Executive Editor: Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Chronology of Islam in America (2015)
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
November 2015
Muslim activists slam FBI’s program to identify extremists
Nov 3: An interactive program designed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to help teachers and students identify warning signs of violent extremism has drawn strong criticism Muslims and civil rights leaders, according to US media reports. The program, called “Don’t Be a Puppet,” predominately focuses on Islamic extremism, even though that has not been a factor in school shootings and attacks,. Muslim and Arab advocacy groups who were briefed by FBI on the program say it will foment discrimination against Muslims, The Washington Post said in a dispatch published on Monday.“We were all on the same page in terms of being concerned,” Hoda Hawa, director of policy and advocacy for the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), was quoted as saying. “It seems like they’re asking teachers to be extensions of law enforcement and to police thought, and students as well. That was very concerning to us all.” The community groups said they learned about the site last month when the FBI called several people to a meeting. Also at the meeting, the FBI described its plan for “Shared Responsibility Committees,” which the Muslim and Arab participants said are proposed groups of community leaders and FBI representatives who could discuss cases of specific youth. The participants said they were also very concerned about the concept and complained to the Department of Justice. That program was put on hold last week, participants said. [The Nation, Pakistan]
Texas domestic terrorist, who planned mosque massacres, gets light sentence
Nov 9: A U.S. District Court judge in Houston has ignored a plea from prosecutors for the maximum and sentenced Robert James Talbot Jr. to 78 months in federal prison for scheming to commit acts of domestic terrorism by robbing an armored car before detonating an explosion, killing a state trooper and spraying a mosque with gunfire at prayer time. Talbot was arrested outside a Houston storage locker in March 2014 on the morning he planned to launch his nationwide "American Insurgent Movement." He pleaded guilty on Oct. 3, 2014 to attempted interference with commerce by robbery and solicitation to commit a crime of violence. He admitted plotting to recruit like-minded terrorists to blow up government buildings, rob banks and kill police. On November 7, federal prosecutors asked for 20 years, the statutory maximum sentence, saying they wanted to protect the community from someone who poses "extreme" danger to the public and law enforcement. Talbot's lawyer, Windi Pastorini, contended that her client has admitted his crimes, apologized and has "diminished capacity" that requires mental health treatment. U.S. District Judge Ewing Werlein ordered Talbot to 6½ years in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release. The jurist also ordered psychological evaluation and mental health treatment. According to Houston Chronicle, Talbot was the target of an eight-month undercover investigation dating back to 2013 by Houston's FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force. "As federal agents monitored him on the internet, they covertly inserted undercover operatives and civilian informants into Talbot's life. One person posed as an oil platform worker who could acquire explosives and another pretended to have contacts in the militia movement." [AMP Report]
ADC petition to stop teachers from becoming FBI puppets promoting anti-Arab stereotypes
Nov 10: The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) said today that it is deeply concerned that teachers may become government puppets promoting harmful anti-Arab stereotypes under the FBI’s new web-based program aimed at countering violent extremism (CVE). The FBI’s new web-based CVE program, ironically titled “Don’t Be a Puppet”, effectively requires teachers to police and surveil classrooms as an extension of law enforcement. The program interferes with teachers’ control over their classrooms and diverts their focus from teaching our children. This program also creates a dangerous precedent of the FBI overreaching into sectors of our society that are best managed by experts, including teachers, curriculum developers, and educators. Additionally, the program targets children in a way that will promote bullying based on race, national origin, religion, and political opinion. The program, designed for middle school and high school students, includes “games” and exercises that perpetuate stereotypes and unreliable indicators that youth are “at risk” of radicalization. For example, the exercises pose quiz format questions the FBI identified that would be of FBI interest: (1) One option asked about a youth posting on Facebook that she intended to attend a political protest. (2) The second option asked about a young person posting about feeling emotional. (3) The third option described a youth with a common Arabic name who posted on Facebook that he’s going overseas on a mission and asked if anyone wants to join. The ADC said that Questions like these will make children wrongly associate their Arab-American classmates with violent extremism simply because they have an Arabic name or attend a protest criticizing the Israeli occupation of Palestine. This negative association will promote further bullying and discrimination against the Arab-American community. [ADC]
More and more school districts are closing for Muslim holidays
Nov 10: For years now, Muslims have campaigned for schools to recognize their major religious holidays, and today they scored a victory in Montgomery County, Maryland, where the school board voted 6–2 to hold a professional development day and close schools to students on Eid al-Adha, the Muslim feast day commemorating Abraham’s readiness to sacrifice his son to Allah. Though Montgomery County, a Washington, D.C., suburb with roughly 1 million people, has long closed school for major Christian and Jewish holidays, last year, when Eid and Yom Kippur fell on the same day, the board decided that—rather than add the name of the Muslim holiday to the calendar, as Muslims in the community had requested—they’d just do away with all religious references on the calendar. While this purely symbolic move didn’t alter which days kids would be out of school, it did piss people off all over the map, including Christians—though of course, it’s nothing new to refer to the school holidays that just so happen to coincide with Christmas and Easter as winter and spring breaks. Montgomery County, the largest school district in Maryland, with 156,000 students, is not the only place struggling to accommodate the increasing religious diversity of its student body. Some districts in New Jersey have closed for Muslim holidays for years, while others, like Jersey City, recently voted against closing for Eid this year. And this spring, the New York City Department of Education, the largest school district in the country, where an estimated 10 percent of students are Muslim, announced that schools would close for Eid al-Adha. Summer school will also close to commemorate Eid al-Fitr, the feast day that marks the end of Ramadan. [Slate]
Massachusetts Muslims hold first "Muslim Day on the Hill"
Nov 12: The first ever “Muslim Day on the Hill” was held today at the Massachusetts Capitol Hill. The objective of the Muslim Day is to get more Muslims involved in the national political process and discuss discrimination and repression. The Muslim Day was organized by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), MassMuslims and the Muslim Justice League who are supporting bills that would increase affordable housing. They also want to decriminalize non-violent conduct by minors. These Muslim-Americans say many students of color are arrested and prosecuted for non-violent crimes, like being loud and rude with teachers. They believe it’s driving many Muslim students to drop out of school. The state’s only Muslim city councilor told the crowd to create change by getting involved with state government. Cambridge City Councilor Nadeem Mazen said, “We must remain involved in our community. We must be thought leaders and exemplars in our communities for basic social justice.” An estimated 70,000 Muslims live in Greater Boston alone, and constitute about 1.5 percent of the state’s population of about 6.7 million. But only one Muslim-American holds an elected office in the state — Nadeem Mazen, who was elected to the Cambridge City Council. The Boston Globe said, "frustrated by a mismatch of political representation and population, and disappointed by a recent incident of vandalism at a Burlington mosque, a group of imams, students, and activists gathered at the State House Thursday to deliver a message: We are here, we care about our communities, and we will vote." “It’s not just bigotry, it’s actual government policies,” said Shannon Erwin, the cofounder and director of the Muslim Justice League told the Boston Globe. “There are communities that feel targeted, and the government framing of these issues are sometimes why our kids are being bullied.” She cited as an example Ahmed Mohamed, the 14-year-old Texas boy who was arrested at school in September after a clock he made was suspected to be a bomb. The “Clock Kid,” as Mohamed was called, was used as a lesson in civic engagement and democracy at Malik Academy of Roxbury and Alhuda Academy of Worcester, whose students attended Thursday’s event. “The only reason he was arrested was because of his name,” said 12-year-old Mohamed Farah of Malik Academy. “I feel like people were judging our religion.” [AMP Report]
Man pushes Muslim woman into a moving train in London
Nov 16: A woman wearing a hijab was waiting at the tube station when suddenly the man standing behind her shoves her onto an oncoming train. A man has reportedly been charged with attempted murder after he was arrested for trying to push a woman into the path of an oncoming train at Piccadilly Station in London. British Transport Police said the incident was “shocking” and is now appealing for information, according to The Sun newspaper. The woman escaped with grazes to her face before being taken to a local hospital to receive treatment for her injuries. Although it hasn’t been mentioned or confirmed by the police or British newspapers, many believe it could be an Islamophobic hate crime. Islamophobic crimes in London have risen by 70% in the past year, according to figures released by the Metropolitan Police in September. Around 816 hate crimes against Muslims were recorded July 2014-July 2015, which is quite high when compared with 478 for the previous 12-month period. The cases reviewed include incidents of cyberbullying, assaults and extreme violence. [Carbonated news]
Increased surveillance based on faith will not make our nation safer
Nov 17: In the wake of the Paris attacks, a chorus of public voices—including U.S. Representative Peter King (R-NY), CIA Director John Brennan and Donald Trump—are once again calling for increased surveillance of Americans, with a focus on Muslim communities. Such a call is not only wrong and contrary to American values, but it undermines our safety. Blanket surveillance based on individuals’ faith does not work and will not make our country safer. All Americans want to be kept safe from acts of violence, whatever the source and we are concerned that public officials are exploiting the Paris tragedy to further their own political agenda. The evidence shows that increased surveillance based on individuals’ faith is not the answer. An Associated Press investigation into the activities of a now-disbanded unit dedicated to spying on American Muslims within the New York Police Department (NYPD) revealed that it failed to produce a single lead or terrorism case. Instead, it has increased distrust between the police and the communities they serve. This lack of trust harms the relationship between law enforcement and Muslim communities—the same communities that law enforcement is sworn to protect and serve. Recent reports suggest that the common thread among Americans attracted to violent extremism is not religion, but vulnerable young people, without ties to places of worship or other community institutions, who often suffer from mental illness and whose capacity for mass violence is not detectable by family and friends. Muslim Advocates filed a lawsuit in federal court, Hassan v. City of New York, to challenge the NYPD’s discriminatory Muslim spying program. This fall, in a historic civil rights ruling, a federal appeals court agreed on the simple premise that law enforcement cannot spy on people based on their faith. The case will now move to trial. [Muslim Advocates]
American Muslims alarmed at anti-Muslim response to Paris attacks
Nov 18: The seven-million-strong American Muslim community was alarmed at the Islamophobic anti-Muslim response to Paris, France terrorist attacks which claimed 129 innocent lives and left around 300 people injured. American Muslims were deeply troubled that many American politicians have used the tragic terror attacks in Paris as a justification to promote xenophobia against Syrian refugees. The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), a leading civil advocacy group, condemned the lack of moral fortitude of the U.S. governors who announced their opposition to accepting Syrian refugees in the wake of the tragic terrorist attacks in Paris, France. The ADC urged elected officials to remember that the vast majority of Americans are the descendants of immigrants and refugees. The United States must not give in to fear or hate motivated bias by turning our back on our nation’s fundamental commitment to refugee protection and human rights. Muslim Advocates and Interfaith Alliance also expressed their concern at by the anti-Muslim response by public officials to the Paris attacks. The group said "It is disturbing that public officials—including U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) and U.S. Representative Peter King (R-NY)—would exploit the Paris tragedy to advance their own political agendas. At a time when we join the world to support the people of Paris, we are concerned that public officials like Rubio and King seek to divide instead of unite us." In a Sunday interview with George Stephanopolous on ABC This Week, Senator Rubio compared Muslims to Nazis. Speaking on New York radio with John Catsimatidis also on Sunday, Representative King called for increased surveillance of American Muslim communities. “All Americans want to be kept safe from acts of violence, whatever the source. But promoting the idea of a “clash of civilizations” and suggesting extremist violence is rooted within Islam only serves to further the agenda of violent extremists. It also sends a dangerous signal that our American Muslim neighbors are a threat, worsening the environment of anti-Muslim bigotry and hate crimes," the Interfaith Alliance and Muslim Advocates said. The Islamic Circle of North America, a leading Muslim civil advocacy group, also expressed its concern over the rise of Islamophobic rhetoric coming from state governors across the country. "Our nation was founded by refugees fleeing repressive regimes, and therefore we must stand with all people of conscience in rejecting this bigotry and welcoming Syrian refugees who are fleeing terrorists," the ICNA statement said. The ICNA called on all elected officials to do some soul searching and not allow themselves to be influenced by the whispers of fear mongers and Islamophobes. "It is not only against American values but also illegal under the U.S. constitution for governors to turn away refugees already accepted by the federal government." [AMP Report]
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