www.amperspective.com Online Magazine
Executive Editor: Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Chronology of Islam in America (2016)
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
July 2016 Page Two
American Muslims shocked at Gangrich’s call to test and deport Muslims
July 15: The seven million strong American Muslim community was shocked at the impractical, inhuman and unconstitutional suggestion of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich calling for Inquisition-style religious “testing” and possible deportation of “every person here who is of a Muslim background.” In response to the terror attack in Nice, France, Gingrich told Sean Hannity of Fox News: “Western civilization is in a war. We should frankly test every person here who is of a Muslim background, and if they believe in Sharia, they should be deported. Sharia is incompatible with Western civilization. After paying cursory respect to "modern Muslims," Gingrich proposed making a felony out of visiting "any website that favors ISIS," as well as "any organization which hosts such a website," which would presumably include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and innumerably more sites where people freely engage in all sorts of incendiary speech. Gingrich went on to say: “And we're told to be reasonable, to be passive, to not judge. Well I just want to tell you tonight, everybody who watches this video, this is the fault of Western elites who lack the guts to do what is right, to do what is necessary, and to tell us the truth, and that starts with Barack Obama.” He also suggested monitoring of mosques in America. President Barrack Obama remarked that “in the wake of last night’s attack we’ve heard more suggestions that Muslims in America” be targeted for tests, exclusion and even expulsion. “The very suggestion is repugnant and an affront to everything that we stand for as Americans,” he said. He argued that nations should try to protect freedom, not surrender in fear. “We cannot give in to fear or turn on each other or sacrifice our way of life,” Obama said. “We cannot let ourselves be divided by religion because that’s exactly what the terrorists want. We should never do their work for them. And here in the United States, our freedoms … keep us strong and safe.” Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, noted that America had been founded on the principle of religious freedom. “That is a principle enshrined in our constitution and one that the president believes is worth protecting,” he said, criticizing Gingrich’s rhetoric as “un-American by its very definition”. Earnest added: “This is also the very worst possible time for leaders to suggest that Americans should turn on one another. That’s exactly what the terrorists would like us to do.”…..At least 84 people, many children – and leaving scores injured in the terrorist attack on Bastille Day; 14th of July, the day commemorating the French Revolution of 1789, the most important French National Holiday. What happened? During celebration of the French National Holiday, around 11 PM, a speeding truck plowed into a crowd of thousands who were watching the fireworks along the Mediterranean Boulevard Anglais. The driver of the truck, was simultaneously and indiscriminately shooting into the crowd. He was able to run for 2 kilometers before being stopped by police, which instantly shot and killed him. [AMP Report]
Muslim group calls for probe of passenger’s removal from Charlotte flight
July 20: A prominent Muslim organization has called for an investigation of a Muslim man’s removal from a Charlotte flight last year after he was allegedly singled out for monitoring by a flight attendant. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said Mohamed Ahmed Radwan was removed from the flight because of his “identifiably Arabic and Muslim name.” According to federal law, airlines are prohibited from discriminating against passengers based on religion, ancestry and national origin, among other criteria. CAIR sent a letter to the Department of Transportation on Wednesday urging an investigation and also called for a “thorough examination” into prevailing practices of major airlines. In addition, CAIR said DOT should develop policy guidelines on objective factors to be looked at while deciding to remove a passenger from a plane. DOT’s Enforcement Office has received CAIR’s letter and will investigate the complaint, a spokesperson said. In an interview, Radwan, a 40-year-old chemical engineer, said he was flying from Charlotte to Detroit on Dec. 6, 2015, on American Airlines Flight 1821. As he was taking his allotted seat, Radwan said, a female flight attendant loudly announced: “Mohamed Ahmed, Seat 25-A, I will be watching you.” After a minute, she repeated “Mohamed Ahmed, that is a very long name, Seat 25-A, I will be watching you.” Then a third time, according to Radwan, she said: “25-A: you will be watched.” “I was in total shock,” Radwan said. “I’ve been flying for over 30 years, and I’ve never heard something like that.” The flight attendant did not make such a statement about any other passenger, Radwan said. When he asked about her statements, the attendant said she was going to monitor everyone, according to Radwan. When asked why she singled him out, the attendant accused him of being “too sensitive,” and walked away, he said. After a couple of American Airlines employees talked to him, he was told the attendant felt “uncomfortable” and he was escorted off the flight. “I felt too unsafe to fly with American again,” he said. He instead booked a much later flight, which cost him about $1,500 and interfered with his travel plans. Worse than the inconvenience was the humiliation of being treated like a terrorist, Radwan said. “I’ve been a U.S. citizen for 13 years,” he said, “but at that moment I felt my sense of being American taken from me.” [Charlotte Observer]
Trump a Dark Knight detached from the country and his party
July 22: Welcome to a world without rules. (I want you to read this paragraph in your super-scary movie trailer voice.) Welcome to a world in which families are mowed down by illegal immigrants, in which cops die in the streets, in which Muslims rampage the innocents and threaten our very way of life, in which the fear of violent death lurks in every human heart. Sometimes in that blood-drenched world a dark knight arises. You don’t have to admire or like this knight. But you need this knight. He is your muscle and your voice in a dark, corrupt and malevolent world. Such has been the argument of nearly every demagogue since the dawn of time. Aaron Burr claimed Spain threatened the U.S. in 1806. A. Mitchell Palmer exaggerated the Red Scare in 1919, and Joe McCarthy did it in 1950. And such was Donald Trump’s law-and-order argument in Cleveland on Thursday night. This was a compelling text that turned into more than an hour of humorless shouting. It was a dystopian message that found an audience and then pummeled it to exhaustion. [New York Times OpEd]
Trump’s speech: 1930s fascist, tin pot dictator, snake oil salesman
July 23: Donald Trump accepted the nomination of the Republican Party for president by appealing to and fanning the flames of fear and resentment. It was notable for a presidential convention acceptance speech that it had so little hope, vision, or concrete examples of how Trump would advance his agenda and “Make America Great Again.” In essence he is saying, I am great so give me America. There is chaos. It’s a dangerous world. He will restore order. And he then went on to tell us just how chaotic and dangerous it is. This is the classic theme of an authoritarian seeking to manipulate the masses by raw emotion. In his telling, the United States is violent, overrun by illegal immigrants, humiliated on the world stage and unable to get up off the mat. “The problems we face now – poverty and violence at home, war and destruction abroad – will last only as long as we continue relying on the same politicians who created them,” he said. Dangerous illegal immigrants are roaming free, he insists. We’ve never been this corrupt! It’s never been this dangerous! It is practically apocalyptic. Our airports are in “Third-World” shape. The solution is not a particular set of policies, or any policies – it is him. “These are the forgotten men and women of our country. People who work hard but no longer have a voice. I am your voice,” he said. No clearer statement of the strongman – the all-knowing person whom one must trust to solve our problems – has ever been spoken by an American presidential nominee. This is the talk of 1930s fascists, tin pot dictators and snake oil salesman. [The Washington Post Opinion]
Should Franklin Graham fear Muslims or should we fear his hate speech?
July 24: Be afraid. Be very afraid. That was the message Rev. Franklin Graham delivered in his July 15th USA Today editorial, Too Many Muslims Among Us Believe In Violence. Unlike Billy Graham, his famously polite father, Franklin Graham openly criticizes other religions, particularly Islam. He has assailed American Muslims for following an "evil and wicked religion," declared that "true Islam cannot be practiced in this country,” and raised suspicion about President Obama's supposed affinity for Islam. As an American Muslim, I expected to read similar anti-Islam hysterics throughout Rev. Graham's editorial. But I was in for a surprise. This time, Graham tried something new: justifying his Islamophobia using a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2011. Among other things, pollsters asked 1,033 American Muslims for their opinions about violence against civilians in the name of religion. Could such violence ever be justified? 86% of American Muslims said no, such violence was never justified, while seven percent said it could "sometimes" be justified, and only one percent said it could "often" be justified. "Whoa!" Graham wrote after noting Pew’s estimate that 1.8 million Muslim adults call America home. "This means there are more than 100,000 Muslim adults living in this country who could justify a suicide bombing in the name of their religion."
There’s just one problem, Reverend Graham. Of all religious groups in the United States, Christians are far more likely to consider terrorism (that is, violence against civilians by a non-state actor) sometimes justified. In fact, Christians are the most likely group to think so. 26 percent of American Protestants believe that an individual or small group of people can sometimes justifiably target and kill civilians, according to a 2011 Gallup poll. 27 percent of Catholics felt the same way. But a whopping 89 percent of American Muslims said the exact opposite: violence against civilians is never justified. In fact, Gallup found that American Muslims were the most likely religious group to say that terrorism is never permissible while American Christians were most likely to say that terrorism sometimes is permissible. [by Edward Ahmed Mitchell – Atanta Muslim]
CA: Anti-Muslim bias incidents jumped more than 50 percent in past year
July 25: The California chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-California) today published the 2016 CAIR California Civil Rights Report, which reveals that anti-Muslim bias incidents saw a significant increase since last year. A total of 1,556 incidents, 295 from the Bay Area alone, were reported to CAIR-California over the course of the 2015 year. These included complaints involving: employment discrimination, federal law enforcement questioning, housing discrimination, immigration issues, hate crimes, school bullying, and several others.The report's key highlights include: Reports of bias incidents spiked by 58% between 2014 (115) and 2015 (197), which is attributed to public hostility generated by international acts of violence and hateful rhetoric utilized by candidates since the start of the election cycle. Reports related to immigrants' rights almost doubled between 2014 (220) and 2015 (428). CAIR-California provided legal assistance to persons who were fired for praying and even persons who faced hostile work environments as retaliation for reporting discriminatory behavior to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Most incident reports fell under the categories of: hate incidents and Islamophobia, immigration, employment discrimination, and law enforcement interactions. [CAIR]
Bill Clinton’s comments disappoint American Muslims
July 26: The seven-million strong American Muslim community was disappointed by former President Bill Clinton's comments on the American Muslims during his speech at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) tonight. "If you're a Muslim and you love America and freedom and you hate terror, stay here and help us win and make a future together, we want you," Clinton said toward the end of his address that was largely focused on humanizing his wife. Peter Beinart, contributing editor for The Atlantic, wrote Clinton suggested that Muslims need to earn the rights that all other Americans enjoy. Beinart writing under the title, Bill Clinton’s lapse into Trumpism, said that whether Clinton meant to or not, he lapsed into Trumpism: the implication that Muslims are a class apart, deserving of special scrutiny and surveillance, guilty of terrorist sympathies until proven innocent. He went on to say that the problem is in the assumption. “American Muslims should be viewed exactly the same way other Americans are. If they commit crimes, then they should be prosecuted, just like other Americans. But they should not have to prove that they “love America and freedom” and “hate terror” to “stay here.” Their value as Americans is inherent, not instrumental. Their role as Americans is not to “help us win” the “war on terror.” Dr. Muqtedar Khan, Professor at the University of Delaware and Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Policy wrote on Islamic City Monthly, unfortunately, Clinton framed his arguments within the same parameters of the Islamophobic discourse employed by Trump which treats Muslims as unwelcome foreigners. “The problem with the semantics of What Clinton said in his speech is that it borrows the Islamophobic assumptions that have plagued American political arena in the past several months. This was a good opportunity for Bill to push back against it and shift the conversation.” The implication of his statement is that American Muslims are trying to leave, and he is urging us to stay, Dr. Khan said adding: “And yet, American Muslims have been here for centuries now. Many of the slaves who built this country were Muslims forced to hide or leave their faith. Secondly, why the conditions? And why only while speaking about Muslims would he mention the word terror? Perhaps he could have taken a page from the speeches given by President Obama who on numerous occasions has acknowledged that Islam and Muslims have been an integral part of America, from the beginning and American Muslims have and continue to contribute to American economy, culture and its much touted greatness.” [AMP Report]
Giuliani wants to start electronically tagging Muslims
July 28: Former New York City Mayor and current Donald Trump supporter Rudy Giuliani said on Wednesday that he thinks it’s an “excellent idea” to monitor Muslims on the federal watch list through electronic monitoring tags. “I would think that’s an excellent idea,” Giuliani told reporters at a press conference, according to NJ Advance Media. “If you’re on the terror watch list, I should you know you’re on the terror watch list. You’re on there for a reason.” Giuliani said he would suggest that Trump use the same measure of electronically monitoring people as in France. Both the attackers involved in the killing of a priest in Normandy on Tuesday were already known to French security services and on watch lists, and one was being monitored through an electronic tag. The terrorism watch list and no-fly list are notorious for ethnic and religious profiling, and many innocent people end up on the list — but Giuliani’s comments come as no surprise given his own penchant for surveillance of the Muslim community, another ineffective practice, during his time as New York’s mayor…. Trump has previously called for registering all Muslims in a "database," racial profiling of Muslims, and banning all Muslims from the United States — a ban which his adviser once said would include Muslim Americans as well. He has also suggested that Muslims know about attacks before they happen and do nothing to stop them and said that Obama, who he has repeatedly called a Muslim, is allowing Muslims to commit attacks like the one in Orlando last month. [Think Progress]
Trump's un-American campaign rhetoric slammed by father of fallen U.S. Muslim at DNC
July 29: Condemning Donald Trump's hateful rhetoric was a large component of the Democratic National Convention. Khizr Khan's DNC speech was among the best to bring Trump to task. "We are honored to stand here as parents of Captain Humayun Khan and as patriotic American Muslims,” said Khizr Khan, the father of Captain Humayun S. M. Khan, who was killed in June 2004 by a suicide bomber in Iraq. The captain was just 27 years old. “Hillary Clinton was right when she called my son the best of America,” Khan said. Khan, standing with his wife Ghazala, delivered a statement for Trump on the American dream: "As patriotic American Muslims with undivided loyalty to our country, like many immigrants, we came to this country empty-handed. We believed in American democracy that with hard work and goodness of this country we could share in and contribute to its blessings. We are blessed to raise our three sons in a nation where they were free to be themselves and follow their dreams." "If it was up to Donald Trump he never would have been in America," Khan continued. "Donald Trump consistently smears the character of Muslims. He disrespects other minorities, women, judges, even his own party leadership. He wants to build walls and ban us from this country," he said as the audience booed Trump and the camera panned to one woman shedding a tear. "Donald Trump, you're asking Americans to trust you with their future. Let me ask you, have you even read the United States Constitution?" he asked, removing a pamphlet from his jacket. "I would gladly lend you my copy." [Alternet]
2016: January February March April May June
July August September October November December