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Executive Editor: Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Chronology of Islam in America (2016)
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
March 2016
Culpeper, Virginia, board delays vote on Islamic prayer house permit
March 1: The Culpeper County Board of Supervisors today (Tuesday) tabled for 30 days a request for a pump-and-haul sewage permit to serve an abandoned house that the Islamic Center of Culpeper wants to rehabilitate and use as a prayer house. The agenda item seemed routine until Sunday night, when local Republican leader Kurt Christensen began sending out a series of emails expressing concern about the request. The initial email, sent to Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Alexa Fritz, Supervisors Bill Chase, Jack Frazier and Steve Walker, County Administrator John Egertson and members of the media, asked the board to “please pull this item from the March meeting agenda and give citizens a detailed briefing pronto.” The board did just that—pulling the item in prompt fashion. Before it could be discussed, Fritz turned to County Attorney Bobbi Jo Alexis who, in a lengthy explanation, said that she had not seen the “contract” and would like time to study the matter. Alexis added that she had just joined the Culpeper staff last summer and was not familiar with pump-and-haul requests. Without hesitation, Chase moved to table the matter for 60 days. That motion was subsequently amended to 30 days after Supervisor Sue Hansohn, in whose district the approximately one-acre parcel lies, said she thought two months was too long. That motion passed unanimously—without further discussion. The Culpeper controversy follows one that arose in Spotsylvania County late last year when the Islamic Center of Fredericksburg sought a special use permit to build a new, larger mosque in the county. A deputy had to halt a forum to discuss the issue—held Nov. 17, four days after the terrorist attacks in Paris—after several attendees interrupted a presentation with anti-Muslim remarks. [The Free Lance-Star]
Super Tuesday poll shows Muslim voters Support Hillary Clinton
March 2: The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today released the results of a six-state "Super Tuesday" poll of almost 2000 Muslim voters indicating that almost half of those voters (46 percent) support Hillary Clinton, followed by Bernie Sanders at 25 percent and 11 percent support for Donald Trump. CAIR's poll also showed that growing Islamophobia is the top issue for Muslim voters. An exit poll of Muslim voters in Texas and Virginia indicated that Sanders narrowed Clinton's lead in those states – 34 to 40 percent in Virginia and 29 to 37 percent in Texas. In upcoming primary elections in California, Illinois, New York, and Florida Clinton's lead over Sanders ranged from 22 percent (California) to 40 percent (New York). The survey indicated that older Muslim voters - 65 percent of those 45 to 64 and 80 percent of those 65 and older - backed Clinton, while younger Muslim voters (18 to 24) supported Sanders (78 percent). In the 25 to 44 age group, support for Clinton and Sanders was more evenly distributed at 44 percent for Sanders and 56 percent for Clinton. CAIR noted that Muslim support for Sanders may actually be higher because its poll surveyed more voters over the age of 45. Nationwide, Islamophobia continued to rank as the most important issue of concern for all Muslim voters (24 percent), a partisan divide was evident with Muslim Democrats ranking Islamophobia highest (27 percent) and then the economy (19 percent), while Muslim Republicans ranked the economy (38 percent) highest followed by Islamophobia (14 percent). Support for the Democratic and Republican Parties mostly remained constant from previous surveys with 67 percent of Muslim voters supporting the Democratic Party and 18 percent supporting the Republican Party. CAIR's February 1 poll of Muslim voters showed 67 and 15 percent respectively voiced support for the Democratic and Republican Parties. [CAIR]
Government Says: iSpy on American Muslims and Arabs
March 2: The War on Terror implemented by President George W. Bush in 2001 has often been defined as an international military front against terrorist organizations from al-Qaeda to ISIL. However, the seedy underbelly of the War on Terror includes the domestic surveillance programs (i.e. spying on Americans through their phones, social media presence, and public behavior) that came packaged with anti-terrorism initiatives, beginning with the Patriot Act of 2001. In the wake of 9/11, Americans have been slowly, and often unknowingly, relinquishing privacy freedoms for the sake of the war through surveillance programs conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the National Security Agency, local police departments, and more. In order to define who could be a possible terrorist, the FBI works with local law enforcement to put informants in mosques, student groups like Students for Justice in Palestine chapters, and cafes with high levels of Arab and Muslim customers. The FBI informant program, consisting of 15-16,000 informants, also pervades entire communities. An informant planted into a city like Dearborn in Michigan, which has a significant Arab American population, is used to initiate a pre-emptive prosecution by convincing residents that he is part of a terrorist network and asks the resident to join him. Informants will offer money and use inciting language as a way of rallying residents to join him. Arab and Muslim Americans are also recruited to be informants by the FBI and spy on their neighbors. [Arab America]
Connecticut educators update anti-bullying messages to protect Muslims
March 5: In Meriden, Connecticut, in response to a surge in reports of anti-Muslim bullying — students being called terrorists, having their head scarves ripped off and facing bias even from teachers — schools are expanding on efforts deployed in the past to help protect gays, racial minorities and other marginalized groups. Civil rights organizations and other advocates have been working more closely with schools since the attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California, stirred a new backlash that led the U.S. Justice Department and U.S. Education Department to urge vigilance on the bullying of Muslims. While stressing that students have rights under the law, and that offenses should be reported, speakers at schools and mosques have also discussed how to create an inclusive culture, how Muslims are scapegoated for attacks and how non-Muslims can be allies to their peers. “Muslim kids get bulled, gay kids get bullied because other kids are uncomfortable with them, and they show it,” said Bill Howe, a multicultural education specialist who spoke at an anti-bullying forum in December for children at Meriden’s Baitul Aman mosque. “That causes Muslim students to retreat, to be more isolated. They need to develop critical social skills so they can build relationships.” One lesson plan tailored for junior and senior high school students has them discuss ways in which Muslims and Syrian refugees are being scapegoated as a result of the attacks. Another encourages students to discuss connections between stereotypes about Muslim people and acts of bigotry, as well as ways they can support Muslims. Education officials in most of the ADL’s 27 U.S. regional offices have been reporting anti-Muslim incidents, and schools have been requesting materials to help deal with the bullying, said Jinnie Spiegler, the organization’s curriculum director. Among other efforts, the agency participated in a town hall meeting at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, Maryland, where officials said some Muslim students were being called names. [The Associated Press]
New York Times portrays Islam more negatively than alcohol, cancer, and cocaine
March 5: A study released in November 2015 by 416 Labs, a Toronto-based consulting firm, reveals that the New York Times portrays Islam/Muslims more negatively than alcohol, cancer, and cocaine among other benchmarked words. Based on a sentiment analysis of online and print headlines spanning 25 years of coverage, the study found “strong evidence that Islam/Muslims are consistently associated with negative terms in NYT headlines.” Key findings pertaining to 2,667,700 articles include: (1) “57% of the headlines containing the words Islam/Muslims were scored negatively. Only 8% of the headlines were scored positively. (2) Compared to all the other benchmarked terms (Republican, Democrat, Cancer and Yankees, Christianity and Alcohol), Islam/Muslims had the highest incidents of negative terms throughout the 25-year period. (3) Not once over the examined period does the aggregate negative sentiment of headlines related to Islam/Muslims go below the NYT aggregate (29%) for all headlines. (4)The most frequent terms associated with Islam/Muslims include “Rebels” and “Militant.” None of the 25 most frequently occurring terms were positive.” To put these findings in perspective, the study notes that “despite causing more fatalities than violent acts by Jihadist groups [throughout the covered period], the negative sentiment for alcohol and cancer remains significantly below the sentiment shown in headlines for Islam and Muslims.” In an interview, co-author Steven Zhou, who is in charge of Investigations and Civic Engagement at the recently established consulting firm, explained the reasons behind their inaugural study: “Since 9/11, many media outlets began profiteering from the anti-Muslim climate, though you could probably trace a similar trend back to the Iranian Revolution. We talk a lot about media and Islamophobia, but nobody has done the math. So, we thought it is long overdue to have a quantitative investigation of an agenda-setting newspaper.” Given that media organizations have a powerful role in influencing public perceptions, the study concludes that “the overwhelming sentiment associated with NYT headlines about Islam/Muslims is likely to distort perceptions,” suggesting “that the average reader of NYT is likely to assign collective responsibility to Islam/Muslims for the violent actions of a few.” [Mondoweiss]
Idaho newspaper slams anti-Islam bill introduced in legislature
March 5: We knew it was only a matter of time before the radical right surfaced in the Statehouse this year pushing legislation to target Muslims. It happened Wednesday (March 2), through a proposal to ban any enforcement of foreign law by an Idaho court. The benign-sounding “American and Idaho Law for Idaho Courts” bill doesn’t specifically mention Sharia – a hardliner Islamic penal code – although there was little mistaking it as the focus of the proposed legislation. Rep. Eric Redman, a Republican from Spirit Lake, even brought visual aids to support his first and only bill introduced in two years – extreme right-wing propaganda pamphlets and printouts from websites he passed around to fellow lawmakers that showed a severed hand and radical Islamists beheading people. So what are we supposed to think? That any day now Idaho courts will be ordering stonings and beheadings? That Idaho judges will suddenly lose any grasp of state law and begin following barbaric foreign codes unless lawmakers act now to stop them? That there’s some kind of Islamic subversion plot underway to hijack the state’s judicial system?The only purpose this McCarthy-style bill serves is to spread the kind of fear, hate and paranoia that represents the absolute worst about the fringe far-right increasingly finding influence in our Capitol. [Magic Valley editorial]
Bomb threat closes Toledo, Ohio, Islamic Academy
March 7: The Toledo Islamic Academy is closed today after school officials received a bomb threat. An email threatening violence at the school, 5225 West Alexis Road, was sent on Friday, according to a police report. Sylvania police are working to determine who wrote the threat, said Capt. Rick Schnoor. Additional officers today are patrolling the area. Police will discuss with the school any future security plans, he said. [Toledo Blade]
JetBlue attendant doesn't like being stared at by Muslim women, calls police to take them off plane
March 7: On Saturday evening (March 5) my friend Sharon Kessler was flying from Boston to Los Angeles on JetBlue flight 487. Sharon overheard a flight attendant tell a co-worker that she didn't like the way two Muslim women were staring back at her. The flight attendant "called authorities who boarded the plane when we landed and escorted these two women off," Sharon posted on Facebook. "It was a terrible moment -- honestly -- these women sat quietly, watched movies -- it felt like overkill from this flight attendant." Sharon said the flight attendant "casually relayed to a coworker that she didn't appreciate being stared at -- she did not seem rattled or scared -- just smug. Then -- after we landed - she announced that the authorities would be boarding the plane and to remain in our seats with seat belts." Sharon shot the video of the woman being taken off the plane.I contacted JetBlue and asked spokesperson Morgan Johnson if he could provide further information. He said that while the plane was in the air, one of the crew members thought that the women were recording a security procedure. Johnson said that when the plane landed, authorities escorted the women off the plane and questioned them. The women explained that they were using a language translation app on their phone, and were released.[Mark Frauenfelder – www.boigboing.net]
Arab-American votes help Sanders pull off surprise win in Michigan
March 8: Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton suffered a surprise loss to challenger Bernie Sanders in the Michigan primary on Tuesday, as billionaire Donald Trump notched a trio of easy victories in the Republican presidential nomination race. Sanders had an especially strong showing in Dearborn, the southeastern Michigan city known for its large Arab-American population. The former secretary of state slumped to defeat in the industrial rust belt state, where Sanders snagged 49.9 percent of the vote compared to Clinton's 48.2 percent with almost all precincts already reported. "This has been a fantastic night in Michigan," Sanders said shortly before the race was called in his favor. “What tonight means it that the Bernie Sanders campaign, the people’s revolution that we are talking about, is strong in every part of the country and frankly we believe that our strongest areas are yet to happen,” said the senator in Miami. Days before the primary, polls showed Sanders to be 20 points behind Clinton in Michigan. However, Clinton handily defeated her rival in the southern state of Mississippi, thanks to a strong turnout by African-Americans. And despite the upset, Clinton received a psychological boost by passing the half-way point in the race to reach the 2,382 delegates needed to win the Democratic nomination. [Middle East Eye]
Muslims sue over denial of bid to build Mosque in New Jersey suburb
March 10: In November 2011, the Islamic Society of Basking Ridge, led by the former mayor, Mohammad Ali Chaudry, bought a four acre plot in an area of Basking Ridge where zoning permitted houses of worship. The group’s architects and engineers argued that the plan complied by a wide margin with every conceivable building requirement. To avoid the kind of vitriolic dispute that erupted in a nearby town when a different group tried to build a mosque, the society said, it tried to minimize features that might be seen as ostentatious. The mosque would not have a dome, and its minarets would be styled like chimneys of nearby homes, at heights lower than the steeples of the churches in town. In all, the building would be 4,252 square feet. Within it would be a prayer hall of about 1,600 square feet with room for 150 people. After presenting the plan to the board in early 2012, Mr. Chaudry, who has a Ph.D. in economics from Tufts University, predicted that the mosque would be built within the year. What followed were 39 public hearings, and nearly four years of demands by town officials and planning board members for one change after another. Each solution proposed or agreed to by the Islamic Society led to objections on other grounds. Often, members of the public raised issues — some saying that a bucolic area was not the right setting for a mosque, or that it might interfere with a volunteer fire department station across the road. In a lawsuit filed today in federal court, the society accused the planning board of breaking a law unanimously passed by Congress in 2000 protecting houses of worship from being unduly burdened by land use regulations. In a 111-page complaint, the Islamic Society said the decision also violated the rights of its members to freely practice their religion and to enjoy equal protection of the law. “What should have been a simple board approval for a permitted use devolved into a Kafkaesque process,” said the suit, filed on behalf of the society by Adeel A. Mangi of the Manhattan law firm Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler. “These proceedings took place against a backdrop of ugly spectacle.” The Islamic Society’s complaint opens with a statement by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in June 1957, when he spoke at the inauguration of a mosque in Washington. “And I should like to assure you, my Islamic friends, that under the American Constitution, under American tradition, and in American hearts, this center, this place of worship, is just as welcome as could be a similar edifice of any other religion,” said President Eisenhower, who served as the supreme commander of American forces in Europe during World War II. “Indeed, America would fight with her whole strength for your right to have here your own church and worship according to your conscience.” [New York Times]
Anti-Islam protest at Montana Courthouse
March 12: A small group of nearly 50 people gathered on front of the Missoula County Courthouse steps this afternoon to hear Gina Satterfield from Helena declare that America’s constitutional republic is ‘under attack by our own government siding with the United Nations to infiltrate the US with refugees‘ Satterfield, who claimed no affiliation with any organization or group, spoke passionately from a script she had prepared, which included phrases such as: (a) ‘Islam is far more of a political system than a religion’ (b) ‘There is no unmitigated good in Islam for the Kafir (non-Muslim)’ (c) ‘Islamic ethical system is dualistic and not based on the golden rule’ (d) ‘Islamic doctrine cannot be reconciled with our concepts of human rights and our Constitution’ e)‘ The great majority, 96 percent, of all Islamic doctrine about women is to subjugate them’. Unlike the vastly better attended “Rally Against Hate” which occurred on March 1, with nearly 1,000 people marching down both sides of Higgins to Caras Park to hear Mayor Jon Engen voice his pride in being the mayor of a city that could produce such a gathering, the protest today on the courthouse steps featured no elected officials, no nuns or priests, no media celebrities, just a few citizens exercising their First Amendment rights of free speech who said they were concerned that refugees who have not been properly vetted might come to Missoula. There was no ‘counter-protest’ in sight, just curious passersby who looked at the signs and listened briefly to the speeches. [NewsTalkKgvo.com]
Northwestern students charged with spray-painting racial slurs, Trump's name in chapel
March 13: Two Northwestern University freshmen have been accused of spray-painting racial slurs, homophobic messages and the name of GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump inside of a nondenominational chapel on the university's campus in Evanston, according to the Chicago Tribune. The duo snuck inside the Alice Millar Chapel, and "spray-painted an expletive and a slur against African-Americans with a swastika on the chapel hallway," according to Assistant Cook County State's Attorney Brooke Shupe. Their destruction did not end there, as they spray-painted a derogatory term for homosexuals, and spray-painted lines over pictures of Muslim students, according to the report. "These allegations are disgusting to me," Cook County Judge Peggy Chiampas said to 19-year-old Anthony Morales and 18-year-old Matthew Kafker, who were both held in lieu of $50,000 bail. "I don't know if any of you know how lucky you are to be at Northwestern University." The duo faces charges of institutional vandalism to the Alice Millar Chapel, a hate crime to a place of worship and criminal damage to property for their spray-painted messages. The two freshmen, who said nothing during the hearing, admitted they were responsible for the crimes prior, having given handwritten and recorded statements to university police. [www.mic.com]
Clifton (new Jersey) board OKs day off next year for Muslim holiday
March 14: The Board of Education of Clifton, New Jersey, has added a sacred Muslim holy day to its calendar of school holidays in the upcoming year, fulfilling a request by an active group of Muslim students. The decision earned the praise of Kaity Assaf, a Clifton High School senior who led the charge to make the holy days Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr school holidays. Over the last few months, she collected signatures of hundreds of students and teachers supporting the cause. Eid al-Fitr, the first of the two holy days, marks the end of Ramadan – a sacred month of fasting - with a giant feast, gatherings of friends and family and gift-giving. Eid al-Adha, also called “Festival of the Sacrifice,” honors the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son and is also celebrated with food, gifts for children and acts to help the poor. The Clifton school district twice opposed adding the Muslim holy days to the school calendar, turning down requests that date back to 2010. By reversing course on the issue, they join other New Jersey districts, including Paterson, Trenton, Atlantic City, Cliffside Park and Prospect Park, as well as New York City schools. [NorthJersey.com]
Tennessee lawmakers approve plan to quell fears of “Islamic indoctrination” in classrooms
March 14: School districts in Tennessee will soon have to hold open hearings on how they teach religion. That's one feature of a plan approved today by state lawmakers to respond to claims schools have secretly been "indoctrinating" students with a sanitized version of Islam.The state Senate voted 29-1 to send House Bill 1905 to Gov. Bill Haslam. The move appears to cap a tumultuous eight months in which school boards across Tennessee were targeted by activists who claimed textbooks, handouts and assignments were whitewashing negative aspects of Islam. The campaign left many school boards feeling besieged. Supporters of the measure passed by the legislature say it'll reassure parents who are uncertain what their kids are learning. Complaints were centered on social studies classes in middle school. That's when students take world history, and they're supposed to be introduced to the tenants of most major religions, according to updated teaching standards approved by state education officials in 2013. The criticism forced education officials to agree to a yearlong review of the standards. That began in January — two years ahead of schedule. [Nashville Public Radio]
Arab Americans a 'swing constituency' in US presidential election
March 14: According to Maya Berry, executive director at the Arab American Institute (AAI), a lobby group, Arab-American voters are a key bloc in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida and other states expected to be battlegrounds in the November presidential poll. “We may be 3.7 million Arab Americans in this country, but because of where we are concentrated, and because of our voting patterns, we actually are a perfect swing constituency,” Berry told Middle East Eye. “We’re in about 12 key states, and within those 12 states, there’s a significant portion that play very important electoral roles.” Sanders, a left-wing Jewish septuagenarian, scored well in the Arab-American parts of Dearborn, Michigan, in last week’s primary, where he got 67 percent of the vote, compared to Hillary Clinton’s 32 percent, helping him secure the state. Michigan is home to America’s densest population of ethnic Arabs (five percent, said Berry), but they are also present in mostly urban parts of California, New York, Florida, Texas, New Jersey, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Since the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington, Arab Americans have edged left and currently favour the Democrats (about 40 percent) over the Republicans (20 percent), while 30 percent remain independent, according to AAI. “There were issues related to the Iraq War, to Abu Ghraib in particular, and the Palestinian issue that tilted Arab Americans away from the Republicans and towards the Democrats, most particularly the 25 or 30 percent (of US Arabs who) are Muslim Americans,” Zogby told MEE. Arab Americans are typically small business owners and professionals who are swayed by the same bread-and-butter issues as other Americans – jobs, taxes, schools and hospitals. US foreign policy is important, but not paramount, according to AAI studies. [Middle East Eye]
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