www.amperspective.com Online Magazine
Executive Editor: Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Chronology of Islam in America (2018)
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
April 2018 - Page Two
State and local Republican officials have been bashing Muslims
April 10: A state lawmaker in Oklahoma refused to meet with Muslim constituents unless they replied to a questionnaire asking if they beat their wives. A Nebraska state senator suggested that any Muslim wanting to enter the United States be forced to eat pork first. And a Rhode Island legislator advocated herding Syrian refugees into a camp, writing in an email that Muslims seek “to murder, rape, and decapitate anyone who is a non-Muslim.” Those are among dozens of examples of state and local Republican politicians and officials publicly attacking Islam in 49 states since 2015, typically with impunity, according to a BuzzFeed News analysis. Some elected officials shared hate-filled social media posts urging violence against Muslims, while others used subtler, loaded language to smear Islam as they opposed mosque-building projects or wrote bills aimed at what they portrayed as the threat of Sharia. The anti-Muslim rhetoric in virtually every state reflects the general coarsening of political speech in the anything-goes era of President Donald Trump, who’s lashed out at Mexicans, Muslims, African Americans, women, and other targets. Still, the jabs at Islam are set apart by their sheer ugliness as well as by companion efforts aimed at restricting Muslim civil libertiesand immigration. Muslim groups worry that politicians’ unchecked vilification of a religion followed by more than 3.3 million Americans opens the door for even bigger blows than the travel ban. “It has become an acceptable plank within the Republican Party to demonize Muslims,” said Robert McCaw, government affairs director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, the nation’s largest Muslim advocacy group. “Policymakers take ideas and turn them into action. That can endanger communities like American Muslims if Islamophobic sentiment is turned into law.” Muslims have no reason to believe the White House will take the lead in addressing the inflammatory language, which in some cases amounts to hate speech. Trump, who’s also disparaged Islam, last month nominated CIA director Mike Pompeo for secretary of state despite his long history of bashing Islam and associating with anti-Muslim bigots. [Buzzfeed]
California State Senate Proclaims April Arab American Heritage Month
April 10: The California State Senate today proclaimed “the month of April 2018 as Arab American Heritage Month.” Senate Concurrent Resolution (SCR) 123 was authored by State Senator Josh Newman (D-Fullerton). The resolution commemorates the month of April as “Arab American Heritage Month” in California and recognizes the important contributions of Arab Americans to our state. “SCR 123 is part of a broader effort toward creating awareness and paying respect to California’s approximately 800,000 Arab American residents. In addition, SCR 123 celebrates the achievements of Arab American Californians and highlights their commitment and contributions to their communities,” said Senator Newman (D-Fullerton). In addition to presenting SCR 123 on the Senate Floor today, Senator Newman also welcomed and introduced the Arab American leaders present in the Senate. [Little Arabia]
More than 700 children taken from parents at U.S. border in six-month period
April 21: The Department of Homeland Security has separated more than 700 children from immigrants claiming to be their parents at the border since October, The New York Times reports. More than 100 of those children were reportedly under the age of 4 at the time of the separation. The Trump administration has repeatedly proposed implementing a strict separation policy at the border to deter immigration, but officials at the Department of Homeland Security have denied that such a policy is in place. The agency had previously declined to provide statistics on the number of separations but suggested the numbers were fairly low. On Friday, however, after three federal officials confirmed to the Times that about 700 separations have taken place, the agency finally admitted to “approximately 700” such cases. For some families, the separation ends up being indefinite, as many children arriving in shelters lack the proper records to identify their parents. [The Daily Beast]
American Muslims launch political campaigns, hope to deliver 'sweet justice' to Trump
April 16: Fayaz Nawabi has never met President Donald Trump. But he credits the president with convincing him to run for office. Nawabi, a 31-year-old candidate for San Diego City Council, supports almost everything that Trump opposes: He is pro-affordable housing, pro-environment, pro-immigrant and pro-refugee. That makes him part of the blue wave of new liberal candidates spurred to run by Trump's election and policies.But Nawabi is also part of a notable subset: the blue Muslim wave. More than 90 American Muslims, nearly all of them Democrats, are running for public office across the country this year. Many are young and politically inexperienced, and most are long shots. But they represent a collective gamble: that voters are so disgusted by America's least popular president on record that they're willing to elect members of America's least popular religious minority group. Although their number seems small, the candidacies mark an unprecedented rise for the nation's diverse Muslim community that typically has been underrepresented in American politics.There are more than 3.3 million (read seven million) Muslims living in the United States, but Muslim Americans hold just two of the 535 seats in Congress. And the Muslim community's voter participation pales in comparison to the general public's. The rise of Muslim candidates coincides with the growth of the predominantly immigrant population and a partisan shift that has played out over a generation. In a 2001 Zogby poll of American Muslims, 42 percent said they voted for Republican George W. Bush in the previous year's presidential election, while 31 percent said they voted for Democrat Al Gore. By last year, just 8 percent of voting American Muslims in a Pew poll said they voted for Trump, while 78 percent said they voted for Democrat Hillary Clinton. While Clinton's campaign never garnered broad enthusiasm from Muslim communities, Trump's campaign - which called for the monitoring of mosques and a ban on Muslims entering the United States - delivered a jolt on election night that some American Muslims likened to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Now, Muslim candidates are running for a wide range of offices across the country, from local school boards to the U.S. Senate. Some are making their Muslim identity central to their campaigns. "When you put someone in a corner and they're in survival mode, they have a tendency to come out and speak more prominently about their beliefs," said Nawabi, who considers himself an "unapologetic Muslim" who can quote the Koran from memory and moonlights as a "freelance imam." In Michigan, where 13 Muslim candidates are running for office, physician Abdul El-Sayed is hoping voters will elect him to be the first Muslim governor in the United States and has used his religion in campaign ads against Republican front-runner Bill Schuette, whom Trump has endorsed."Donald Trump and Steve Bannon would love to see a right-wing radical like Bill Schuette elected in Michigan," reads a Facebook ad for Sayed, who faces a Democratic primary in August. "You know what would be sweet justice? If we elected a 33-year-old Muslim instead of Bill Schuette. Send a message and help elect the first Muslim governor in America." [The Washington Post]
Kansas trio convicted in plot to bomb Somali immigrants
April 18: Federal jurors convicted three men today of plotting to blow up an apartment complex where Somali refugees live and pray in Garden City, Kan. The domestic terrorism verdict came at a time when threats against religious and racial minorities are rising nationally, and the case drew interest from the highest levels of the Justice Department. “The defendants in this case acted with clear premeditation in an attempt to kill people on the basis of their religion and national origin,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement. “That’s not just illegal — it’s immoral and unacceptable, and we’re not going to stand for it.” The men, Curtis Allen, Gavin Wright and Patrick Stein, all of whom are white, appeared stoic as the verdicts were read at the federal courthouse in Wichita. Defense lawyers had tried to convince jurors that their clients were manipulated by the F.B.I., and had been unfairly targeted for exercising their rights to own guns and speak freely. Prosecutors, who built much of their case around the informant’s secret recordings, said that the men planned to carry out the bombing on Nov. 9, 2016, a day after voters selected a president. “They wanted to send a message to the people living there that they’re not welcome in Garden City, they’re not welcome in southwest Kansas, they’re not welcome in the United States,” Tony Mattivi, a federal prosecutor, said during closing arguments. The men, who called themselves “the Crusaders,” were arrested about four weeks before Election Day and charged with conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction and conspiracy against rights, which the Justice Department considers a hate crime. Mr. Wright was also charged with lying to the F.B.I. The three men were found guilty on all counts and face up to life in prison when they are sentenced in June. [New York Times]
Illinois library urged to probe inclusion of 'satirical' art exhibit panel
April 22: The Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Chicago), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called on the Aurora Public Library in Aurora, Ill., to investigate how a "satirical" panel came to be included in an art display even though it appeared to encourage hate crimes against Muslim women, and to reflect on lessons learned for the future. The panel included a poem, titled "Every kid should be like my kid and snatch a hijab," with lines like, "Hijab to me means jihad so keep that sh*t out of the country I love." CAIR-Chicago yesterday sent a letter to the library requesting removal of the exhibit. In a statement, CAIR-Chicago Executive Director Ahmed Rehab argued that while the intent may have been satire, the hate poem is presented to the public without any context - intent or otherwise - and is thus indistinguishable from bare-naked incendiary hate speech that promotes violence against women and children. This, coupled with the fact that in the current environment Muslim women face actual incidents of assault and Muslim kids face regular incidents of bullying, simply for being Muslim. Add to all this that this poem then greets them in a library of all places, a supposed safe space, and you can see why the public was as appalled as it was. A statement subsequently posted on social media by the library said in part: "While the intent was satirical according to the poet, we are aware that this is not the message the panel is sending to our community. . .we will remove the panel before we open for business tomorrow." [CAIR]
Los Angeles student says she was kicked out of Uber ride because she is Muslim
April 25: In 2017, hate crimes, hate incidents and discrimination against Muslims rose in Southern California, according to a new report from the Council on American-Islamic Relations. According to the report, called “Targeted” 37 hate incidents took place in 2017, an increase from 17 the previous year. Ahlam Shehab, a Cal State Los Angeles senior who wears a head scarf, or hijab, told Annenberg Media she was the target of an Anti-Muslim hate incident last month. She said she was denied an Uber ride because she is Muslim. "It was shocking, it was very unwelcoming…" Shehab said. "I requested the Uber ride like I usually do," the 25-year-old said, recalling that the driver, "…came and I got inside the car. He drove for less than half a mile, and then he looked me in the mirror. He parked the car on the side, and he goes like 'can you please leave? I'm not taking you. I wouldn't give a ride to a Muslim with a hijab.'" This is the latest anti-Muslim hate incident to take place in L.A. County. A new report by the council on American-Islamic relations shows anti-Muslim incidents have increased in Southern California, and are up 15 percent across the nation. [uscannenbergmedia.com]
U.S. agencies fueled a national increase in Anti-Muslim incidents
April 24: Under President Donald Trump, the United States government has shown an “unprecedented level of government hostility” toward the Muslim religious minority in the country, according to a newly released report by the Council on American-Islamic Relations. CAIR’s 2018 civil rights report, ﾓTargeted,ﾔ disclosed that federal government agencies instigated more than one-third of anti-Muslim incidents in 2017. Of the nearly 2,599 reports of anti-Muslim incidents CAIR received, 919 involved a government agency ― about 35 percent. The Customs and Border Patrol accounted for 348 of the reports, making up 38 percent of anti-Muslim incidents involving a federal agency, while the FBI accounted for 270 ― 29 percent of the government’s anti-Muslim incidents. The Transportation Security Administration accounted for 72 incidents, or 8 percent of the government’s anti-Muslim incidents; Citizenship and Immigration Services accounted for 5 percent, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement accounted for 4 percent. In 12 percent of the cases, multiple federal government agencies were involved. The overall 2017 figure for anti-Muslim incidents reported to CAIR featuring a government agency represented a sharp increase from previous years. In 2016, these type of incidents accounted for 24 percent of the total reported to the group. The figure was 22 percent in 2015 and 2014. The damning report also revealed that 464 reported incidents were specifically related to the Trump administration’s series of “Muslim ban” executive orders that began last year. They represented 18 percent of the total number of anti-Muslim bias incidents documented in 2017. [Huffington Post]
Trump's 'Muslim ban' stoking hatred against Muslims in America
April 25: Go home to Afghanistan! Terrorist! You don't belong here! These words became tragically familiar to many Muslim Americans after September 11. But while once heard as racial epithets, these days, such sentiments echo official border policy. President Trump launched his “Muslim travel ban” at the dawn of his administration. A series of legal challenges immediately followed, alongside massive, continual nationwide protests. (The case has since wended through various lawsuits and will finally go before the Supreme Court this week.) But while the policy has been challenged as a border-security measure — since most of the eight countries it targets are predominantly Muslim and labeled as terrorist threats — its underlying constitutional conflict attests to a different kind of terror, unleashed by the administration itself. An analysis of bias incidents by the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) suggests that the border ban has had a more immediate effect on our communities: Children face racist taunts from classmates, Muslim business owners face savage public harassment and mosques have been vandalized, among other incidents. The outward expression of deep hatred, advocates warn, has become more brazen and even normalized since Trump took office. The outward expression of deep hatred, advocates warn, has become more brazen and even normalized since Trump took office. The stream of racial animus — from strangers, neighbors, even officials — documented in CAIR's report is unprecedented, encompassing nearly 2,600 anti-Muslim bias attacks in 2017, up about 17 percent in 2016. Trump's inflammatory words parallel the anti-Muslim hate that has now spread across both red and blue states, often defying traditional geographical and left-right divides, from California (870 bias incidents) to Texas (just under 400). Yet the attacks may ultimately hinge on factors that are less linked to an area's party affiliation or demographics than to the racial tensions generated by the daily news cycle. It might be the middle-schooler getting her hijab pulled by a school bully, or vilified by peers on social media; it could be when a Muslim-owned local restaurant's storefront window is smeared with bacon fat overnight in a grotesque prank. Other “random” attacks shade into more systemic oppressions: Being denied a retail job for refusing to remove your headscarf on the shop floor, a landlord refusing to rent a space for a local Quranic school, a family blocked from a flight after booking a ticket with the “wrong” surname. Bigotry facing Muslim-American youth also normalizes de facto school segregation, alienating children from the one institution designed for their protection and social inclusion. The problem even includes bias coming directly from educators: In one case in California, an English teacher used Fox News articles “that demonized American Muslims and spread anti-Muslim conspiracy theories” as class texts for four years before the school finally intervened at a local parent's behest. The family was backed by community advocates from CAIR; countless others lack that kind of legal support, or their kids might be too ashamed even to report their struggles in school. Trump's inflammatory words parallel the anti-Muslim hate that has now spread across both red and blue states, often defying traditional geographical and left-right divides. All these sentiments, of course, predate Trump's ban. But it was his administration that cloaked his order with a shield of normalcy, which, combined with his demagoguery, has ingrained hate into the landscape of our political culture. [NBC News]
Florida Protesters March for the Confederacy, Against Islam
April 28: A “Rally for America” this morning in Munn Park. Florida. at the Confederate monument, attended by about 150 people, was peaceful, with about a half-dozen speakers talking about protecting the gun ownership rights, respecting Confederate monuments, and preventing sharia law from infiltrating the U.S. court system. “We believe that there are forces that want to destroy our constitutional way of life and our republic,” said Andy Strickland, a St. Petersburg attorney who helped to organize Saturday’s event. “Maintaining and respecting our historical monuments and memorials are ways that we believe will allow us to achieve that honorable and noble goal that is preserving America’s history — past and future. ... If they could remove this monument today, they could remove your monument tomorrow.”The Confederate Monument was erected in 1910. Last December, following hours of debate and input from about 50 people, the Lakeland City Commission voted to remove the monument from the center of Munn Park, citing the need for the park to be inclusive of all residents. [Newschief.com]
Marine Corps urged to Drop Islamophobic, Anti-Arab Books From Reading List
Appril 30: The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called on the United States Marine Corps to drop two Islamophobic and anti-Arab books from a recommended reading list on its official website.CAIR asked the Marine Corps to remove any reference to and perceived endorsement of the factually-incorrect and Islamophobic books, "The Truth About Muhammad: The Founder of the World's Most Intolerant Religion," by Robert Spencer, and "The Arab Mind," by Raphael Patai from the Marine Corps University Research Library website's Military Reading Lists page, which links to the "HQMC Civilian Marine Reading Lists." In a letter to Marine Corps Commandant General Robert B. Neller, CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw wrote in part: "Spencer is notorious as a key figure in the 'Islamophobia Industry' in the United States. The Boston Globe has described Spencer as a man who 'depicts Islam as an inherently violent religion.' Spencer has referred to Islam's Prophet Muhammad as a 'con man. Someone who is knowing [sic] that what he is saying is false, but is fooling his followers.' The University of California, Berkeley's Asian American Law Journal's January 2007 review of the book, 'Inspiring Intolerance: The Truth about Robert Spencer - A Review of the Truth about Muhammad: Founder of the World's Most Intolerant Religion' by Deepika Bains and Aziza Ahmed, finds that the book has 'structural and substantive flaws,' 'unfounded assertions about Islam' and 'Islam's treatment of women,' and promotes a 'view of all Muslims as violent.' The review concludes with: 'Ultimately, Robert Spencer's book does little more than contribute to an already abundant discourse of hate speech against Muslim Americans.'” [CAIR]
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