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Executive Editor: Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Chronology of Islam in America (2018)
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
April 2018
Racist Vandalism targeting campaign poster in Newark, New Jersey condemned
April 2: The New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NJ), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today condemned the racist vandalism of a campaign poster for Newark At-Large Councilman Luis Quintana. The poster, which hangs about a block away from the Councilman’s office, was defaced with a Nazi swastika painted over a picture of the councilman’s face. Newark Police are investigating the defaced campaign banner as a bias crime and released photos of a suspect wearing a hooded sweatshirt. The bias-motivated crime was apparently committed on Thursday. "The hate symbolized by this act of vandalism has no place in New Jersey and cannot be tolerated,” said James Sues, executive director of CAIR-NJ. “This painful reminder of the extreme divisiveness that characterizes the current political climate at the national level should prompt us to remain vigilant in investigating and prosecuting hate crimes as they occur.” [CAIR]
Diverse groups file amicus briefs asking supreme court to strike down Trump's 'Muslim Ban'
April 3: Hundreds of businesses, national security officials, local, state, and federal elected officials of both parties, civil rights leaders, and organizations representing impacted communities announced the filing of several dozen amicus (friend of the court) briefs opposing the latest iteration of President Trump's Muslim ban. The briefs, which represent large swaths of Americans, provide a stark contrast to the few briefs filed in support of Trump's ban. The briefs provide a variety of practical and legal arguments explaining why the Muslim Ban is unlawful and poor public policy. "The breadth of groups and individuals filing amicus briefs against the Trump administration's Muslim Ban is yet another indication that the public understood this illegal effort to be an attempt to demonize Islam and stigmatize Muslims," said CAIR Senior Litigation Attorney Gadeir Abbas. "Hundreds of families are being torn apart. A three-year-old child has been separated from his parents and forced to live in the care of extended family thousands of miles away," said Ibraham Qatabi, a co-founder of the Yemeni American Justice Initiative at the Center for Constitutional Rights. "A father has had to choose between keeping his job in the U.S. or joining his stranded wife and children in Djibouti. Some families have to choose between returning to a war-torn Yemen or being stranded indefinitely in a third country. This is a great injustice." These briefs provide the court with perspectives that may not be presented during oral argument in Hawaii v. Trump. Last December, the National Immigration Law Center and other civil rights groups successfully challenged the constitutionality of the Muslim ban before the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. These groups, along with many others, shed light on the human toll the Muslim ban has already taken on families around the globe. "The Muslim Ban affects all Somalis by stopping family unification, delaying the arrival of those who have already been vetted, creating fear and uncertainty, threatening humanitarian workers travel plans, and most recently, denying the entry of the former president of Somalia," said Jaylani Hussein, the executive director of CAIR-Minnesota and an immigrant from Somalia. Hawaii v. Trump challenges the latest iteration of President Trump's Muslim ban, which seeks to indefinitely ban most nationals from six Muslim-majority countries from coming to the United States. This version of the ban has been in full effect since December 4, 2017."We've seen the devastating impact on countless families of U.S. citizens, green card holders, students, and those with urgent medical needs since the Muslim Ban has been in effect," said Elica Vafaie, an Iranian-American staff attorney with Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Asian Law Caucus. "Although the government has said that a waiver for these families is possible, in reality the government is achieving its goal of banning Muslims. We need the court to restore dignity and stop this unlawful ban." [CAIR]
ADC Condemns Racist Depiction of Arabs in New Film "Beirut"
April 3: The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), the nation’s largest Arab-American civil rights organizations, is deeply offended by the racist and simplistic portrayal of Arabs, and misrepresentation of regional politics, in the upcoming film Beirut. The film is filled with the stereotypical anti-Arab sentiment which Hollywood has been notorious for freely spreading and with complete disregard for those impacted by such negative imagery. Beyond political misrepresentation, the film has been criticized for dehumanizing Arabs who nearly always appear as enemies, religious extremists, and terrorists. Film critics Daniel Schindel called Beirut “xenophobic” and a "jaw-droppingly reductive ‘summation’” of the Lebanese Civil War. He stated, "If ever you needed a reminder as to how much Hollywood still really, really hates Muslims, look no further than the opening of Beirut." Beirut features an American diplomat returning to Lebanon in 1982 to rescue an American held hostage by the fictitious “Militia of Islamic Liberation.” “Two thousand years of revenge, vendetta, murder . . . Welcome to Beirut,” the lead character says about the ancient city, reducing it to unbroken bloodletting. The film reserves its main roles for an entirely White ensemble, which promulgates the “White Savior” myth. In fact, the film is set in 1982, the year the U.S. provided arms and diplomatic backing for Israel's brutal invasion of Lebanon. Since its founding, ADC has continually challenged anti-Arab depictions in Hollywood. The late media scholar, and ADC Member and supporter, Dr. Jack Shaheen had documented negative portrayals of Arabs in nearly 900 Hollywood films. Arabs, like all people, can be depicted as villains onscreen, but singling out one ethnic group for repeated dehumanization is outright prejudice. Moreover, Hollywood has been inexcusably indifferent to its defamatory images of Arabs, depictions which rebound adversely on Arab-Americans. Many films and television series are making strides to be more inclusive and thoughtful portray marginalized people. Sadly, Beirut is an offensive film greatly out of touch with the times. It is anachronistic in its reduction of the Middle East to mayhem, violence, and war. ADC calls on the motion picture industry to do better and rise to the new demands of American culture and produce diverse films that convey the full humanity of all people. #BoycottBeirutMovie [ADC]
FEC and IRS urged to probes of anti-muslim ads backed by Trump Supporter
April 4: The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called for Federal Election Commission (FEC) and IRS investigations of virulently anti-Muslim advertisements that used Facebook and Google to target voters in swing states prior just before the 2016 election. Robert Mercer, a top supporter of President Trump, reportedly spent $2 million to help fund the group behind Islamophobic video ad, titled "Welcome to the Islamic States of America," which featured the "Hollywood" sign replaced with the Islamic phrase "Allahu Akbar" (God is Great) and the Statue of Liberty wearing a burka. In the video, St. Paul's Chapel in Manhattan is shown with an Islamic star and crescent and Sports Illustrated magazine becomes "Sharia Law Illustrated." Mercer was a top donor - giving some $2 million -- for Secure America Now, the shadowy group that produced the ads. The group told the IRS it only spent $124,192 on political activities, while reporting more than $1 million in political spending to the FEC in 2016. [CAIR]
Austria seeks hijab ban for primary school students
April 4: The Austrian government's intent to ban the hijab is the latest in a series of measures targeting Muslims. The Austrian government has announced that it will seek to ban the hijab for girls in kindergarten and primary school in the latest measure targeting Muslims in the country. Education Minister Heinz Fassmann said on Wednesday that the draft law on the hijab - a headscarf worn by many Muslim women who feel it is part of their religion - would be ready by summer, describing the measure as "symbolic". The announcement came just days after Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache, a member of the far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPO), proposed such a ban to "protect" girls under the age of 10 and allow them to "integrate" into Austrian society. The announcement is one in a string of moves critics say single out and target Muslims, including refugees and migrants, in Austria. In December 2017, the FPO and the right-wing Austrian People's Party (OVP) reached an agreement to form a coalition. It marked the second time since 2000 that the FPO became a junior partner in a governing coalition. In January, the OVP-FPO coalition introduced a political program that mentioned Islam some 21 times, prompting criticism of an undue focus on the comparably low number of Muslims living in the country. That same month, Austria's interior minister, Herbert Kickl of the FPO, said the government should "concentrate" refugees and migrants in one place, sparking widespread criticism in a country where a concentration camp was hosted during the Second World War. Of the country's 8.75 million people, an estimated 700,000 people identify as Muslims. [Aljazeera]
FEC and IRS probes urged of Anti-Muslim ads backed by Trump supporter
April 5: The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called for Federal Election Commission (FEC) and IRS investigations of virulently anti-Muslim advertisements that used Facebook and Google to target voters in swing states prior just before the 2016 election. Robert Mercer, a top supporter of President Trump, reportedly spent $2 million to help fund the group behind Islamophobic video ad, titled "Welcome to the Islamic States of America," which featured the "Hollywood" sign replaced with the Islamic phrase "Allahu Akbar" (God is Great) and the Statue of Liberty wearing a burka. In the video, St. Paul's Chapel in Manhattan is shown with an Islamic star and crescent and Sports Illustrated magazine becomes "Sharia Law Illustrated." Mercer was a top donor - giving some $2 million -- for Secure America Now, the shadowy group that produced the ads. The group told the IRS it only spent $124,192 on political activities, while reporting more than $1 million in political spending to the FEC in 2016. [CAIR]
Best Buy founder denounces anti-Islam ads
April 6: The founder of Best Buy has directed his investment firm to cut off any further donations to a conservative nonprofit group that distributed inflammatory anti-Muslim videos on social media.Olympus Ventures said in a statement that Richard Schulze was unaware the organization, Secure America Now, had distributed the ads when the firm made a 2016 contribution to the group. Olympus Ventures, which manages Schulze’s investments, says he has strongly condemned the group’s ads. The Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan research group, first reported that Olympus Ventures and former Best Buy CEO Brad Anderson each contributed $25,000 to Secure America Now in 2016. Anderson tells Minnesota Public Radio, where he’s a board member, that he didn’t know about the videos before contributing to Secure America Now and wouldn’t have donated if he had known. The Minnesota chapter of the Council of American-Islamic Relations has called on Anderson to step down from the boards of Minnesota Public Radio and General Mills. [Minnesota CBS]
ADC Alarmed by Social Media Requests for Visa Applications
April 6: The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) is alarmed by the U.S. State Department’s decision to collect social media information on the nearly 15 million people who apply yearly to enter the U.S. on non-immigration visas. Applicants will have to submit their social media usernames for the past five years on over 20 platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. Beyond social media, applicants will also have to turn over past email addresses, phone numbers, and passport numbers. Moreover, they will need to report their past international travel. Lastly, they will need to disclose whether any relatives have been involved in terrorism. These overly broad demands raise deep concerns about how the State Department will process visa applications. The Trump administration’s past practices of arbitrary discrimination against visa applicants, including Yemeni Diversity Visa winners, and the use of discretionary power to strip Arab-Americans of Global Entry passes, places a high burden on the State Department to uphold transparency and impartiality. The State Department needs to make it absolutely clear that criticism of American policy – such as the Iraq war or military aid to Israel – will not be used to reject applications. Moreover, the Department needs to clarify how it will assess “terrorism.” Authoritarian governments, and military occupiers such as Israel, opportunistically label non-violent activism “terrorism” in order to malign opponents and secure rubber-stamp convictions from disreputable courts. The State Department cannot take at face value the self-serving propaganda of illiberal governments. [ADC]
Trump's National Security and State Department picks alarm American Muslims
April 6: President Trump as a candidate once called for a ban on Muslim immigrants and declared that "Islam hates us." Now, he has alarmed American Muslims again with his choice of a new national security adviser and a new secretary of state, even as he has strengthened ties with Muslim allies in the Middle East. John Bolton, heading to the White House on April 9, has long denounced "radical Islam" and suggested that the shadowy movement known as the Muslim Brotherhood be designated a foreign terrorist organization. He serves as chairman of the Gatestone Institute, a conservative think tank whose website regularly highlights negative stories about Muslim immigrants. CIA Director Mike Pompeo, Trump's pick to lead the State Department, has meanwhile portrayed the fight against terrorism as an epic holy war. "The threat to America is from people who deeply believe that Islam is the way and the light and the only answer," he told a church group in his hometown of Wichita in 2014. "They abhor Christians and will continue to press against us," he said, "until we make sure that we pray and stand and fight and make sure we know that Jesus Christ as our savior is truly the only solution for our world." Such statements have outraged some Muslim civil rights advocates. "By appointing these highly controversial individuals, the Trump administration is normalizing anti-Muslim sentiment," says Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). "Trump is sending a green light for average people to mistreat Muslims." [North Country Public Radio.Org]
Hijab-clad Muslim woman stabbed in Texas by 2 white males
April 7: A 31-year-old Hijab-wearing nurse in the US was stabbed in a roadside attack by a man reportedly motivated by anti-Muslim hate, police said. A reward of $5,000 has been announced for information leading to the arrest of the attacker. The victim, who is white and wears a Hijab, said that she was driving home early Thursday morning from her job as a nurse when her car was almost sideswiped by a red vehicle in northwest Harris county, according to the Houston chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. She got out of her vehicle to check for damage when the car made a U-turn and pulled up behind her, it said. The driver got out of the vehicle and began screaming obscenities and racial and religious slurs at the woman. She tried to get back into her vehicle through the passenger side, but the door was locked, the organization said. The attacker then waved a knife in her face, hitting her with the knife handle on her shoulder and arms. Eventually, he stabbed the woman in the arm, severing an artery and staining himself with blood in the process, it said. A passenger in the vehicle got out and attempted to restrain the attacker, eventually getting him to climb back in the car and leave the scene, CAIR said. The woman returned to the hospital where she worked and was treated for her stab wounds. The two men are described as white males between 20 and 35 years old. The Harris county sheriffs office is investigating the case. [India Today]
Department Of Homeland Security compiling database of journalists and 'media influencers'
April 7: Every day, journalists face serious consequences including physical violence, imprisonment and death. A few days ago, the Committee to Protect Journalists launched its annual Free The Press campaign to raise awareness about imprisoned journalists throughout the world. On May 3, UNESCO will once again mark World Press Freedom Day "to inform citizens of violations of press freedom — a reminder that in dozens of countries around the world, publications are censored, fined, suspended and closed down, while journalists, editors and publishers are harassed, attacked, detained and even murdered." Meanwhile, the United States government, traditionally one of the bastions of press freedom, is about to compile a list of professional journalists and "top media influencers," which would seem to include bloggers and podcasters, and monitor what they're putting out to the public. As part of its "media monitoring," the DHS seeks to track more than 290,000 global news sources as well as social media in over 100 languages, including Arabic, Chinese and Russian, for instant translation into English. The successful contracting company will have "24/7 access to a password protected, media influencer database, including journalists, editors, correspondents, social media influencers, bloggers etc." in order to "identify any and all media coverage related to the Department of Homeland Security or a particular event." "Any and all media coverage," as you might imagine, is quite broad and includes "online, print, broadcast, cable, radio, trade and industry publications, local sources, national/international outlets, traditional news sources, and social media." [Information Clearing House]
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