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Executive Editor: Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Chronology of Islam in America (2018)
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
August 2018
CAIR files broad challenge to watchlisting system
August 8: The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today filed a broad constitutional challenge to the federal government’s watchlisting system, including the TSA’s recently revealed Quiet Skies program. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland on behalf of 20 individuals targeted by the watchlisting system. The lawsuit’s plaintiffs are all innocent American Muslims—people who have not been charged, arrested or convicted of a violent crime—from Washington DC, Florida, Michigan, Virginia, Washington State, Indiana, Kansas and New Jersey. The lawsuit alleges that the watchlisting system imposes "a kind of second-class citizenship." "Without charges, without arrests, without even an investigation sometimes—the agency defendants act in concert to deprive thousands of innocent Americans, mostly Muslim, of their right to be free from a government that extrajudicially designates them as worthy of permanent suspicion,” the lawsuit explains. Media reports have revealed a secret watchlisting system program called Quiet Skies that dramatically increases the number of persons targeted. Quiet Skies punishes those who—through family, community or the workplace—have relationships with individuals the federal government has designated as a “known or suspected terrorist.” The program imposes indiscriminate surveillance upon a designee’s family members, friends, co-workers and travel companions at airports and on airplanes. Individuals targeting by the watchlisting system can be, through various programs, denied the ability to travel by air, subject to invasive and stigmatizing searches and interrogations, detained for hours at border crossings, have their electronics seized, be deprived of the right to purchase a firearm, and have their bank accounts closed—in addition to other innumerable consequences that flow from the government’s secretive watchlists. [CAIR]
CAIR-CA Civil Rights Report shows increase in anti-Muslim bias incidents
August 8: The California Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CA) today announced the release of its annual civil rights report which reveals an 82 percent increase in reported incidents of religious-based discrimination, anti-Muslim bias incidents, and immigration matters to all four CAIR offices throughout the state from the previous year. The report, titled CAIR-California's "Civil Rights Report 2018," summarizes and analyzes all civil rights and immigration matters reported to CAIR-California's offices in the San Francisco Bay Area, (CAIR-SFBA), San Diego (CAIR-SD), the Greater Los Angeles Area (CAIR-LA), and the Sacramento Valley (CAIR-SV) in 2017. According to the report, CAIR-CA staff received a total of 2,259 incident reports in 2017. Key highlights of CAIR-California's report include a 503 percent increase in reported discriminatory treatment during travel from 2016 to 2017, driven primarily by the intentional discrimination encapsulated by the Muslim Ban. The number of immigration matters handled also increased significantly by 113 percent from 2016. In 2017, CAIR-CA received the most incident reports in the following categories: immigration (44.9%), travel matters (17.1%), hate incidents or hate crime (8.7%), law enforcement interactions (8.3%), and employment discrimination (6.2%). [CAIR]
L.A. Mayor’s Declines CVE Funds
August 17: The Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA) today welcomed the decision by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s office to turn down a $425,000 Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) federal grant. The CVE program began in 2015 under the Obama administration with pilot programs in Boston, Minneapolis and Los Angeles, and was met with criticism by civil rights advocates for its dangerous and ill-advised focus on American Muslim adults, children and youths. The Trump administration doubled down on this focus, both through rhetoric and action, by trying to rename the program to “Countering Radical Islamic Extremism.” Under the Trump administration, CVE grants almost exclusively focus on American Muslim adults, children and youths, with most grants having been awarded to local law enforcement agencies, or groups who commit to coordinating with law enforcement. “We are relieved that the City of Los Angeles – one of America’s most diverse and progressive cities – will not partner with the Trump administration on an Islamaphobic program that unfairly targets American Muslims,” said CAIR-LA Executive Director Hussam Ayloush. For nearly two years, CAIR-LA and its civil rights allies - American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Los Angeles, MPower Change and Vigilant Love, among others - fought to keep CVE out of Los Angeles, meeting with city officials and educating the public on the importance of saying “No to CVE.” [CAIR]
Santa Clara County declares August as the Muslim Awareness and Appreciation Month
August 30: The Board of Supervisors of the County of Santa Clara, California today issued a proclamation saying that Muslims have been part of U.S. history from the beginning, have contributed to the production of wealth and construction of the nation, and have served in our Armed Forces and they are also part of the rich history of the civil rights movement. The proclamation went on to say Muslim Americans within California and throughout the nation strive to promote peace and understanding between all faiths, identities, and nationalities and extend to them the respect and camaraderie every American deserves. Recognizing the Muslim Americans’ contribution the Board of Supervisors of the County of Santa Clara declared the month of August as the Muslim Awareness and Appreciation Month. [AMP Report]
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