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Executive Editor: Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Chronology of Islam in America (2018)
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
December 2018
Congress urged to support bill calling attacks on Rohingya Genocide
Dec 7: The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called on all Americans who value religious liberty to contact their members of Congress and urge them to support bipartisan legislation calling the attacks on Rohingya Muslims a genocide and urging the Secretary of State to make the same designation. In August 2017, the Burmese government undertook a military-led ethnic-cleansing campaign of the Rohingya Muslims in the northern state of Rakhine, killing thousands and causing upwards of 700,000 to flee their homes for neighboring Bangladesh. Introduced by Representatives Steve Chabot (R-OH), Eliot Engel (D-NY), and Ed Royce (R-CA), in September, H.Res. 1091 calls the Burmese military’s attacks on the Rohingya genocide as defined in the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and also calls on the Burmese government to release two journalists imprisoned for investigating the attacks. Nine other members of Congress have cosponsored the legislation. “It is time we call these atrocities against the Rohingya what they are: genocide,” said Representative Chabot. “If this determination wasn’t obvious before, the recent report from the State Department on the crimes should leave little doubt in anyone’s mind. The perpetrators must be held accountable.” [CAIR]
Religious leaders protest for migrant rights because 'love knows no borders'
Dec 12: Interfaith leaders have joined forces to protest the militarization of the U.S.-Mexico border this week ― many putting their bodies on the line to support migrants’ right to seek asylum. America’s southern border has been the site of manyfaith-based rallies against President Donald Trump’s immigration policies over the past few months. More than 300 people, including imams, rabbis, nuns, pastors, Quakers, and indigenous faith leaders, marched to a beach near Friendship Park, a federally owned site where separated families have gathered for years to speak through a metal mesh fence that divides San Diego and Tijuana. In recent months, Border Patrol agents have placed more restrictions on access to the park. American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker social justice organization, organized the “Love Knows No Borders” campaign to raise awareness about the militarization of the border. Laura Boyce, a leader with the American Friends Service Committee, said Quakers’ religious beliefs compel them to stand with migrants. Thirty-two people were arrested during the protest, a Border Patrol spokesman told The Associated Press ― most on suspicion of trespassing on what the agency calls an “enforcement zone.” The interfaith group included representatives from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, America’s largest Muslim civil liberties organization, along with Omar Suleiman, a prominent Dallas-area imam and immigration activist. Christian leaders included Bishop Minerva G. Carcaño of the United Methodist Church, the country’s second-largest Protestant denomination, as well as clergy from other mainline denominations and Catholic religious orders, like the Sisters of Mercy. Jewish supporters included The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, a Maryland-based nonprofit that has been recently been targeted by far-right extremists for its efforts to resettle refugees. Hussam Ayloush, executive director of CAIR’s Los Angeles chapter, was one of the first leaders arrested. He told HuffPost that the experience reminded him of a saying from the Prophet Muhammad: “None of you is a true person of faith until you love for your brethren what you love for yourself.” “My faith in God is the most important part of my life,” Ayloush wrote in an email. “And it was my faith, love and passion for dignity, respect of human rights for all people, including our brothers and sisters from Central America seeking asylum and refuge, that led me to protest and get detained in order to help raise awareness about this injustice.” [Huffington Post]
Michigan man says he was kicked off bus for speaking Arabic
Dec 12: A Michigan Muslim man alleges he was kicked off a Greyhound bus last summer for talking on his phone in Arabic, an advocacy group reported today. The Council on American-Islamic Relations Michigan chapter has filed a complaint with the state Department of Civil Rights claiming the company discriminated against Abrahaim Mohamed. The 23-year-old, who bought a ticket June 26 to travel from Detroit to Akron, Ohio, to visit relatives, was barred from returning to his seat after a brief stop in Toledo, CAIR-MI staff attorney Amy Doukoure said. The driver told Mohamed “he was not allowed to re-enter because she had heard him speaking Arabic on his cell phone,” according to the complaint. Though Mohamed bought another ticket for a later bus and had a voucher, he still faced “substantial embarrassment, inconvenience and delay,” the attorney said. "Companies like Greyhound that provide a service open to the public have a duty to ensure that all of their customers are safe from racism and anti-Muslim bigotry at the hands of their employees,” Doukoure said. "American Muslims should feel free to go about their day-to-day lives without having to worry that they will be discriminated against simply for speaking to their loved ones in a language other than English." Last week, the Michigan chapter announced a complaint filed with the state Civil Rights Department on behalf of a Muslim woman who claimed she was ejected from an Ann Arbor cell phone store after a customer verbally attacked her because of her faith. “Muslims are being excluded from public accommodation when they’re just trying to go about their daily lives,” Doukoure said. [The Detroit News]
Canadian Anti-Islam militia changes leadership, starts new training program
Dec 14: The leadership of III% Canada is changing, and the new commander wants to nationalize training and bring the group to a level of organization experts say is “unheard of” in Canada. The anti-Islamic militia Three Percent (or III%), which formed in Canada almost three years ago, has new leadership and is looking to significantly increase their para-military style training. Two weeks ago, a BC man named Kazimir (Kazz) Nowlin took over the reins of the far-right group from Robert (Beau) Welling, the only real leader the Canadian iteration of the group has known. The first order of business for the log driver from British Columbia: putting out a nationwide order for his followers to buy airsoft rifles—realistic weapons, which have been used by law enforcement for training, that use air to fire small BBs. “All active III% members are required to buy one airsoft rifle and one airsoft sidearm for training purposes, this is a national order from the top and is being implemented countrywide to standardize training among our ranks,” read the order posted in the organization’s private Facebook group. The reason for this directive, he explained in a further post, is so they can ramp up and nationalize their military-esque training; with airsoft they can “legally and safely” train “team fire, CQB [close quarters combat], or any other simulated cover and conceal training.” This was something they just couldn’t do beforehand as, even the threepers realized, shooting live firearms at each other under the guise of training is typically not the best idea.
The Canadian III%—which has been described as a “wholesale lift” of an American militia by experts —was created on Facebook in 2016 following Justin Trudeau’s election win. The group adopted the ethos and way of being of the American III%, who took their name from the popular American myth that three percent of the population fought the War of Independence. Much like in the States — where they gained popularity during Barack Obama’s presidency—the Canadian three pers, stoked by conspiracies and far-right media, quickly gained a following among those who consider Trudeau’s government tyrannical. They now have provincial chapters with a biker-esque hierarchical organization structure that counts hundreds of members across the country, and regularly hold meetups and attend rallies (typically as security). At one point they were staking out mosques, and are now attempting to hold standardized pseudo-military training. [VICE.COM]
South Portland elects first Muslim African-American woman to be City Councilor
Dec 14: The city of South Portland has elected Deqa Dhalac yesterday to be the first Muslim African-American woman city councilor in the city’s history. Dhalac who is a U.S. citizen with Somalian roots, is a social worker with two masters degree and mother of three children. Dhalac won the elections against her opponent Donald Cook with more than two-thirds of the vote. “My campaign was all about love,” she said. “Everybody was excited to see a different person, different representation, different faces in the city council. A lot of people were like, ‘It’s time.'” [Global Daily News]
Muslim Unity Conference - Bringing Sunnis & Shias together
Dec 15: A Muslim Unity Conference was held today at Saba Center, San Jose to bring Sunnis and Shias together by launching intra-faith dialogue. The conference was sponsored by of the Intra-Faith Committee of Northern California Islamic Council (NCIC). The daylong conference was addressed by Sunni and Shia ulemas as well as Islamic scholars including: Imam Nabi Raza Abidi, Imam Hadi Yassin, Imam Alauddin Bakri, Dr. Hatim Bazian, Dr. Ejaz Naqvi, Dr. Nazeer Ahmed, Parvez Ahmed and Mahjabeen Dhala. Syed Hossein Nasr addressed the conference via Skype. After a series of short speeches by religious scholars, there was a panel discussion with Q&A from the audience. [AMP Report]
CAIR files motion to enjoin Texas anti-BDS act as unconstitutional
Dec 21: The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today announced the filing of a Motion for a Preliminary Injunction in Bahia Amawi’s First Amendment case against Texas. The preliminary injunction seeks to declare H.B. 89, Texas’s Anti-BDS Act, facially unconstitutional under the First Amendment. Striking down the law would remove the “No Boycott of Israel” clause from all state contracts and enable Bahia Amawi to resume her speech language pathologist work helping children in the Pflugerville Independent School District. “As an advocate for Palestinian human rights and justice, I cannot certify that I do not boycott Israel, will not boycott Israel, or will not take action intended to inflict economic harm on Israel,” wrote Amawi in a sworn declaration to the court. “I refused to sign the addendum because I do not understand why my political protest against Israeli oppression has anything to do with my work as a speech language pathologist for a Texas school district.” [CAIR]
Maryland teens covered school in Nazi & KKK graffiti to target black principal
Dec 28: Two 19-year-olds pleaded guilty to hate crime charges today for spray-painting racist and homophobic slurs across their high school in Howard County, Maryland, The Baltimore Sun reported. The incident in question, which took place in May, involved Joshua Shaffer and Seth Taylor, as well as two others, Tyler Curtiss and Matthew Lipp—who have yet to face trial. Curtiss and Lipp were set to face trial in January and February, respectively. In 2018, there were a number of incidents that involved racist graffiti. For example, in November, vandals spray-painted swastikas and an anti-Semitic slur on the walls outside the office of a Jewish professor at Columbia Teachers College in New York City. Elizabeth Midlarsky—a professor of psychology and education whose teaching focuses on the Holocaust, altruism and religion—said she found the symbols and the derogatory term “Yid” in the entryway of her office, the Columbia Daily Spectator reported at the time. And in August, a New York fire station was vandalized with swastikas, while a nearby ambulance was tagged with the phrase “Rapist Nazis Pedophiles.” In March, a building of historic importance to the African-American community in Nantucket, Massachusetts, was defaced with the words “N***** leave!” on the door. The African Meeting House—which is now a museum—was constructed in 1827 by black Americans on the island, serving as a meeting house, school and church. [Newsweek]
Two-year-old, whose Yemeni mother was initially denied a visa under Trump's travel ban, dies in California hospital
Dec 28: A terminally ill 2-year-old boy, whose Yemeni mother had to sue the State Department to get a visa to join him in a California hospital, died tonight of a rare brain condition, the Council on American-Islamic Relations announced. The Hassan family, including Abdullah's mother, Shaima Swileh, had been living in Cairo, where the couple moved following the outbreak of war in Yemen in 2016. They had been unable to move to California because Shaima, a Yemeni national, was turned down for a visa under the Trump administration's 2017 travel ban. The ban, which underwent revisions following objections by federal courts, bars visas from five Muslim-majority countries: Iran, Somalia, Syria, Libya and Yemen, as well as citizens from North Korea and Venezuelan government employees and their families. After Abdullah was diagnosed with a degenerative brain condition, Ali decided to take his son for treatment to California in October. But, without a visa, Shaima Swileh was forced to stay behind. As the couple appealed for visa waivers, doctors in California put Abdullah on life support. At one point, he was considering pulling his son off life support to end his suffering when a hospital social worker put him in touch with CAIR, which sued the State Department on Dec. 16. Shaima got her waiver the next day, arriving at her son's side on Dec. 19. [USA Today]
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