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Executive Editor: Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Chronology of Islam in America (2018)
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
January 2018 - page three
Donald Trump apologizes for his anti-Muslim retweets
Jan 26: United States President Donald Trump has apologized for re-tweeting three anti-Muslim videos, which were originally posted by the deputy leader of one of the United Kingdom's most far-right groups. Trump had re-tweeted the tweets of Britain First's Jayda Fransen in November. Speaking to the U.K. broadcaster ITV at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Trump said, "If you are telling me they're horrible people, horrible, racist people, I would certainly apologise if you'd like me to do that". "I am often the least racist person that anybody is going to meet. Certainly, I wasn't endorsing anybody", he added. The U.S. President drew widespread condemnation, including from the British Prime Minister's office for the re-tweets. "Britain First seeks to divide communities in their use of hateful narratives which peddle lies and stoke tensions", the statement from 10 Downing Street said at the time. Britain First, which styles itself as a political party but has been condemned by campaigners as a far-right extremist group, calls on supporters to join the "British resistance" and "secure a future for British children" and has become known for paramilitary-style "invasions" targeting mosques, reported the Independent. The first video claimed to show "Muslim migrants beating up a Dutch boy on crutches". A second re-post was captioned, "Muslim destroys the statue of Virgin Mary", while a third read, "Islamist mob pushes teenage boy off the roof and beats him to death". Fransen delightedly reacted online, touting that the videos had been shared with Trump's nearly 44 million followers. According to reports, Fransen was found guilty of religiously aggravated harassment in November 2016 after abusing a Muslim woman wearing a hijab. Fransen was fined by the court and ordered to pay costs. Separately, Fransen was also charged for using "threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour" during a speech she made in Belfast in Northern Ireland. [India Today]
ADC strongly condemns New Orleans City Council for rescinding human rights resolution
Jan 26: The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), the nation’s largest Arab-American civil rights organization, today strongly condemned the New Orleans City Council for rescinding Resolution 18-5, which upheld New Orleans’ commitment to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Despite what detractors had claimed, the resolution neither mandates any political program nor is it concerned with foreign affairs. It is simply a non-binding expression of New Orleans’ support for human rights in the city. New Orleans is home to many refugee communities who escaped war and persecution and it is important that the city affirms its commitment to human rights. ADC is deeply alarmed by the anti-Arab tone adopted by Res. 18-5’s opponents. Tellingly, opponents had raised no objection to the resolution’s language but appeared to be more concerned with the identity of the proponents of Res. 18-5. Such objection to Res. 18-5 suggested that opponents believe that certain groups should be denied a voice in the city council. The Resolution was supported by more than 20 community organizations and endorsed by several human rights groups, including Amnesty International and Dream Defenders. But NOLA officials buckled under the smear campaign of pro-Israel groups, which portrayed Res. 18-5 as an anti-Israel resolution, which is to say opponents unwittingly recognize a commitment to human rights conflicts with support for Israel. Moreover, pro-Israel groups appeared to be alarmed by the political mobilization of Arab Americans. This effort to marginalize and deny a voice to Arabs is nothing short of outright prejudice. Res. 18-5 was placed on the public docket and its passage was led by several organizations in a transparent manner. But, apparently, all that’s for naught when the wrong type of people stand up for human rights. It is remarkable that a simple non-binding resolution expressing the UN’s founding principle of human rights could be attacked as controversial and repealed. And it is a sad reflection of the reactionary politics of pro-Israel organizations and how far they will go to shut down any discussion of human rights for fear that it might include awareness about Israel’s human rights violations. At a time when diverse groups are rising to build a more inclusive American, pro-Israel groups have aligned themselves against this coalition. It is even more regrettable that the New Orleans City Council would accede to their anachronistic vision. History will record the New Orleans City Council on the wrong side of justice and, eventually, on the losing side, too. ADC strongly objects to this exclusionary and discriminatory repeal and the political tactics that accompanied it. We call on the New Orleans City Council to affirm support for human rights. [ADC]
Over 90 faith leaders pledge to dismantle Anti-Muslim bigotry
Jan 28: Over 90 Christian, Jewish, and Muslim clergy have made commitments to promote religious freedom for all Americans as the beginning of a national movement. One year after President Trump signed Executive Order 13769 (commonly called the Muslim Ban), faith leaders from across the country spent three days together to strategize on how to best counter anti-Muslim bigotry and promote religious freedom for all Americans. Methodist, Baptist, Muslim, Jewish, Lutheran, Episcopal, Catholic, Mormon, Evangelical, Presbyterian, and other faith leaders came together across their diverse religious traditions to promote a culture that treats all Americans with the same dignity, fairness, and respect. The gathering at the Muslim Association of Puget Sound (MAPS) began in Washington State on January 28th, the one-year anniversary of the nationwide protests at airports in response to the Muslim Ban, and ended January 30th, the one-year anniversary of Acting Attorney General Sally Yates refusing to defend the Muslim Ban and being dismissed by President Trump. More than 90 faith leaders signed the “Faith Over Fear” pledge. Part of the pledge said: “We pledge to and call upon our fellow citizens to treat our Muslim neighbors with fairness, dignity, and respect, and to uphold, through word and deed, a commitment to the American ideals of pluralism and religious freedom and against any religious ban. We will advocate for legislation, media portrayals, and political speech that promotes these basic American values and commitments for American Muslims. Organizers of the event included Reverend Terry Kyllo from Neighbors in Faith, MAPS-AMEN executive director Aneelah Afzali, Shoulder-to-Shoulder executive director Catherine Orsborn, and CAIR civil rights director Jasmin Samy. [International Examiner]
An immigrant's life as a bargaining chip in US politics
Jan 28: On the one-year anniversary of his presidency, Donald Trump tweeted, "If there is no Wall, there is no DACA," pitting his longtime promise to build a fence along the southern US border against the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy, introduced by former President Barack Obama in 2012. For Trump, his base, and a cohort of Republican leaders in states where xenophobia is resonant and the Latinx population is yet to emerge as a political force, opposition to DACA is a cornerstone of the broader view that scapegoats immigrants for everything, from bad economic circumstances to national security. Last week, DACA, and the more than 800,000 young immigrants enrolled in the program, were the subjects of a congressional face-off that placed the fate of the program, and the futures of the enlisted (and eligible) "dreamers", in the balance. On the Senate floor, the lives of hundreds of thousands of students and workers, sons and daughters, were reduced to a political bargaining chip. The "dreamers", the modern archetypes of that mythological "American dream" so central to American identity, were framed more as an inconvenient political issue than a mosaic of lives that contributed immensely to society. Shortly after announcing his presidential campaign run in 2015, Donald Trump announced his plan to build a "great, great wall" along the Mexican-American border. The wall, which many pundits dismissed as mere rhetorical bluster, was the most vivid manifestation of a campaign that positioned xenophobia, and specifically anti-Latinx xenophobia, as a cornerstone of the Trump campaign. The wall gave rise to raucous support at Trump's infamous campaign rallies, and, on election day, registered prominently in the minds of voters. Immigrants, and specifically brown-skinned, Spanish-speaking newcomers from the south, were caricatured as "criminals, drug dealers and rapists" - vile stereotypes that percolated within the conservative grassroots but were now uttered from the unfiltered lips of the eventual president. Trump's wall, notwithstanding its extravagant price and "moronic" impracticality, satiated xenophobes' hate. However, the wall was not merely a campaign talking point. It was a promise that Trump's base demanded him to fulfill after he became president, and he sought to deliver. Just like with the "Muslim ban", President Trump moved to make this campaign proposal a political reality early on in his presidency. This was evident, again, during last week's Senate budget hearings, and the fallout during the government shutdown they prompted, when President Trump - and his Senate backers - maintained that no protection or pathway to citizenship for the "dreamers" would be extended without upward of $20bn to build the wall. A political deal will likely contain no provision protecting the parents of the "dreamers", and it will enable the construction of a colossal and colossally costly border fence. [Khaled A Beydoun – Al azeera]
Hundreds of Floridians in Tallahassee Join Florida Muslim Capitol Day
Jan 30: Hundreds of Floridians in Tallahassee to Join Florida Muslim Capitol Day. Florida Muslim Capitol Day is a unique two-day, non-partisan event where Muslims across the state of Florida advocate for policies that protect their values, their neighbors, and the community in its entirety. With Islamophobia up by 500% in the state of Florida, Muslim Americans stand by the values of the U.S. Constitution which ensure equal representation for all individuals living in the United States regardless of income, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, or immigration status. The event sponsors included the Council on American-Islamic Relations Florida (CAIR-Florida), Florida Immigrant Coalition, ICNA Relief, Muslim Women's Organization, Knowledge for Living, American Muslim Democratic Caucus, Hearken Media Group, UCF Muslim Student Organization, Florida Rights Restoration Committee, Helping Hands, and several other community partners."Florida Muslim Capitol Day's participants together with their legislators represent the monumental strides in working together for the best interest of our State. Muslim Americans are advocating for legislation that protects and serves the immigrant and marginalized communities of Florida and shields their community from islamophobic attacks. Efforts include the Florida TRUST Act, legislation affecting the restoration of civil rights, and criminal justice reform. As Floridians, we oppose any unconstitutional legislation that suppresses our freedom of speech and the right to protest. Florida Muslims are speaking up", said Rasha Mubarak, CAIR-Florida Orlando Regional Director. [CAIR]
Anti-immigrant groups decry Trump’s "amnesty" plan
Jan 31: As President Trump’s immigration plan was formally announced last week and reiterated during his State of the Union speech last night, anti-immigrant groups, notably the “Big Three” Beltway groups, Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) and NumbersUSA have decried, in unison, the plan as an “amnesty,” but the nativist measures in it are initiatives these groups have pushed for decades. These three organizations are the brainchild of white nationalist John Tanton, t he founder of the established anti-immigrant movement we see in the United States today. Tanton’s views are abhorrent; consider this missive from 1993: “I've come to the point of view that for European-American society and culture to persist requires a European-American majority, and a clear one at that." But Tanton was also a visionary, not only setting up and funding these organizations, but also laying out a nativist vision for immigration policies that can be found in the recently-announced White House immigration agenda. Trump and the anti-immigrant groups want an abolishment of the diversity lottery and an end to what they call “chain migration” the process of reuniting families in the United States. While FAIR, CIS and NumbersUSA have vocally called for an end to both policies for well over a decade, Tanton himself has been railing about ending “chain migration” dating back to the early 1980s just as he was launching the burgeoning movement. [SPLCenter]
CAIR Condemns Trump's Order to Keep Gitmo Open
Jan 31: The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today condemned President Donald Trump's announcement last night during the State of the Union address that he signed an executive order to keep the U.S. military prison at Guantánamo Bay open, revoking the Obama administration's 2009 order to close the facility. Trump's order creates the possibility sending new prisoners to the detention camp. The order states: "The United States may transport additional detainees to US Naval Station Guantanamo Bay when lawful and necessary to protect the Nation." In a statement, CAIR Director of Government Affairs Department Robert S. McCaw said: "We condemn President Trump's order to keep the illegal, exclusively Muslim-populated military prison in Guantánamo Bay open. Reports of abuse and a lack of due process at Guantánamo have tarnished our nation's image in the international community and diminished our moral authority to prosecute suspected terrorists in U.S. custody. By returning to this deeply-discredited military detention strategy, President Trump is playing politics with our nation's security. Guantánamo's severely mismanaged military tribunals have yet to convict a single defendant, at a time when our civilian courts routinely try terrorism cases. Guantánamo subverts the criminal justice system by not giving the 41 men detained there due process and their day in court. Those determined to be innocent should be released and sent back to their families. The accused should be given a fair trial, consistent with our nation's constitutional values. Only the guilty should be sentenced, providing closure to their victims. Moreover, our government should not prolong the of imprisonment of detainees already cleared for release."
CAIR advocates for the immediate release or for the civilian trial of all remaining detainees at Guantánamo and seeks the closure of the prison. CAIR cautions against the closure the prison being accomplished by creating a comparable facility with the same inadequate judicial processes inside the U.S. In 2009, President Obama signed an executive order to close the prison within in one year, stating this action would "restore the standards of due process and the core constitutional values that have made this country great even during times of war." On January 11, CAIR co-hosted a rally in front of the White House with human rights activists, torture survivors, Guantánamo detainee attorneys, 9-11 family members, ex-military officials, and members of diverse faith communities to mark the 16th year anniversary of the opening of Guantanamo Bay prison camp and to stop torture. [CAIR]
Free Speech Victory:
Federal Court Strikes Down a Law that Punishes Supporters of Israel Boycott
Jan 31: A federal judge today ruled that a Kansas law designed to punish people who boycott Israel is an unconstitutional denial of free speech. The ruling is a significant victory for free speech rights because the global campaign to criminalize, or otherwise legally outlaw, the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement has been spreading rapidly in numerous political and academic centers in the U.S. This judicial decision definitively declares those efforts — when they manifest in the U.S. — to be a direct infringement of basic First Amendment rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. The invalidated law, enacted last year by the Kansas legislature, requires all state contractors — as a prerequisite to receiving any paid work from the state — “to certify that they are not engaged in a boycott of Israel.” The month before the law was implemented, Esther Koontz, a Mennonite who works as a curriculum teacher for the Kansas public school system, decided that she would boycott goods made in Israel, motivated in part by a film she had seen detailing the abuse of Palestinians by the occupying Israeli government, and in part by the national Mennonite Church. The resolution acknowledged “the cry for justice of Palestinians, especially those living under oppressive military occupation for fifty years”; vowed to “oppose military occupation and seek a just peace in Israel and Palestine”; and urged “individuals and congregations to avoid the purchase of products associated with acts of violence or policies of military occupation, including items produced in [Israeli] settlements.” [By Glenn Greenwald – The Intercept]
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