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Chronology of Islam in America (2010)
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
April 2010
Oregon Governor signs repeal on teachers' religious dress
April 1: With supporters of religious freedom looking on, Gov. Ted Kulongoski signed a bill this morning that will end Oregon's ban on teachers wearing head scarves and other religious attire. The ban won't lift until after the 2010-11 school year. The rationale for the delay is to give leaders of the state's labor and education agencies plenty of time to write detailed regulations for carrying out the new law. The governor, who declined to comment on the issue while it was before lawmakers in February, called changing the law "The right thing to do." Some lawmakers in both parties opposed the bill on the grounds that schoolchildren might feel oppressed or proselytized by their teacher's religious head-covering or other similar attire. Kulongoski forcefully disagreed. "Repeal is consistent with Oregon tradition that honors individual beliefs, values diversity, and promotes tolerance," he wrote in an official letter that accompanied his signature on the bill. (The Oregonian)
Mandatory screening of travelers from 13 Muslim countries:
U.S. changing way air travelers are screened
April 1: The Obama administration is abandoning its policy of using nationality alone to determine which U.S.-bound international air travelers should be subject to additional screening and will instead select passengers based on possible matches to intelligence information, including physical descriptions or a particular travel pattern, senior officials said today. After the attempted bombing of an Amsterdam-to-Detroit flight on Christmas Day, U.S. officials decided that passengers from or traveling through 14 specified countries would be subjected to secondary searches. Critics have since called the measures discriminatory and overly burdensome, and the administration has faced pressure to refine its approach. Under the new system, screeners will stop passengers for additional security if they match certain pieces of known intelligence. The system will be "much more intel-based," a senior administration official said, "as opposed to blunt force." Immediately the Christmas Day incident, the administration ordered a significant increase in secondary searches, requiring all passengers from or traveling through Afghanistan, Algeria, Lebanon, Liberia, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen to undergo extra security at the airport. Travelers from countries considered state sponsors of terrorism -- Cuba, Syria, Iran and Sudan -- were subjected to the same screening, including pat-downs and additional bag checks. Critics objected that the added scrutiny amounted to a pretext for racial profiling that could potentially affect 675 million people, including American Muslims and religious pilgrims. (Washington Post)
ACLU program will protect Muslims in FBI questioning
April 1: The American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri is launching the Muslim Rights Project, which ACLU officials say may be its first nationwide, to provide volunteer attorneys for Muslims questioned by law enforcement officers. The project, an extension of the ACLU's 5-year-old Muslim Rights Task Force, will provide volunteer attorneys for Muslims questioned by law enforcement officers. Other organizations, such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, have founded similar programs. Over the last nine months, (ACLU) task force representatives have visited half the area's dozen or so mosques to tell Muslims about the program. Since Sept. 12, 2001, Muslim Americans have been under the watchful eye of U.S. law enforcement — most notably, the FBI, whose focus shifted in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks from tracking domestic criminals to preventing terrorist attacks. About two-thirds of the estimated 2.5 million Muslim Americans were born abroad, according to a 2007 by the Pew Research Center, and they travel frequently to their native countries. Such comings and goings have given FBI agents plenty of fodder for inquiry. In that same survey, 53 percent said it was more difficult to be a Muslim since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Most also believed the U.S. government "singles out" Muslims for increased surveillance and monitoring. Since Sept. 11, news reports throughout the country have detailed cases of Muslims being targeted for interviews or placed on watch lists. The FBI has been criticized for infiltrating mosques and asking Muslims to spy on friends and family members. "Talking to people in the Muslim community, you get the sense that this is a group under siege," said Brenda Jones, executive director of the ACLU of Eastern Missouri. Critics of the FBI say its approach with Muslims in the United States has been manipulative. They say agents take advantage of immigrants who don't know they are not obliged to speak with the FBI, or that they should have a lawyer present if they do agree to an interview. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
A plea for indigenous Imams
April 1: Although the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and the coming of age of a generation of American-born Muslims have triggered a call for spiritual leaders rooted in U.S. culture, most American mosques are led by imams from overseas who aren't fluent in English. They speak Arabic and have memorized the Koran -- the sole requirements of imams in most Muslim-majority countries. They know how to lead prayers but don't necessarily have the professional credentials or communication skills to become community leaders: to speak to the media about Islam, advocate for Muslim civil liberties, preside at interfaith events and create youth programs, such as Boy Scout troops or speed-dating nights, that many Muslim American parents want for their children. "I think that finally there is a realization [in the United States] that qualified imams do not just appear; they have to be developed," said Ingrid Mattson, president of the Islamic Society of North America. To Adeel Zeb, the 28-year-old volunteer chaplain at American University, the need for American-trained spiritual leaders is desperate. He and his wife (Nohayia Javed-Zeb, a 23-year-old law student) rattle off a list of issues on which younger Muslim Americans have asked their advice: men who wonder whether they're gay, women debating whether to wear a head covering, others questioning whether it's better to go hungry than eat meat that's not halal (prepared according to Muslim standards). "I'm not trying to insult them," Zeb says of the imams from other countries, "but they can't speak the language. Kids get turned off from asking questions. They go on the Internet to try and find answers, and that's not appropriate." "It's paramount -- that's not even a good enough word -- to have indigenous imams here who can understand the plight and problems of Muslim Americans," he said. But there are no accredited imam-training programs in the United States nor standardized requirements for education, pay or benefits. Most imams don't make much -- $40,000 a year would be a generous salary, a number of Muslim leaders said -- and often don't command the same stature in their communities as Christian and Jewish clergy. (Washington Post)
Montreal mosque threatened with bomb hoax
April 1: Montreal police are trying to determine whether a fake bomb left in front of a city mosque was an April Fool's prank or an intimidating warning to the Muslim community. The fake bomb was left at the building sometime last night, and first noticed by a man who went to the mosque to pray. Police evacuated dozens of nearby residents in the middle of the night before they determined the bomb was a hoax. The perceived threat comes as the province grapples with its reasonable accommodation policies after a Muslim woman was recently kicked out of her Quebecois culture classes for refusing to take off her niqab. The provincial government has tabled a law saying women wearing niqabs would be denied government services and public-sector jobs. (Toronto Sun)
San Francisco police chief applauded during apology to Muslim community
April 2: San Francisco police Chief George Gascon was greeted with applause this afternoon by hundreds of members of the local Muslim community after offering a public apology for statements he made last week on terrorism. "I am very sorry that I offended you," Gascon told the audience — many of whom were from the local Yemeni, Afghan and Pakistani communities — following their afternoon prayer service, held in a downtown hotel conference hall in order to accommodate the crowd. "That was never my intent," he said. Gascon ignited a furor among some in the community over remarks he made at a breakfast meeting last week in San Francisco, in which he reportedly singled out the Yemeni and Afghan communities in reference to the possibility of terrorist acts in San Francisco. About a dozen groups then wrote Gascon, calling his statements "inflammatory" and "insulting." They cited the possibility of an increase in hate crimes against local Muslims and those of Middle Eastern background. Gascon later said he had referred to both international and domestic terrorism, but issued a statement of apology and this week met with leaders from various Muslim and Middle Eastern communities. (Mercury News)
More U.S. Muslims facing problems in return from abroad, groups say
April 2: Muslim advocacy groups say an increasing number of Muslim and Arab U.S. citizens and permanent residents who travel abroad are facing new complications in returning to the United States because of heightened security. An attempted Christmas day bombing on a Detroit-bound airplane caused soul-searching in government agencies after it became clear that the alleged would-be bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, was not on a watch list. Since then, the no-fly list has swelled from 3,400 people to about 6,000, with thousands more on the list for travelers who warrant extra screening. The lists are not made public, and most people don't know they are on one until they arrive at the airport. In one case, an American says he has been barred from returning to the United States without explanation. Raymond Earl Knaeble IV said that when he presented his U.S. passport at the airport in Bogota, Colombia, for a flight to Miami last month, "They came back and told me, 'You can't fly with any airlines to the USA.' " Knaeble, 29, a California-born military contractor scheduled to start a job in Texas that week, said the airline sent him to the U.S. Embassy to straighten things out. There, he said, an FBI agent questioned him about his recent conversion to Islam and a trip to Yemen, where he had spent three months studying Arabic. "He said, 'I can't give you back your passport,' " Knaeble said. That was almost three weeks ago, and Knaeble says no one has told him why. Khalilah Sabra, director of the immigrant justice program at the Falls Church-based Muslim American Society, said that since Christmas the organization has seen a 50 percent increase in reports of extensive questioning and delays of Arabs and Muslims, to about 16 cases a month. "Getting out [of the U.S.] is okay. No one says anything, but when they try to come back they are not allowed in, or they are being questioned," she said. (Washington Post)
Republicans urged to repudiate hate group using Quran as toilet paper
April 5: CAIR today called on American Muslims and other people of conscience to urge Republican leaders to insist that Rep. Sue Myrick (R-NC) withdraw her support for an anti-Islam hate group after one of its Florida representatives was exposed bragging in a YouTube video that he desecrated the Quran and urinates in the washing stations Muslims use to perform their ritual ablutions (wudu) for prayer. The 10-minute YouTube video shows ACT! for America Orlando Coordinator Alan Kornman and another man stating in part: "Their foot baths, I love pissing in them...The Quran makes worthless toilet paper. It just kind of scratches my a** a little bit...To me, I like desecrating their [Muslims'] holy stuff." In a march 9 open letter, Rep. Myrick wrote that she plans to speak at ACT! for America's June conference in Washington, D.C., and urged support for the group. Myrick wrote in part: "Knowing ACT! for America as I do, and its leadership team beginning with Brigitte Gabriel and Guy Rodgers, I have no doubt that this conference will be a first-class event that you won't want to miss." Following the publication of that letter, CAIR called on Rep. Myrick to withdraw her support for the hate group. ACT! for America leader Brigitte Gabriel claims an American Muslim "cannot be a loyal citizen" and that Islam is the "real enemy." She once told the Australian Jewish News: "Every practicing Muslim is a radical Muslim." She also claimed that "Islamo-fascism is a politically-correct word...it's the vehicle for Islam...Islam is the problem." Of Gabriel, the New York Times wrote: "She has made it her mission – one might say her crusade – to warn that radical Muslims, a term she defines as all practicing Muslims, are bent on taking over the West...Gabriel believes that Muslims cannot serve loyally in the U.S. military, that interfaith dialogue is 'nonsense,' and that the difference between the Arab world and Israel is 'barbarism versus civilization.' The Muslim world will not be satisfied until all infidels are converted or eliminated, she has said." (CAIR)
CAIR-Minnesota works with schools to address racism
April 5: The St. Cloud Area School District says it's working hard to address some students' complaints of racial harassment. A Muslim civil rights group has asked the U.S. Department of Education to investigate racial and discriminatory incidents at high schools in both St. Cloud and Owatonna. Some Somali students at St. Cloud's two public high schools say administrators haven't responded effectively to their complaints, a charge the district denies. When MPR News interviewed a handful of Somali students at Apollo and Technical high schools in St. Cloud last month, they talked about hurtful comments they've received from white students. The Office for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Education has received 140 complaints involving race and/or national origin harassment since October 2006: 77 involved elementary/secondary education, 58 involved post secondary education, and five involved other types of institutions.
The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education last month that lists more severe allegations of harassment by students, some teachers, and even a bus driver. For nearly a year CAIR has been working closely with the school district to address racial, religious, and cultural tensions at the St. Cloud are high schools. CAIR's Zahra Aljabri says she and her colleagues have reported these problems to principals, vice principals, and the superintendent, but the problems continue. "This is larger than we can handle and we need someone who has more experience and more knowledge on these issues to deal with this," Aljabri said. "None of the people on CAIR are educators or teachers or anything like that, so we don't feel best equipped to give more than we already have." CAIR has documented a serried of face-to-face meetings and email exchanges with several school administrators dating back to June of last year and the organization has conducted mediation sessions and diversity trainings for district staff. Superintendent Steve Jordahl acknowledges that his district was aware of some student-to-student harassment and the incident involving a bus driver. Jordahl says the district took disciplinary action, although he wouldn't share details. He said he doesn't think the civil rights group alerted administrators to any harassment of students by teachers. (Minnesota Public Radio)
American Family Affairs calls for deportation of all immigrant Muslims
April 8: The most compassionate thing we can do for Americans is to bring a halt to the immigration of Muslims into the U.S., says Bryan Fischer, Director of Issues Analysis of the American Family Association. “This will protect our national security and preserve our national identity, culture, ideals and values. Muslims, by custom and religion, are simply unwilling to integrate into cultures with Western values and it is folly to pretend otherwise,” he said adding: In fact, they remain dedicated to subjecting all of America to sharia law and are working ceaselessly until that day of Islamic imposition comes. Fischer went on to say that the most compassionate thing we can do for Muslims who have already immigrated here is to help repatriate them back to Muslim countries, where they can live in a culture which shares their values, a place where they can once again be at home, surrounded by people who cherish their deeply held ideals. Why force them to chafe against the freedom, liberty and civil rights we cherish in the West? In other words, simple Judeo-Christian compassion dictates a restriction and repatriation policy with regard to Muslim immigration into the U.S., he argued. ”It's often been observed that those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it. We are watching a dismal historical experiment in uncontrolled Islamic immigration unfold before our very eyes in Europe, and watching European culture disintegrate before our very eyes. Let's learn - and apply - the lessons from Europe. If we do not, it may soon be too late to save what is left of American culture,” Fischer concluded. (AMP Report)
Former Miami Beach Cop Sues Department Over Racial Slurs
April 8: Former Miami Beach Police Officer Feras Ahmad is suing the department after he said he endured nearly two weeks of racial slurs as a new cop on the job. Amad said he dreamed of working for the Miami Beach Police force and rising up the ranks. He thought his dream had come true in August of 2007 when he was hired as a part-time officer. But he said his tenure on the job was a rude awakening. "I tried to be a team player and brush it off," said Ahmad. "I took it as an offense. But I didn't want to cause any waves. I just thought this is my dream. This is what I wanted. This is where I wanted to be. I didn't want to cause any waves. I didn't want to be the outcast." According to Ahmad's EEOC complaint, his supervisor called him derogatory terms referring to his Arab-American heritage, such as rag head, camel jockey and some words that can't be printed here. Ahmad said he suffered in silence until he was fired. After just nine days on the job, he said Miami Beach Police relieved him of duty pending an investigation. That is when he filed a complaint with the EEOC and the agency gave him the right to sue. Just days later, Ahmad said he was fired. (CBS4)
British soldiers using models of mosques for target practice
April 8: The British military has been using models of mosques as targets in shooting practice, a UK newspaper reported today. According to a report in the Daily Mail, "seven replica mosques were erected" at Catterick Garrison, a major British Army base in North Yorkshire, "to prepare soldiers for combat in Afghanistan." Some of the mosques have single domes and others have double domes, and appear to be targets for six firing ranges around 100 meters away, in full view of the main road. The chairman of the local Bradford Council for Mosques (BCM) accused the British military of using the mosques as a "symbol of danger." "We came to know about the structures because a passerby saw them from the road and felt that they resembled mosques," Ishtiaq Ahmed of the BMC told the Daily Mail. The Bradford Council for Mosques has called on the British military to "remove the structures without delay and apologize to the Muslim community." (AlterNet)
No easy fix to Florida schools' Good Friday dilemma
April 9: It started with a simple request in 2004. Muslims asked Hillsborough County school board members to consider giving students off for two of their most important holy days, Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha. The request didn't seem unreasonable, given that the school district's calendar already included days off for Christian and Jewish holidays. To be fair and avoid potential lawsuits, board members directed a committee of school leaders, teachers, parents and others to study the idea. Its recommendation: Eliminate all school holidays built around religious celebrations. That was the beginning of a contentious debate that saw Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly criticizing school district leaders on national television and school board members receiving death threats. Six years later, the debate is still heated, as the school board weighs whether to keep schools open on Good Friday. Low attendance among students and employees on Good Friday is driving the possible switch, but such a move could mean scrapping the whole secular calendar. The local chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations supports recognizing religious holidays in the school calendar. "If Good Friday can be recognized as a holiday – that can be great for the Christians,'' said Ramzy Kilic, the civil rights director for CAIR and a member of the school district's calendar committee. "We would rather keep a calendar that recognizes significant religious holidays. We don't want to see anyone have to sacrifice their beliefs.'' But with more than 35,000 Muslims in the Tampa Bay area, Kilic holds out hope that someday the school district will consider similar days off for other religious holidays – a hope shared by Jonathan Ellis, president of the Tampa Jewish Federation. (The Tampa Tribune)
Chicago rejects Shia school, Muslim group sues
April 11: An Islamic group has sued the officials of the DuPage County for rejecting its proposal to build a school for Shia Muslim families near Naperville. According to Ahlul Bayt News Agency (ABNA.ir), the Council on American-Islamic Relations' Chicago office filed the federal lawsuit on behalf of the Irshad Learning Center (ILC). The suit seeks no damages but demands compensation for not being able to use the 2.91-acre site on 75th Street between Wehrli Road and Naper Boulevard. The DuPage County board and zoning officials rejected the construction of the ILC citing neighbors’ opposition and its alleged ties to a foundation suspected of aiding Iran’s nuclear weapons program. (Ahlul Bayt News Agency)
DOJ urged to close profiling loopholes
April 20: A petition aimed at closing U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) loopholes that allow for profiling based on religion and national origin was delivered to DOJ today. The petition was circulated by the Rights Working Group, a coalition of civil liberties, human rights and civil rights, national security, and immigrant rights organizations working to protect civil liberties and human rights for all people in the United States. The petition said: “Racial profiling is wrong. It is ineffective, humiliating and degrading to the people who experience it, and a violation of constitutional and human rights. When the Bush administration issued guidance on racial profiling in 2003, it left large loopholes that undermined the purpose of the guidance.” The Department of Justice was urged to strengthen the 2003 guidance on racial profiling by ensuring it:
- Covers profiling based on religion and national origin;
- Eliminates the loopholes that allow profiling at borders and for "national security." While non-citizens do not have the same rights as citizens at the border, many Americans have been subjected to invasive secondary searches and detentions at borders and ports of entry because of their religion or national origin—in the name of national security;
- Applies to all federal law enforcement activity, including surveillance, enforcement actions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and inspections by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA);
- Is enforceable; and
- Applies to every state or local law enforcement agency working in cooperation with federal agencies or receiving federal money.
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