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Chronology of Islam in America (2013)
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
October 2013 - Page Two
Jacob Bender is first Jew to lead chapter of Muslim advocacy group CAIR
Oct 15: Jacob Bender is set to be the voice of Philadelphia-area Muslims, to take on discrimination they encounter in workplace and in the public sphere, and to fight expressions of hate. And his Jewish faith, Bender believes, can only help him do the job effectively. “The Muslim community is under attack from Islamophobic forces, and it is the obligation and responsibility of people of good will to stand up and say this is a bigoted attack,” Bender said. “This is fully in keeping with my life goals.” The Council on American Islamic Relations’ Philadelphia branch announced the appointment of Bender as its executive director October 15. Bender is the first Jew, and the first non-Muslim, to serve as director of a CAIR branch. An activist on Jewish-Muslim interfaith issues who has been involved in the past on the progressive end of Middle East peace advocacy, Bender will face two entirely different sets of expectations in his new position. He will meet a local Muslim community expecting a non-Muslim to represent its needs just as well as would a member of their own faith. He will also face a national Jewish leadership that has all but deemed CAIR off-limits for any dialogue. In a lengthy document published in 2006, the Anti-Defamation League accused CAIR of holding extreme positions on Israel and of having links to individuals and groups that expressed support for terror organizations. Jewish groups have also pointed in the past to the fact that CAIR was initially named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the case of the Holy Land Foundation, an American-based charity charged with raising funds for Hamas. But in 2012 a circuit court ordered that the reference to CAIR be expunged. While no official policy has been adopted, the Jewish community has excluded CAIR from all joint interfaith activities with the Muslim community and has focused on ties with the Islamic Society of North America and with local mosques and imams. CAIR and Bender reject the Jewish organizations’ claims that the group is in any way extreme. “There will always be those who will try to demonize other groups,” Bender said. “As someone who has long supported Palestinian rights and was critical of the policy of occupation, I find no contradiction between my long-stated opinions on the Middle East and those of CAIR.” [CAIR]
Anti-mosque group linked to Va. Beach councilman
Oct 17: A few weeks before last month's vote on the city's first mosque, Councilman Bill DeSteph received a 25-page PowerPoint presentation. It came from the leader of the local chapter of ACT for America, a group concerned about radical Islamists in the United States, and alleged the proposed mosque had ties to Muslim extremists. DeSteph, the only council member to vote against the mosque on Sept. 24, later said he had information that the facility was a threat to national security, but he declined to give details. He said he passed the information to the federal government. That PowerPoint, other correspondence obtained by The Virginian-Pilot through the Freedom of Information Act and interviews show that DeSteph used information from the local ACT leader to help make his decision on the mosque, and that ACT hoped he would be a political voice in Richmond for its agenda. DeSteph, a former naval intelligence officer, is running as a Republican for the 82nd District seat in the House of Delegates.ACT's local leader, Scott Saunders, wrote to the City Council to urge them to oppose the mosque. He suggested it would be tied to the Muslim Brotherhood, a group that seeks to spread Islamic law, sometimes violently, throughout the world. A few weeks before the vote, Saunders gave DeSteph a hard copy of a PowerPoint he'd put together, DeSteph said. The presentation, called "String Theory," is subtitled "You'll be amazed what you find when you start to pull the little strings." [The Virginian-Pilot]
Muslim Americans more popular than the Tea Party
Oct 17: Islamophobia is a strategic distraction stemming from the legislative blunders that the Tea Party movement is facing in Washington. Their positions are out of touch with mainstream Americans and the vast majority of the electorate who are looking for economic recovery and not bankrupting the country. This trajectory has made the Tea Party even less popular than Islam in the view of most Americans. According to the latest Wall Street Journal-NBC poll, the popularity of the Tea Party has hit its lowest since 2010, with a favorability of 21 percent among Americans. No party in American politics has been that unpopular since 1992, and on a scale close to that of the Congress. Such numbers would make the Tea Party even less popular than colonoscopies and root canals (PPP poll). Don’t get me wrong, Muslims’ and Arab Americans’ popularity is not skyrocketing by any means, but they are viewed more favorably than the Tea Party. A Zogby poll in August of 2012 puts favorability of Muslims at 40 percent, almost double that of the Tea Party. A Pew Poll right after the Boston bombing last May reveals that 46 percent of Americans don’t think that Islam encourages violence, while 42 percent think it does. The same poll finds that nearly two-thirds of U.S. Muslims, 63 percent, say there is no inherent contradiction between being devout and living in a modern society such as the U.S., and only 1 percent find that violence against the innocent is justifiable. These numbers should be an eye-opener for Tea Party leaders, whose movement today is more isolated and detached from the American political mainstream than any time before. Spreading falsehoods about Muslims or claiming that Obama is one will not help in cutting the deficit or balancing the budget or reforming healthcare. If anything, the Tea Party should look closer at the record of the Founding fathers that it claims to represent. They would find in Thomas Jefferson’s Quran a true symbol of what America is: An exceptional experiment in pluralism and tolerance. [Joyce Karam - Al-Arabia]
“Diversity in California: A Conversation About Us.”
Oct 17: A representative of the California chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CA) testified at a state assembly hearing entitled “Diversity in California: A Conversation About Us.” The hearing was held today by the Assembly Select Committee on Human Rights, Diversity and Race Relations. Panels drawn from civil rights groups, university researchers and local government provided testimony in order to help lawmakers identify policy remedies for preserving security without compromising civil liberties on the local and national level. CAIR-LA Executive Director Hussam Ayloush testified alongside representatives from several prominent groups, including Brian Nelson, special assistant attorney general to the California Department of Justice, Robin S. Toma, executive director of the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission, Simran Kaur of the Sikh Coalition, and others.“It is essential for our state lawmakers to understand that Islamophobia is not only a threat against American Muslims, but it’s a threat to our American values,” said Ayloush. “Through changing and improving policies, we can bring our nation closer to achieving liberty and justice for all individuals.” Ayloush provided lawmakers with recommendations on how to combat the Islamophobia industry and its efforts to undermine the values in our U.S. constitution. He testified on the increasing normalization of civil rights abuses targeting Americans - and in particular - American Muslims. Ayloush highlighted findings from CAIR’s recent report, “Legislating Fear: Islamophobia and its Impact in the United States,” which comprehensively examines groups promoting anti-Muslim sentiment in our society and the negative impact those groups have on a local and national level. This includes a rise in mosque opposition cases, the passage of anti-Islam bills in six states, a rise in employment discrimination against Muslims and the creation of America’s secret no-fly list, which disproportionately affects American citizens from Muslim-majority countries. [CAIR]
NYC schools could close to observe Muslim holidays
Oct 17: After a new mayor takes office in New York City next year, schoolchildren could very well have an additional two days off in observance of Muslim holidays. Both mayoral candidates, Democrat Bill de Blasio and Republican Joe Lhota, say they support the idea. If such a measure were to come to pass, the New York City school district would be the largest in the United States to grant the days off. De Blasio said during a campaign rally with local Muslims that observing Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan, and Eid al-Adha, a celebration during hajj, would help to recognize the city's large Muslim population and wouldn't take away from the education kids get. "A child who has an exam on a day that right now is one of the Eid holidays, they're either respecting their religious obligation or they're doing what their education requires of them," de Blasio said, according to the New York Daily News. "They can't do both under our current system." About 13 percent of the city's schoolchildren are Muslims, de Blasio added. His Republican rival, former city transit chief Joe Lhota, also said that adding the holidays would be a good idea. Students would come to school on two other days to make up for the holidays, he said. "We have a growing Muslim community in the city of New York and their religion needs to be respected as all other religions are respected," Lhota said Wednesday, according to the Daily News.
Outgoing mayor Michael Bloomberg opposes the idea. He has said that observing the holidays would take away from students' education and open the door to similar requests from other religious and ethnic groups. In 2009, the city council approved a measure that would have added the two holidays to the school calendar, but Bloomberg opposed it. A 2010 New York state measure, which could have forced the city to add the holidays, stalled in the legislature. The city's school district already observes Christian holidays like Good Friday and Christmas, as well as Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year, and Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year for Jewish people. Other school districts across the U.S. already observe Muslim holidays. Dearborn and Dearborn Heights, both in Michigan, allow three days off in observance of the holidays because of the towns' large Muslim populations. Like Rosh Hashana, the holidays happen according to a lunar calendar, so their dates change year to year. School districts in Massachusetts and Vermont also close for at least one Muslim holiday each year. [Al Jazeera]
Man confesses to Missouri mosque and clinic fires
Oct 21: A Missouri man has confessed to twice trying to set a Planned Parenthood Clinic on fire and also admitted to setting a blaze that destroyed a mosque in the same town in 2012, federal prosecutors said in court documents filed today. When Jedediah Stout, 29, was charged with two arson attempts at the Joplin, Missouri, clinic on October 3 and 4, authorities made no mention of his suspected involvement in an August 6, 2012, blaze that gutted the Islamic Society of Joplin mosque. But in a motion filed today seeking Stout's continued detention, federal prosecutors said he also had confessed to the mosque blaze and an earlier fire at the mosque on July 4, 2012, that caused minor roof damage. Muslim community leaders raised more than $400,000 from around the world in less than three weeks to help rebuild the mosque in Joplin, the only Muslim house of worship within a 50-mile radius, according to a website posting at the time. Money is still being raised for the project. Authorities gave no motive for Stout's alleged actions at the mosque or the Planned Parenthood clinic, which does not provide abortion services. [Reuters]
Minnesota school drops anti-Muslim speaker
Oct 24: Following intervention by the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN), a high school in that state has rescinded approval for an event featuring anti-Muslim speaker Usama Dakdok, who claims that American Muslims "will kill your children" and that "we are in war with Islam."In an October 23 letter to the school's principal and the school district's superintendent, CAIR-MN wrote in part: "Although Dakdok has the First Amendment right to free speech, this right is not absolute and has been limited when it is considered to be harassment, intimidating or encouraging violence against a particular group of people." CAIR-MN's letter noted that Dakdok's appearance in an educational facility would violate the district's harassment and violence policy and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin by recipients of federal financial assistance. "By spewing his hate-filled views in a school auditorium, Mr. Dakdok would have created the perception that his bigotry has the endorsement of educational authorities," said CAIR-MN Executive Director Lori Saroya. "We thank school district officials for sending a strong message to all students that religious intolerance is not acceptable." Saroya noted that during a similar event at an Ohio school in 2012, Dakdok called Islam a "wicked cult" and made hate-filled claims. [CAIR]
Protesters call for an end to NSA mass surveillance
Oct 26: A crowd of about 5,000 people, chanting "stop spying, stop lying" and "hey, ho, mass surveillance has got to go," marched through Washington, D.C., Saturday to protest the U.S. National Security Agency's mass surveillance programs unveiled in press reports this year. Protesters, from a seemingly wide range of political beliefs, called on the U.S. Congress and President Barack Obama to end mass data collection and surveillance by the NSA. "The government has granted itself power that it does not have," said former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson, the 2012 Libertarian Party candidate for U.S. president. "We have to stand against this." Hundreds in the crowd held signs or wore stickers thanking Edward Snowden, the former NSA contractor whose leaks to news organizations exposed mass surveillance and data collection programs at the spy agency. Others held signs with the text of the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which protests residents against unreasonable searches and seizures. During the rally, members of the groups Fight for the Future and Restore the Fourth delivered a petition, with more than 575,000 signatures, calling on Congress to investigate NSA surveillance programs, to Representative Justin Amash, a Michigan Republican an outspoken critic of the NSA surveillance programs.The rally, organized by the StopWatching.us coalition, was held on the 12th anniversary of the date former U.S. President George W. Bush signed the controversial Patriot Act into law. The NSA has used portions of the Patriot Act as the foundation for its mass surveillance programs. Protests were also scheduled in a handful of other cities in the U.S. and Germany. [Computer World]
Muslim mom says she was victim of a road-rage hate crime
Oct 30: The Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-FL) is seeking the public's help in identifying a man the Osceola County Sheriff's Office believes committed aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, a third degree felony, by attempting to run a young Muslim mom and her two small daughters off the road multiple times in what appears to be a religiously-motivated hate crime. The victim shared the horrifying incident on her Facebook page, garnering 500+ shares from friends who are deeply disturbed by the account of her ordeal. “Hate crimes such as this horrifying ordeal experienced by a young mother and her children are often the result of rampant Islamophobia generated by anti-Muslim rhetoric,” said CAIR-Florida's Tampa Executive Director Hassan Shibly. Shibly cited the example of an event this Friday sponsored by the Orlando Republican Women's Network and featuring infamous Islamophobia and UCF Professor Jonathan Matusitz. He called on Osceola County REC Chairman Danny Sexton to urge the women's group of his county party to sever ties with Matusitz, and all speakers who bash an entire religion and effectively marginalize millions of Americans. [CAIR]
Oklahoma State Rep. Decries Anti-Muslim Speakers
Oct 30: Oklahoma State Rep. Mike Shelton said today that two speakers scheduled to present at an event sponsored by a legislative caucus on Friday at the state Capitol have spread hate speech toward Muslims in the past and should be condemned by leadership of the House of Representatives. This Friday, the House Counterterrorism Caucus will sponsor a daylong seminar entitled, “Iran, Hezbollah, and the Drug Cartels: Counterterrorism Considerations,” which will be presented by experts at the CLEET-accredited Center for Security Policy. Two of the scheduled speakers, Lt. Gen. (Ret.) William G. “Jerry” Boykin, who serves as Executive Vice President of the Family Research Council. and Frank Gaffney, who serves as President and CEO of Center for Security Policy, have been accused by the Oklahoma Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-OKC) of making racist and derogatory comments about Muslims. In 2003, President Bush rebuked Boykin for public comments he made that were deemed to be anti-Muslim. Shelton wants House leadership to pressure the caucus to rescind invitations to Boykin and Gaffney. “We are all autonomous in our roles as state Representatives, so I cannot control what other members believe or say,” said Shelton, D-Oklahoma City. “But as an African-American, as a minority, it is disappointing to see my colleagues invite speakers to a legislative-sponsored event who have a history of using hate speech and racist comments toward a minority group. By inviting these men to a legislative-sponsored event, we are essentially condoning their words and their agendas, and there is no place for that at the people’s Capitol building.” [okhouse.gov]
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