www.amperspective.com Online Magazine
Executive Editor: Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Chronology of Islam in America (2015)
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
October 2015 page two
Probe urged in threats to Tennessee school board member over teaching about Islam
Oct 21: The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called on the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate death threats made to a Tennessee school board member over a demand by Islamophobes to stop teaching students about Islamic culture. White County Board of Education Roy Whited told a local media outlet that he received the death threats resulting from a controversy about a textbook used by many schools in sixth and seventh grade social studies classes. Some parents claim that teaching students anything positive about Islam amounts to "indoctrination." At a town hall meeting in Sparta, Tenn., last night, a group opposed to students learning about Islam circulated a petition calling for Whited and the entire school board to resign. Whited, who is former teacher and a full-time minister, said, "We found absolutely nothing wrong with that material [about Islam]." Whited also told WSMV-TV about the threats he received: "You know, just watch out for your family, be careful, because when your house burns down, and such things like that." "Educating American students about the history and culture of almost one fourth of the world's population should not result in death threats," said CAIR National Civil Rights Litigation Director Jenifer Wicks. "We urge the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate these threats and to take appropriate action." CAIR recently called on Tennesseans of all faiths and backgrounds to contact their elected representatives in the state legislature and Governor Bill Haslam to oppose an anti-Islam bill that would prohibit schools from teaching "religious doctrine" until high school. [CAIR]
CAIR-MI, Advance America announce settlement in suit over hijab
Oct 22: The Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI) and Advance America Cash Advance Centers, nc.I today announced that they had reached a settlement in CAIR-MI's federal lawsuit against Advance America. The lawsuit challenged a company security policy that required the temporary removal of any head covering for entry to Advance America centers; the nationwide policy enabled employees to identify customers before they entered a center. The lawsuit was filed after an Advance America employee asked a Muslim woman to temporarily remove her hijab in order to access an Advance America location to cash a money order. The agreement, the specific details of which remain confidential, includes a commitment by the company to modify its policy to allow a customer to enter an Advance America center without removing religious head covering, provided that the customer's face is visible for identification. [CAIR]
Maryland County Commissioner's anti-Islam remarks denounced
Oct 23: Representatives of the ACLU of Maryland, the Jewish Voice for Peace, Council on American-Islamic Relations and Interfaith Action for Human Rights held a press conference in Westminster to protest an editorial written by Carroll County Commissioner Richard Rothschild. Rothschild said in the opinion piece, which defends Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson's statement that a follower of Islam should not be president, that because the country was founded on Judeo-Christian values, there are fundamental differences in these faiths that would make it irreconcilable for a president to "obey Islam and take an oath to God to defend the Constitution." That president "will either be violating his oath to Islam, or committing perjury when he swears to uphold the Constitution," Rothschild wrote. Rothschild said in the opinion piece, which appeared Monday in the Carroll County Times, that because the country was founded on Judeo-Christian values, there are fundamental differences in these faiths that would make it irreconcilable for a president to "obey Islam and take an oath to God to defend the Constitution." That president "will either be violating his oath to Islam, or committing perjury when he swears to uphold the Constitution," Rothschild wrote. "It's absolutely appalling the message he is sending to the public — not only his constituency, but those that live in the state and throughout the country," said Zainab Chaudry, Maryland outreach manager for CAIR. "It's not only unconstitutional but un-American and goes against the values the nation is founded on." Chaudry questioned his sources, as she believes his column contains several inaccuracies, she said. "I would be curious to know what he's basing this logic on," Chaudry said. "If you're going off of [Islamic] extremists and radicals who do this to advance their own personal ideologies and agendas, you are letting them speak for the vast majority of Muslims … who categorically reject what is proposed by those who use that to conduct terrorist acts." At least one commissioner felt such a broad and debated topic as the plausibility of a Muslim holding office should not be the concern of a local elected official. Commissioner Dennis Frazier, R-District 3, said Rothschild should concern himself more with issues facing the county than writing controversial columns regarding issues that reach outside of Carroll. "You can't make blanket statements about religions and the Constitution, and pit one against the other," Frazier said. If Rothschild's reasoning — that religious tenants can be construed as incompatible with upholding the Constitution — is taken to the extreme, Frazier said, the argument could be made that Christians should not serve in the military due to the Sixth Commandment, "Thou shall not kill." "But you can do both things; you can be a Christian and defend your country," Frazier said. "So why can't you be a Muslim and be a president? There is separation of church and state in this country for a reason." [AMP Report]
Minnesota Muslim leaders decry rejection of cemetery
Oct 29: Muslim community leaders have urged the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate allegations of religious discrimination after Dakota County's Castle Rock Township rejected a proposal for a Muslim cemetery. In August last year, the Castle Rock Township board rejected an application from the land owner for the proposed cemetery. The board expressed concerns of potential loss of a "lot of tax base" and that the property "would not be open to the public for burials," according to minutes from the board's meeting on Aug. 11, 2014. Al Maghfirah Cemetery Association later purchased the property and sent another application to the board. The local chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN) said the board rejected a review the application. "A cemetery, at the time of the applications, was a permitted use in the zoning area in question and the Castle Rock Planning Commission had recommended that the board approve the conditional use permit with certain conditions," CAIR-MN said in a statement. "The cemetery association met all of the conditions set by the planning commission."Al Maghfirah Cemetery Association has since filed a lawsuit in Dakota County District Court. "It is truly a sad day when Minnesota Muslims are denied their final resting place simply because of their faith," Jaylani Hussein, executive director of CAIR-MN, said in the statement. Castle Rock Township declined to comment on the issue because of the ongoing legal action.After it rejected the conditional use permit for the cemetery, the townships' planning commission in December amended the zoning ordinance "pertaining to Conditional Uses, to make sure they are consistent with guidance under the Township's Comprehensive Plan and the intended uses for each of these zoning districts," according to the commission's public h earing minutes in December. Castle Rock Township's alleged denial of land use for Muslims comes about a year after the St. Anthony, Minn., City Council reversed its decision to deny a permit for a mosque in the basement of an office center. The U.S. Department of Justice sued the city of St. Anthony in August last year after the city council initially rejected a proposal for an Islamic center in 2012. The lawsuit was closed after the city, local Muslim leaders and the U.S. attorney's office reached a settlement agreement. [MPR News]
Donald Trump says he would be open to closing US mosques to fight ISIS
Oct 22: Donald J. Trump angered Hispanics when he referred to immigrants as criminals and rapists during the kickoff of his campaign in June. This week, he has put American Muslims on edge by suggesting that he would be open to shutting down mosques as president. Asked on Fox Business Network if the United States should take action to close certain mosques as part of the fight against the Islamic State, as has happened in Britain, Mr. Trump said, “I would do that, absolutely.” Mr. Trump then said that he was not sure about the legality of closing mosques, but that it was certainly something that should be looked at. “It depends if the mosque is, you know, loaded for bear,” he said. Mr. Trump drew criticism from Muslim groups last month when he did not rebut a supporter who said: “We have a problem in this country. It’s called Muslims.” Muslims have taken offense to remarks from Mr. Trump and Ben Carson, one of his leading rivals for the nomination, who said he did not think a follower of Islam should be president. [New York Times]
Philadelphia American Muslims lobby state lawmakers about anti-Muslim bias
Oct 22: Highlighting a national increase in anti-Muslim bias, triggered in part by the rhetoric of some Republican presidential candidates, about 50 amateur lobbyists affiliated with the Philadelphia chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations converged at the state capitol to pitch lawmakers on a range of social issues. Armed with a talking-points memo and posters emblazoned with "I am a proud American Muslim" and "Islamophobia = Racism," the members of the advocacy group fanned out for office visits with legislators and their staffs. Some of the men wore beards and knitted skullcaps. Some of the women wore hijabs. They spoke about anti-Arab bigotry, the Syrian refugee crisis, the movement to have two major Muslim fast days recognized as school holidays in Philadelphia, three state Senate bills that would affect the price of in-state college tuition, eligibility for driver's licenses, and employment opportunities for authorized and undocumented immigrants. Schreiber turned serious when he noted that candid discussions with American Muslims exercising their democratic rights need to be part of any dialogue about a better society. Jacob Bender, the first Jewish director of a CAIR affiliate, said the event, which was billed as "Muslim Capitol Day," was designed to bring together a diverse coalition that included a rabbi, an imam, an ordained minister, civil rights organization leaders, and lawmakers to proclaim, "We will no longer allow the Muslim community and Islam to be stereotyped, marginalized, and vilified." Rabiya Khan, an activist from York, cited two instances of recent Republican candidate rhetoric that she said fanned the flames of bias: Donald Trump's failure to correct the record when a person at a town-hall meeting prefaced a pejorative question about President Obama with the false statement that Obama is a Muslim; and Ben Carson's statement that he personally could not support a Muslim for president. Addressing the whole group at the end of the day, Rep. Jordan Harris, a Democrat, whose South and Southwest Philadelphia district has a large and growing Muslim population, said: "The reality is this: Christian, Muslim, Jew, and Gentile, we all want the same thing. We want safe streets. We want schools that educate our children. . . . There is no place in this commonwealth for hatred of any kind. . . . We must call out racism every chance we get. If any of us are silent when we hear the jokes, when we see the legislation, we are all guilty. . . . Dr. King once said, 'Our day begins to end when we begin to become silent on the things that matter.' " [Philly.com]
Walmart Discontinues racist Halloween costume sales
Oct 27: The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) today welcomed the decision by Walmart to pull the “Israeli Soldier Kids Costume” and “Sheik Fagin Nose” from their store shelves and website. Earlier today ADC, joined by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN), called on Walmart, Amazon, eBay and Sears Marketplace to remove the offensive and racist costumes. ADC President Samer Khalaf explained, “The costumes are very problematic, and offensive to many people. The Israeli forces are responsible for the continued death and occupation of the Palestinian people. Such a symbol of fear, violence and a long history of dispossession should not be used for entertainment purposes.” About the “Arab” costumes, Khalaf explained, “Selling merchandise which mocks Arabs, or any other race or ethnicity, must not be tolerated. These images do nothing but perpetuate racist tropes that have long been used to demonize, otherize and alienate Arab communities throughout history.” [ADC]
NYPD undercover "converted" to Islam to spy on Brooklyn college students
Oct 29: On the leafy Midwood campus of Brooklyn College, a lecture at the school’s Islamic Society had just ended when a woman stood up and asked to take the Shahada, the Muslim testimony of faith. Nobody knew the woman with light skin and dark hair, who appeared to be in her twenties. In a voice that lilted up at the end of each sentence, she began professing her new beliefs. “Melike Ser” or “Mel,” was not a student and had no apparent connections to the school, but the students embraced her anyway, excited about her conversion. This past April, four years after Mel’s public act of faith, two Queens residents, Noelle Velentzas and Asia Siddiqui, were arrested and charged with allegedly planning to build a bomb. The US Justice Department issued a release stating that the women were linked to members of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and the Islamic State, and revealed that a Detective from the NYPD’s Intelligence Bureau was heavily involved in bringing the women to justice. Among the ISO members, some of whom ran in the same social circles as Velentzas and Siddiqui, the arrests set off a chain of frantic text messages, phone calls, and Facebook posts: “Mel” wasn’t “Mel.” She was an undercover cop.
Three Brooklyn College graduates who had been close to the undercover officer told Gothamist of the intimate ties she developed with Muslim students, her presence during some of the most private moments of their lives, and the fear they endured when they learned her true identity. While little is known about the case against Velentzas and Siddiqui, including how and why the NYPD came to involve an undercover officer in the alleged plot, it appears that Mel made an aggressive effort to befriend and surveil law-abiding Muslims years before she ever met her alleged targets, and did so at least up until December of 2014, eight months after the de Blasio administration pledged to stop the NYPD’s blanket surveillance of innocent Muslims. “Muslim New Yorkers are still fighting for basic human rights,” the Mayor said at a Ramadan dinner at Gracie Mansion in July of last year. “We recently shut down the Demographics Unit at NYPD, which conducted surveillance on Muslim New Yorkers. Because it’s unfair to single out people on the sole basis of their religion.” Two individuals with close knowledge of Velentzas and Siddiqui’s case confirmed that Mel is the undercover officer identified in the criminal complaint. Ramzi Kassem is a professor at CUNY School of Law and also directs the school’s Creating Law Enforcement Accountability & Responsibility (CLEAR) project, which provides legal advice to New Yorkers affected by counterterrorism practices. “For an undercover to be seeded in a community for that long without a specific target raises some deeply troubling questions about the direction of policing in our city,” he said. “Casting blanket suspicion on entire communities does not square with most New Yorkers’ understanding of the police’s role in our democratic and open society.” [Gothamist]
More than half of California Muslim students targeted by faith-based bullying
Oct 30: The California chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CA) today released a new report documenting bias-based bullying of American Muslim students in California's schools. The report, "Mislabeled: The Impact of Bullying and Discrimination on California Muslim Students," states that 55% of Muslim students have been subject to at least one form of religion-based bullying. This is twice as high as the national average of students reporting being bullied at school. The findings are based on a statewide survey of over 600 Muslim students, ages 11 to 18. They were asked questions about how comfortable they felt at their schools and portraying their Muslim identity in that environment, as well as their experiences with bullying and teacher discrimination. The report found that more male students reported experiencing bullying than female students; however, the percentage of females who reported experiencing discrimination by a teacher or administrator was slightly higher. Additionally, of the female respondents who wear a hijab, the Islamic headscarf, 29% reported being offensively touched by another student, and 27% reported being discriminated by their teacher. Furthermore, American Muslim youth identified student-teacher relations as needing improvement. Notably, the percentage of students who felt comfortable discussing Islam or Muslims in the classroom dropped from 80% in 2012 to 76% in 2014. [CAIR]
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