www.amperspective.com Online Magazine
Executive Editor: Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Chronology of Islam in America (2017)
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
February 2017 - page three
Human Rights worldwide threatened by Trump's 'toxic agenda'
Feb 22: Amnesty International released its annual report on the state of the world's human rights today , highlighting the dangers of the "toxic agenda" of leaders like U.S. President Donald Trump which "hounds, scapegoats and dehumanizes entire groups of people," and which threatens to "unleash the darkest aspects of human nature." The 408-page report looking at 160 countries also highlights that governments around the world are increasing their repression of human rights activists and land defenders, pointing out that states are increasingly "painting the protection of human rights as a threat to security, law and order or national 'values'." "We cannot passively rely on governments to stand up for human rights, we the people have to take action," said Amnesty's Secretary General Salil Shetty in a press release. "In dark times, individuals have made a difference when they took a stand, be they civil rights activists in the USA, anti-apartheid activists in South Africa, or women's rights and LGBTI movements around the world. We must all rise to that challenge now," he added. The report makes multiple specific mentions of Trump, and in particular his recent Muslim ban, as an example of how "cynical narratives" of "blame, hate and fear took on a global prominence to a level not seen since the 1930s." The report noted that politicians such as Trump and Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban "are answering legitimate economic and security fears with a poisonous and divisive manipulation of identity politics in an attempt to win votes." "The first target has been refugees and, if this continues in 2017, others will be in the cross-hairs," the report noted. "The reverberations will lead to more attacks on the basis of race, gender, nationality and religion. When we cease to see each other as human beings with the same rights, we move closer to the abyss." [Telesur.TV]
Minutes after deportation, Mexican man jumps from Tijuana bridge
Feb 22: The case of a 45-year-old Mexican citizen whom authorities said committed suicide less than an hour after being deported from the U.S. to Tijuana is drawing attention on both sides of the border at a time of heightened sensitivities about America’s immigration policies. Guadalupe Olivas Valencia jumped from a bridge near the U.S.-Mexico border and died shortly afterward at a hospital, authorities said. Tijuana police found Olivas — a native of Los Mochis in the Mexican state of Sinaloa — shortly after 9 a.m., after responding to a call that a man was preparing to jump off a bridge into the dry channel, they said in a report. The officers arrived just as he was falling, the report stated. Olivas lay critically injured in the concrete channel. By his side were a plastic bag with his possessions and a Mexican immigration form documenting that he had been “repatriated” to Mexico about 40 minutes earlier, authorities wrote. An hour after he was found, Olivas was pronounced dead at Tijuana General Hospital. Olivas had been deported from the United States at least six times, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. He also had served time for a number of felony convictions, including re-entry after deportation. The day before his death, Olivas presented himself at the San Ysidro Port of Entry and asked U.S. Customs and Border Protection to enter the country. “He had no legal documents to enter the United States and was found to be inadmissible,” according to a statement from Homeland Security. “He was repatriated to Mexico on Feb. 21, 2017 and turned over to Mexican officials.” [San Diego Tribune]
USCMO vehemently condemns the growing wave in anti-Semitism in the US
Feb 23: The US Council of Muslim Organizations (USCMO), a coalition of several leading national and local Muslim organizations and institutions, strongly condemns the growing wave in anti-Semitism in the US, and the desecration of a Jewish cemetery in St. Louis, MO. In recent weeks, anti-Semitic activity has increased across the country, with swastikas and other hate speech graffitied on both Jewish buildings and public spaces such as subways, bomb threats being called into Jewish daycare's and community centers, and desecration of Jewish sacred spaces. "It is unconscionable that anyone would slip into a cemetery and vandalize it, destroying headstones and graves and disrespecting those who rest beneath them as well as their loved ones.", USCMO General Secretary Oussama Jammal said in a statement. “USCMO stands firm against racism and hate crimes, and calls on the Trump administration to cease its discriminatory rhetoric and anti-immigration/anti-Muslim tone which have led to attacks not only on the Jewish community, but other minorities as well.” [USCMO]
Legendary boxer Muhammad Ali’s son detained by immigration, asked ‘are you a Muslim’
Feb 24: The son of legendary boxer Muhammad Ali was detained for hours by immigration officials earlier this month at a Florida airport, according to a family friend. Muhammad Ali Jr., 44, and his mother, Khalilah Camacho-Ali, the second wife of Muhammad Ali, were arriving at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on Feb. 7 after returning from speaking at a Black History Month event in Montego Bay, Jamaica. They were pulled aside while going through customs because of their Arabic-sounding names, according to family friend and lawyer Chris Mancini. Immigration officials let Camacho-Ali go after she showed them a photo of herself with her ex-husband, but her son did not have such a photo and wasn't as lucky. Mancini said officials held and questioned Ali Jr. for nearly two hours, repeatedly asking him, "Where did you get your name from?" and "Are you Muslim?" When Ali Jr. responded that yes, he is a Muslim, the officers kept questioning him about his religion and where he was born. Ali Jr. was born in Philadelphia in 1972 and holds a U.S. passport. The line of questioning is indicative of profiling and designed to produce answers that corroborate what officials want to hear, Mancini said. Neither Camacho-Ali nor Ali Jr. have ever been subjected to detainment before, despite extensive global travel experience, he said. "To the Ali family, it's crystal clear that this is directly linked to Mr. Trump's efforts to ban Muslims from the United States," Mancini said, referring to President Trump's executive order signed Jan. 27 that instituted a ban for citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries. [USA Today]
Kansas shooting raises fears with local Indian-Americans
Feb 25: The shooting death of an Indian engineer and the wounding of another man in a possible hate crime at a Kansas bar has raised fears among members of the area's fast-growing Indian-American community. The suspected gunman, US Navy veteran Adam Purinton, 51, has been charged with the premeditated murder in Olathe, just outside Kansas City, of Srinivas Kuchibhotla, 32, and the attempted murder of Alok Madasani, also 32, as well as an American who tried to intervene. Before opening fire, Purinton is accused of shouting "get out of my country," a bystander told the Kansas City Star. The shooting comes as some members of US minority groups have expressed unease with the political and social climate in the United States. The Southern Poverty Law Center said in a report this month hate groups proliferated in 2016 as Donald Trump's bid for the US presidency energized the radical right. A number of Jewish leaders called on Trump to speak out against anti-Semitism following a spate of bomb threats to Jewish community centers. Trump this week called the threats horrible and he has said he rejects violence and harassment. [Reuters]
Overnight fire at Florida mosque ruled arson
Feb 25: A fire that caused minor damage to a mosque in suburban Tampa, Florida on Friday (Feb 24) has been ruled an arson, officials said, and a Muslim advocacy group offered a $5,000 reward for tips leading to an arrest. The overnight blaze set outside the Islamic Society of New Tampa mosque in Thonotosassa raised fresh fears of increased anti-Muslim sentiment, as mosques around the country have been threatened or vandalized. "It is worrisome that our community have fallen victim of what appears to be another hate crime," Wilfredo Amr Ruiz, spokesman for the Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), said in a statement. The organization announced the reward money for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case. The flames resulted in fire damage to the building's exterior and water damage from sprinklers inside, said Hillsborough County Fire Rescue spokesman Corey Dierdorff. No one was injured. "We are investigating it as an arson," he said in a phone interview.Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn called on the community to stand up for anyone victimized for their religion. "We will not tolerate this," he said at a news conference outside the mosque. "This is America. Our America, their America." A fire that gutted a Texas mosque last month also was ruled as arson. It started just hours after U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order temporarily barring travel from seven Muslim-majority countries. [Reuters]
Anti-Muslim hate crimes are spiking in the U.S. Donald Trump won’t speak up
Feb 25: After much pressure, President Donald Trump finally conceded this week that the rise in anti-Semitism around the country “has to stop.” But some American Muslims are wondering ― does the president have our back, too? Since Trump entered the White House, mosques have been vandalized and even set on fire, a prominent Muslim civil rights leader has been threatened with physical assault, and Muslim university students have been targeted with racist fliers and propaganda. This Islamophobia is nothing new. Last year, The Huffington Post tracked 385 anti-Muslim acts in the United States, ranging from verbal harassment to physical abuse. But Trump and his administration has had very little to say that would reassure American Muslims that their leaders, institutions, and sacred spaces are safe. [Huffington Post]
Vandalism at Colorado Muslim Society mosque before morning prayer
Feb 25: a rock was thrown through a window at Masjid Abu Bakr, in Colorado. A post on the Colorado Muslim Society Facebook page reads in part: Sad news for our Masjid today. Masjid Abu Bakr was vandalized before fajr prayer. Someone threw a rock through one of the windows. This is not the first time the mosque has been the target of an attack. In May 2015, a fire was set inside a stairwell at the facility. [West World]
Trump national security adviser wants to avoid term 'radical Islamic terrorism'
Feb 25: Donald Trump’s new national security adviser has told staff at the White House he does not wish to use the term “radical Islamic terrorism” to describe the terrorist threat the US faces, according to multiple sources. HR McMaster, a respected army lieutenant general, struck notes more consistent with traditional counterterrorism analysts and espoused consensus foreign-policy views during a meeting he held with his new National Security Council staff. Some in the meeting left with questions about whether McMaster’s evident disagreements with Trump and his key aides portend further turbulence for the key national security and foreign policy decision-making forum. Participants tell the Guardian that they were struck by the contrast between McMaster’s worldview and that of the president, who has repeatedly used a phrase that Muslims in the US and globally feel portrays them as threats to be confronted. A participant, paraphrasing McMaster, said: “He said he doesn’t want to call it radical Islamic terrorism because the terrorists are, quote, ‘un-Islamic’.” McMaster, the participant said, indicated that the phrase castigates “an entire religion” and “he’s not on board”. [The Guardian]
Hijab-wearing White House staffer quits Trump administration in 8 days
Feb 26: A bold Hijab-wearing Muslim ex-White House staffer of Bangladeshi-origin has said she quit her job after US President Donald Trump announced his controversial travel ban, lasting just eight days in the new administration. Rumana Ahmed was hired in 2011 to work at the White House and eventually the National Security Council (NSC). "My job there was to promote and protect the best of what my country stands for. I am a hijab-wearing Muslim woman I was the only hijabi in the West Wing and the Obama administration always made me feel welcome and included," she wrote in an article published in The Atlantic. Ahmed said that like most of her fellow American-Muslims, she spent much of 2016 watching with "consternation" as Trump "vilified our community". "Despite this or because of it I thought I should try to stay on the NSC staff during the Trump Administration, in order to give the new president and his aides a more nuanced view of Islam, and of America's Muslim citizens. "I lasted eight days. When Trump issued a ban on travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries and all Syrian refugees, I knew I could no longer stay and work for an administration that saw me and people like me not as fellow citizens, but as a threat," she said. Ahmed, whose parents immigrated to the US from Bangladesh in 1978, said inspired by then president Barack Obama, she joined the White House in 2011, after graduating from the George Washington University. [Times of India]
Anti-Islam Banner Outside California Home Calls To 'Keep America Safe'
Feb 27: A man has defended posting an anti-Islam banner outside of his southern California home by echoing the message of President Donald Trump, saying “We need to take care of America first.” The banner outside a house in the town of Ontario featured symbols for Christianity and Judaism and the word “Islam” crossed out in the middle. It also displayed the words “God bless America, keep America safe.”The sign was put up several weeks ago by the owner, who gave his name only as Vincent to ABC News. He defended the sign as being within his Constitutional rights. "I feel, as Americans, we need to take care of America first,” he said. “And exercising our freedom of speech, our First Amendment – it's a part of being American.”The slogan “America first” was recently made popular by Trump during his campaign for president and was again prominent during his inauguration speech last month. “It’s going to be only America first. America first,” Trump said as he was sworn in as the country’s 45th president.The pledge has also been used by the president to defend his executive order banning travelers from seven Muslim-majority nations. A block on the order going into effect was upheld by an appeals court earlier this month, with the White House expected to announce a revised version this week. [International Business Times]
Australian author Mem Fox detained by US immigration
February 27: The celebrated Australian children’s author, on her 117th visit to the US, was detained by US border control. She was quoted by the Guardian: “I was pulled out of line in the immigration queue at Los Angeles airport as I came in to the USA. Not because I was Mem Fox the writer – nobody knew that – I was just a normal person like anybody else. They thought I was working in the States and that I had come in on the wrong visa.” I was receiving an honorarium for delivering an opening keynote at a literacy conference, and because my expenses were being paid, they said: “You need to answer further questions.” So I was taken into this holding room with about 20 other people and kept there for an hour and 40 minutes, and for 15 minutes I was interrogated…. The way I was interviewed was monstrous. If only they had been able to look into my suitcase and see my books. The irony! I had a copy of my new book I’m Australian, Too – it’s about immigration and welcoming people to live in a happy country. I am all about inclusivity, humanity and the oneness of the humans of the world; it’s the theme of my life. I also had a copy of my book Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes. I told him I had all these inclusive books of mine in my bag, and he yelled at me: “I can read!” They made me feel like such a crushed, mashed, hopeless old lady and I am a feisty, strong, articulated English speaker. I kept thinking that if this were happening to me, a person who is white, articulate, educated and fluent in English, what on earth is happening to people who don’t have my power? [The Guardian]
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