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TN MUSLIMS, CHRISTIANS SEEK END TO GUN VIOLENCE - TOP
A RECLAMATION OF PEACEGroups seek end to gun crimes, honor recent victimsScott Barker, Knoxville News Sentinel, 11/10/08Two by two, the teenage girls walked in silence through Knoxville Center mall on Sunday.
They wore green, symbolic of peace, and cream-colored headdresses, emblematic of their Muslim faith.
They also carried signs with various messages that could be boiled down to a single statement - "End gun violence."
The girls, followed by Muslim boys, a contingent of youth from Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church and various adults, about 40 people in all, then held a vigil in the center of the mall near the scaled-down house where Santa soon will be taking gift requests from young children. (MORE)
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CAIR-PA: WE ARE MUSLIMS. SO WHAT? - TOPSafdar Khwaja, Pittsburg Post-Gazette, 11/9/08
SAFDAR KHWAJA decries the anti-Muslim sentiments dredged up by Election 2008 and wonders why American Muslims must always be defined by 9/11
[Safdar Khwaja, a board member of the Pennsylvania chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, is an engineer who lives in Murrysville.]
One of the most disturbing aspects of Election 2008 was the whispering campaign that Barack Obama was a Muslim -- with the implication that this meant he was dangerous, secretly plotting to destroy America or, at the least, unqualified to be president. No matter how many times the candidate or the media pointed out that Mr. Obama is Christian, more than 10 percent of Americans still thought he was Muslim.
Further inflaming the situation was the distribution to more than 20 million Americans of a DVD titled, "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West." This incendiary faux documentary purports to portray only a small slice of the Islamic world but effectively paints all Muslims as closet terrorists who should be feared. Intended to influence the election, the DVD was inserted in Sunday newspapers, including the Post-Gazette, in key battleground states.
To his credit, John McCain at one point tried to tamp down the anti-Muslim, anti-Arab sentiment running rampant among his supporters. At a rally in mid-October, a woman told him she distrusted Mr. Obama because he was an "Arab." Mr. McCain responded, "No ma'am, no ma'am, he's a decent family man, [a] citizen, that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues." Mr. McCain was booed at one point when he tried to assure his audience that they needn't be scared if Obama became president.
Although his heart was in the right place, Mr. McCain inadvertently fertilized the widespread prejudice against Arabs by implying that only a non-Arab could be a "decent family man."
Within a week of this sobering event, former Secretary of State Colin Powell finally got it right. Recalling the photo of a mother draped over the gravestone of her soldier son killed in Iraq, a gravestone etched with the crescent of Islam, Gen. Powell questioned those who were stirring up anti-Muslim fervor… (MORE)
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CAIR-IL: ANTI-WAR RALLY AT UI TO LAUNCH OTHER PEACE-THEMED ACTIVITIES - TOPThe News-Gazette, 11/10/08
An anti-war rally set for noon Nov. 13 at the University of Illinois Quad will launch a series of peace events.
From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. the same day, the Quad will have the Eyes Wide Open Boot Display, sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee. That evening at 6 p.m. in Room 103 of Mumford Hall, 1301 W. Gregory Drive, U, a panel discussion, "The Legacy of GI Resistance," will feature Joe Allen, author of "Vietnam: The (Last) War the U.S. Lost"; Joe Miller, UI lecturer and member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War; and Richard Stacewicz, historian and author of "Winter Soldiers: An Oral History of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War." From 7 to 8:30 p.m., there will be testimony by Iraqis and veterans of the global war on terrorism.
Event sponsors are Iraq Veterans Against the War, Vietnam Veterans Against the War, the Champaign-Urbana Arab Students Association, the American Friends Service Committee, Campus Greens, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Anti-War Anti-Racism Effort, the Campus Antiwar Network, the International Socialist Organization and Students for Justice in Palestine.
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CAIR-NJ: JERSEY NO STRANGER TO BIAS, HATE CRIMES - TOPRacial, religious intolerance spur most incidentsHeather Haddon, Herald News, 11/10/08
The Hope Reformed Church in Clifton is a century-old house of worship whose members pride themselves on their neighborliness. When their new pastor arrived from Minnesota last year, the 80 congregants pitched in to restore the rambling clergy house next to the church.
But last month, parishioners did not feel so welcome on their quiet, tree-lined stretch of Burgess Place. During the night, someone sprayed a green pentagram — a symbol commonly referring to Satan — on their church's facade.
"Many of the older parishioners were upset," said Steven Wolters, 27, the pastor. "We had just painted the church white."
Clifton detectives are investigating the vandalism as a hate crime.
According to FBI figures released last week, New Jersey had the second greatest number of hate crimes in the country last year, trailing only California…
Advocates who track bias crime worry that many incidents go unreported, especially among groups who fear for their immigration status or do not know that intimidation constitutes a crime.
"Our community is not in the habit of reporting hate crimes," said Afsheen Shamsi of the New Jersey chapter of Council on American-Islamic Relation, an advocacy group. "They say, I'm Muslim, I expect that I would be targeted." (MORE)
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CAIR-MN 2ND ANNUAL BANQUET A SUCCESS - TOP
(ST. PAUL, MN, 9/10/08) - Some 200 people turned out on Saturday for the 2nd annual Banquet of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN).
Speakers for the event included James Yusuf Yee, former Muslim Army Chaplain, and author of “For God and Country: Faith and Patriotism Under Fire,” and Dr. Aminah McCloud, director of World Islamic Studies at DePaul University and author of several publications. The event also included a post-event “Meet the Authors” reception and opportunities to learn about CAIR-MN’s accomplishments in defense of civil rights over the past year.
CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties and advocacy group has 35 offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.
CONTACT: CONTACT: CAIR-MN Communications Director Kenya McKnight, 612-483-3245; CAIR-MN Outreach Coordinator Abdul Basit, 612-201-9109; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202 488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail: ihooper@cair.com
-----NY: FBI PROBING 'OBAMA' ATTACK - TOPAgency joins investigation into alleged beating of Muslim teen after electionPhil Helsel, Staten Island Advance, 11/8/08
The FBI has joined the investigation into Tuesday's alleged beating of a black Muslim teen, allegedly at the hands of a carload of white men furious over Barack Obama's election victory.
The U.S. District Attorney for the Eastern District of New York announced yesterday that it and the FBI are reviewing claims that 17-year-old Ali Kamara of Stapleton, was beaten by four men who shouted "Obama," before the 11 p.m. assault.Advertisement
Spokesman Robert Nardoza called the FBI's involvement in such a sensitive case "normal." The federal law enforcement officials will work with the Staten Island district attorney's office and the NYPD's Hate Crimes Task Force.
Police said that, as of last night, investigators have not officially classified the assault as a hate crime. (MORE)
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VIDEO: NY MUSLIM TEEN BATTERED IN ‘OBAMA’ BIAS ATTACK - TOP
View the video.
A Staten Island teen who is black was viciously assaulted Tuesday night in what police believe was a bias attack sparked by Barack Obama's presidential victory.
Seventeen-year-old Ali Kamara walks with a limp and has staples in his head. They are the results of a beating that he says was committed by four young men the night President-elect Obama was declared the winner.
Kamara, a high school student who is Muslim and lives in the Stapleton Section of the borough, was attacked while walking home around 10 p.m. the night of the election. He says as he approached his street, a gold car with four white men drove up behind him, with the men yelling Obama's name.
The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations has called on the FBI to launch a hate crime investigation into the assault.
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NY: FEDS JOIN PROBE INTO ELECTION DAY ATTACK ON BLACK STATEN ISLAND TEEN - TOPJohn Marzulli, New York Daily News, 11/7/08
The feds have joined the investigation into the alleged attack of a black Muslim teenager by white thugs shouting "Obama!" on Election Day in Staten Island, authorities said Friday.
A spokesman for Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Benton Campbell said federal prosecutors and the FBI are reviewing with local authorities the attack on Ali Kamara, a student at Curtis High School.
The 17-year-old told police he was kicked and beaten with a baseball bat by four white men who were apparently furious that Barack Obama had been elected President. (MORE)
-----AMONG MUSLIMS, SUPPORT FOR OBAMA BUT RELUCTANCE TO SHOW IT - TOPJennifer 8. Lee, New York Times, 11/7/08
The Gallup Center for Muslim Studies recently found overwhelming support for Senator Barack Obama among the country’s estimated two million Muslim voters, many of them in New York. At the same time, many of them said they could not show it. “I pretty much kept away, because I didn’t want to appear with an Obama button and have people look at me and say: ‘Oh, a Muslim girl supports him. Aha,’” said Sule Akoglu, a 17-year-old New York University freshman, who wears a head scarf.
The persistent rumor that Mr. Obama was a Muslim — he is a Christian — had led his campaign to do things that the students found hurtful, they said. The campaign had dismissed a Muslim staff member for seemingly flimsy reasons. A campaign worker had shuttled two young Muslim women wearing head scarves out of the line of sight of TV cameras at a rally.
And the candidate known for his way with words had never said the words they waited for. Those were finally spoken instead by former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, when he announced his support for Mr. Obama on Oct. 19. Answering a question about the candidate’s faith, Mr. Powell said: “Well, the correct answer is he is not a Muslim, he’s a Christian. He’s always been a Christian. But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country?” (Watch a related video and post a comment.)
The New York Post reports that a New Jersey family that supported Mr. Obama found a charred wooden cross on its lawn in a case being treated as a hate crime.
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CAIR: ALMOST 90 PERCENT OF MUSLIMS VOTED FOR OBAMA DESPITE DIFFERENCES ON ABORTION, MARRIAGE - TOPKevin Mooney, CNS News, 11/10/08
Nearly 90 percent of American Muslims supported Democrat Barack Obama on Election Day -- and did so on the basis of economic and foreign policy concerns, top Muslim groups said in Washington, D.C., Friday.Muslims overlooked differences they might have had with the President-elect’s positions on same-sex marriage and abortion, just as Catholics and other religious groups did on Tuesday, according to top officials connected with the American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights and Elections (AMT).Although most Muslims probably voted in favor of the same-sex marriage ban on the ballot in California, a position at odds with Obama's, they found enough common ground with the candidate in other areas that were central to their concerns in the 2008 election cycle, according to Mahdi Bray, executive director the Muslim-American Society Freedom Foundation. . .The AMT -- an umbrella organization that includes 11 other Islamic groups, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the American Muslim Alliance, the Islamic Circle of North America, the Muslim Alliance in North America and the Muslim Student Association-National -- gathered at the National Press Club to report on the electoral preferences of Muslim voters and their level of participation. . .
“The economy really stood out here,” Nihad Awad, the executive director of CAIR, said in an interview. “Muslims share the same concerns as other Americans about the economic picture. They are worried about losing their homes and losing credit. So it’s logical to see this result right now. I would say that civil rights are also very central.”
A survey of over 1,000 Muslims taken earlier in the year -- long before the stock market slide -- showed that civil rights and education were also top issues.
Awad called on the new president-elect to shut down the detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba as way of “restoring America’s moral standing in the world.” (MORE)
SEE ALSO:CAIR-MI: RELIGIOUS GROUPS REFLECT ON OBAMA'S WIN - TOPSome say God sent him as a uniter; others decry his viewsNiraj Warikoo, Detroit Free Press, 11/10/08
In the churches of many African-American Christians on Sunday, Barack Obama's election was celebrated as a triumph of racial harmony and unity. . .
Over the past year, the faith and values of Obama have been closely scrutinized and debated, with some praising his religious ideas, others decrying them. Those opposing views continued to be heard this weekend in metro Detroit places of worship, where supporters and detractors saw Obama's election victory in different ways. . .
Among some religious minorities, Obama did well. About 78% of Jewish voters chose Obama, despite strong efforts by Republicans to win over Jewish voters by linking Obama to Arab extremists. And 89% of Muslims voted for Obama, compared with only 2% for McCain, according to a survey released Friday by the American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights and Elections.
On Friday, the day of the traditional weekly sermons inside mosques, Muslim leaders said that Obama's victory was a positive sign.
At the American Muslim Center in Dearborn, Dawud Walid -- head of the Michigan branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and an assistant imam at Masjid Wali Muhammad in Detroit -- talked about the struggles of African Americans in the United States.
"It should give us hope for being more involved," Walid said in his recorded sermon. "We have to believe, and we have to get involved. If he can be elected as president, there is hope for us." (MORE)
---CAIR-OK: MINORITY GROUPS RESPOND TO OBAMA ELECTION - TOPBill Sherman, Tulsa World, 11/9/08
The election of the first black president in U.S. history is of special interest to Americans who are members of a racial or religious minority…
Razi Hashmi, executive director of the Oklahoma chapter of the Council on American- Islamic Relations, said that Obama's election had instilled hope in the Muslim community in America, and should help repair America's image in Muslim countries around the world.
"People I've talked to are happy," he said.
"This election is a sign that regardless of your background, if you're a minority, you'll be able to make it in this society, that you could be president some day."
Hashmi said American Muslims were o/ended by the false accusation during the campaign that Obama was a Muslim, as if being a Muslim were a bad thing.
He said he hoped the Obama administration would take a stand against the "overt religious bigotry we saw during the campaign."
He said the No. 1 issue for Muslims during the campaign was the erosion of civil rights since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Evidence of that, he said, has been the treatment of political prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, government wiretapping, anti-Muslim bigotry, hate crimes and discrimination based on religion. (MORE)
---CAIR: RECORD TURNOUT BY MUSLIMS FOR ELECTION - TOPErika Niedowski, The National, 11/8/08
US Muslims turned out in record numbers and voted overwhelmingly for Barack Obama for president last week, according to new polling data, even though Muslim community leaders said some had felt marginalised during the campaign.
Eighty-nine per cent of US Muslims surveyed cast their ballot for Mr Obama, a poll commissioned by the American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights and Elections found. Just two per cent voted for John McCain, his Republican rival, with the independent and third-party candidates receiving negligible support.
Nearly two thirds of the 637 people surveyed by Genesis Research Associates identified the economy as their most pressing issue, distantly followed by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Ninety-five per cent said they had voted in the presidential election, the highest turnout ever reported for Muslim-Americans.
At a news conference in Washington on Friday to announce the poll results, Muslim-American leaders congratulated Mr Obama on his historic election as the first African-American US president. But they called on him to make good on his campaign promise for unity and inclusion and asked him to reach out to Muslims early on and take steps to repair “damaged relations” from the eight years of George W Bush’s presidency. Many Muslims say his administration has rolled back civil liberties and wrongly targeted them in the so-called “war on terror”. . .
Muslim-Americans have shifted their political affiliation over the past eight years they voted for Mr Bush in 2000, then John Kerry in 2004 and increasingly identify with the Democratic Party. But they do not vote just based on party.
“It’s clear that Muslims vote based on issues not on party or political concerns,” said Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
Although political participation by Muslim-Americans is increasing, Mr Saeed said, it is still far from representative; Muslims hold just a fraction of the more than half-million elected offices in the United States. This year marked the election of the first female Muslim to the state legislature in Michigan.
At the news conference, Nihad Awad, CAIR’s executive director, called on Mr Obama to move to restore the United States’s “moral authority” throughout the world; protect its “core values”; and signal a willingness to appoint qualified US Muslims to positions in his administration. (MORE)
-----OH: BREAD WELCOMES FIRST MUSLIM GROUP AS MEMBER - TOPColumbus Dispatch, 11/7/08
The Noor Islamic Cultural Center in Dublin has become the first Muslim organization to join the social-justice group Building Responsibility, Equality and Dignity, or BREAD.
The interfaith alliance of Christian and Jewish congregations works on social-justice issues such as affordable housing and health care. All 50 member congregations are in Franklin County; the group formed in 1996.
Noor was inducted, along with four Christian groups, at a ceremony yesterday.
"Our goals go with BREAD very well," said Hany Saqr, director of the mosque. "We are looking for justice in the community, and they are looking for justice in the community."
Saqr said he also appreciates the opportunity for Muslims to work alongside people of other faiths on common concerns. (MORE)
-----MI: AIRPORT LAPTOP SEIZURES ANGER MUSLIMS - TOPGregg Krupa, Detroit News, 11/7/08
Imam Mohammad Ali Elahi, a frequent traveler who wears a robe and the traditional amamah headwear of a Shi'a leader, is accustomed to scrutiny at international airports.
But he was not prepared for what happened to him on Oct. 22 as he returned to Detroit Metropolitan Airport from an extended trip to his native Iran. After searching his luggage, customs personnel wanted to see more.
"They said, 'Well, we need to check your computer,'" Elahi recalled. "They said they had to go to an office and check it. They came back and said, 'Well, do the password.'... He took it back, and it took another 20 minutes. And then he came back and said, 'Well, you know, unfortunately, the computer died as I was looking at it.'?"
Elahi was confronted with what many local Muslims and residents of Arab descent say are increased searches and seizures of laptops at airports and border crossings without warrant or warning. Civil rights groups are challenging the tactic, as the Bush administration and citizens continue to grapple with the conflict between civil liberties and national security seven years after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
They say the laptops of Muslims, in particular, are targeted, seized and retained without any notification of the cause. Meanwhile, Elahi has been forced to spend thousands of dollars to retrieve scholarly research, contact lists, e-mails from devoted followers about intimate marital problems and photos of his family. (MORE)