AIR-WA CALLS FOR DOJ PROBE OF SEATTLE POLICE BIAS INCIDENT - TOP

(SEATTLE, WA, 5/10/10) -- The Washington state chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-WA) today called for a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation into allegations of bias-motivated brutality by employees of the Seattle Police Department.

According to media reports, a Seattle Police Department officer reportedly told a detainee, "I'm going to beat the f***ing Mexican piss out of you homey," and then kicks him in the head seconds later. Another officer allegedly also kicked the detainee as other officers stood by without intervening.

SEE: Officer Threatens, Kicks Detainee (KIRO-TV)

In his letter to the Justice Department, CAIR-WA Executive Director Arsalan Bukhariwrote in part: "In light of the grave implications of this incident, CAIR-WA requests that the Department of Justice investigate the possible violations of federal civil rights laws that may have been committed by the officers involved."

Bukhari also requested that the DOJ urge the Seattle Police Department to take appropriate and immediate responsive action to redress and prevent recurrence of such incidents.

CAIR-WA is urging the Seattle Police Department to provide a formal written apology to the victim, to discipline the alleged assailants and to have all department personnel undergo mandatory sensitivity training.

CAIR publishes a booklet, titled "A Law Enforcement Official's Guide to the Muslim Community," which outlines basic information about Islamic beliefs that are relevant to law enforcement agencies.

CAIR-WA is the local chapter of CAIR, America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. 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: CAIR-WA Executive Director Arsalan Bukhari, 206-367-4081 or 206-931-3655, E-Mail: abukhari@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 1-202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com

Please help support CAIR's important work.

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VIDEO: CAIR BOARD MEMBER SPEAKS OUT AGAINST NEW ANTI-IMMIGRANT LAW - TOP

CAIR National Board Member Sarwat Husain wears a head scarf and speaks with an accent. The Pakistani, U.S. citizen has lived here for 40 years and says she is still a target for racial profiling at airports. Husain fears things could get worse if Senate bill 1070 spreads to other states.

Watch the video.

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GROUPS DEMAND CITY COUNCIL MOVE TOWARD ARIZONA BOYCOTT - TOP
Ryan Lillis, Sacramento Bee, 4/10/10

Representatives of several civil rights groups are demanding that the Sacramento City Council to pass a resolution calling for a boycott of Arizona in the wake of that state's new immigration laws.

Members of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, Council on American Islamic Relations, Japanese American League and Union Civica Primero de Mayo are scheduled to speak at a news conference at 11 a.m. Tuesday outside City Hall. (More)

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CAIR-NY JOINS THOUSANDS AT NYC MAY DAY MARCH & RALLY - TOP

(NEW YORK, NY, 5/3/10) – The New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NY) joined the New York Civil Liberties Union and the Alliance for Labor & Immigrants Rights & Jobs for All at the 125th annual May Day march and rally on Saturday, assembling with thousands in Foley Square in downtown Manhattan.

CAIR-NY's endorsement of the march, as part of its ongoing grassroots campaign Project MOE: Mobolize. Organize. Empower., called for comprehensive immigration reform and workers' rights in the backdrop of an Arizona immigration law that advocates say sanctions profiling.

"Meaningful comprehensive immigration reform requires protections of our civil liberties and privacy," said CAIR-NY Community Affairs Director Faiza Ali. "The law enacted in Arizona sets a dangerous national precedent. We are deeply concerned that it will erode the trust between law enforcement and impacted communities by sanctioning racial profiling of people of color not only in Arizona but also other states inspired to enact similar legislation."

CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. 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: CAIR-NY Community Affairs Director Faiza N. Ali, 212-870-2002, 718-724-3041, fali@cair.com; CAIR-NY Civil Rights Director Aliya Latif, 212-870-2002, 732-429-4268, alatif@cair.com

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CAIR VIDEO: NEW COMEDY CENTRAL SHOW WILL MOCK JESUS (PBUH) - TOP

CAIR Government Affairs Director Corey Saylor debates the appropriateness of mocking religious figures in pop culture on FOX News' "America Live with Megyn Kelly."

Watch the video.

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CAIR CALLS ON GOP LEADERS TO REPUDIATE 'TERRORIST' PROFILING AD - TOP
Greg Sargent, Washington Post, 5/7/10

I reported here the other day that Dan Fanelli, a Florida Republican who's hoping to take on Dem Rep. Alan Grayson, ran a stark, racially charged ad that seemed to strongly endorse racial profiling of people from Muslim countries.

The spot showed Fanelli standing between a white guy and a swarthy fellow, asking: "Does this look like a terrorist? Or this?"

Now the story has a shot at getting a bit more attention: The Council on American-Islamic Relations is calling on national Republican leaders to repudiate the ad. From their release:

"These outrageously racist and Islamophobic political appeals indicate that Mr. Fanelli falsely believes his constituents are as bigoted and intolerant as he obviously is," said CAIR Legislative Director Corey Saylor. "Local, state and national GOP leaders must speak out strongly against such racist and un-American campaign tactics."

Saylor said a number of recent terror incidents -- including the suicide plane attack on an IRS facility in Texas, the shooting of Pentagon guards and the alleged Christian militia plot to kill police officers -- disprove the crude stereotypes promoted by Fanelli's ads.

He said the anti-Islam hostility generated by the ads could result in ordinary Florida Muslims being targets for discrimination or even hate crimes. (More)

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MUSLIM VENDOR GETS NO CREDIT IN HELPING TO FOIL TIMES SQUARE BOMB PLOT - TOP
Democracy Now, 5/6/10

Watch the interview here.

As the media focuses on the fact that the suspect in the failed Times Square bomb plot is a Pakistani Muslim. What about the man who first noticed the smoke rising from the SUV? A street vendor, a Muslim immigrant from Senegal, says he first sounded the alarm and helped stop the plot.

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CAIR: SOUTH BAY SCREENING OF 'INSIDE ISLAM: WHAT A BILLION MUSLIMS REALLY THINK' - TOP

CAIR-SFBA, Muslim Community Association (MCA) and South Bay Islamic Association (SBIA) to host film based on Gallup Poll that dispels stereotypes, reveals Muslim views on gender, terrorism and democracy

(SANTA CLARA, CA, 5/10/10) -- On May 15, the San Francisco Bay Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-SFBA), Muslim Community Association (MCA) and South Bay Islamic Association (SBIA) will host a South Bay screening of Unity Productions Foundation's latest film "Inside Islam: What a Billion Muslims Really Think."

The documentary provides an eye-opening view of global Muslim opinions on hot topics such as terrorism, democracy, women, and the West. It is based on the findings of the Gallup Organization's first-of-its-kind opinion poll of the entire Muslim world.

Saturday's event also includes an interfaith panel discussion featuring the President and Executive Producer of Unity Productions Foundation, Michael Wolfe.

WHAT: South Bay Screening of UPF's Inside Islam: What a Billion Muslims Really Think
WHEN: Saturday, May 15, 2010, 1 - 4 p.m.
WHERE: Muslim Community Association, 3003 Scott Blvd., Santa Clara, CA 95054
CONTACT: CAIR-SFBA Events and Office Manager Sana Rydhan, 408.986.9874, E-Mail: srydhan@cair.com
Order tickets online here.

Background:

The film examines questions on every American's mind: Why is there so much anti-Americanism in the Muslim world? Who are the extremists and how do Muslims feel about them? What do Muslims like and dislike about the West? What do Muslim women really want?

This 55-minute documentary is executive produced by Michael Wolfe and Alex Kronemer (Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet; Cities of Light: The Rise and Fall of Islamic Spain; Prince Among Slaves) and produced and directed by Robert Gardner (Arab and Jew: Return to the Promised Land; Elie Wiesel: First Person Singular; Islam: Empire of Faith).

Unity Productions Foundation is a nonprofit production company whose mission is to develop balanced, fair and accurate journalistic material concerning the world's cultural and spiritual traditions in order to help increase understanding and tolerance. For more information, visit www.upf.tv.

CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. 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: CAIR-SFBA Event and Office Manager Sana Rydhan, 408.986.9874, E-Mail: srydhan@cair.com

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CAIR-PA HOSTS PHILADELPHIA PREMIERE OF 'INSIDE ISLAM' - TOP

(PHILADELPHIA, PA 5/10/10) - On June 5, the Philadelphia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-PA) and the New Jersey chapter of the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA-NJ) will host a screening and discussion of the documentary film "Inside Islam: What a Billion Muslims Really Think."

The film explores the opinions of Muslims worldwide on a variety topics gathered in the world's first major poll conducted by the Gallup organization. The forum will focus on how Muslims view terrorism, gender relations, U.S. foreign policy and much more.

WHAT: Screening & Forum of "Inside Islam: What a Billion Muslims Really Think"
WHEN: Saturday, June 5, 2010, doors open at 2 p.m., film begins at 2:30 p.m.
WHERE: Ibrahim Theater, International House Philadelphia, 3701 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA

CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. 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: CAIR-PA Outreach and Communications Director Rugiatu Conteh, E-Mail: rconteh@cair.com, Tel: 215-592-0509; CAIR-PA Civil Rights Director Moein Khawaja, E-Mail: mkhawaja@cair.com, Tel: 215-592-0509

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CHRISTIAN RIGHT'S FAVORITE MUSLIM CONVERT EXPOSED AS FRAUD - TOP
Liberty Seminary President Ergun Caner claims he traveled the road 'from jihad to Jesus,' but Baptist bloggers say his stories of terrorist training are false.
Peter Montgomery, AlterNet, 5/9/10

Ergun Caner's rise to the top of conservative evangelical celebrity -- and to the presidency of the Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary founded by the late Rev. Jerry Falwell -- was fueled by how aggressively he capitalized on the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, to portray himself as a personal example of the power of Jesus to save even someone raised as a jihadist, which he claimed to be.

There's only one problem with that part of Caner's story: it appears not to be true.

In 2001, Caner was pastoring a church in Colorado. After 9/11, he became a hot commodity on the speaking circuit as someone who knew about the evils of Islam firsthand. Before the shock waves from the terror attacks had died down, he was lacing his sermons with his own tale of having been raised in Turkey as the son of a religious leader and trained in a madrassa to wage jihad against Americans. (More)

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MN MUSLIM ATHLETES FACE RACISM - TOP
By Andy Marso, St. Cloud Times, 5/10/10

It's been half a year, but the St. Cloud Apollo soccer players can still remember the racial taunts they heard during some out-of-town road games this season.

Apollo senior Zach Muzny heard his African Muslim teammates called "stinkies" and told to "go back to your country." Sometimes it was a whisper from an opposing player that was accompanied by a rough shove as they jockeyed for possession. Sometimes it was a voice coming from the opposing team's stands, cloaked in the anonymity of a crowd. (More)