Saturday, February 2, 2013


Posted by at No comments:

  • CAIR: Finding Mecca in America (Muscat Daily)
    Muslim civil rights groups like CAIR and MPAC are playing an important role in awakening a sense of active citizenship among formerly dormant Muslims. Muslims today are in a much better position to defend their rights and to build alliances with other American civic and social groups.
  • CAIR-NY: Zead Ramadan Throws Hat in City Council Race (NY Daily News)
    He is the president of the board of directors of the New York chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations, and he's the founding chairman of the board of directors of the Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center.
  • Md. School Lets Muslim Students Out of Class to Pray (Wash. Post)
  • CAIR-SFBA Director Zahra Billoo to Speak at CSUEB on Jan. 31
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
#MyJihad Ad Campaign Launches in Washington, D.C.
Global educational initiative to 'reclaim Jihad from Muslim and anti-Muslim extremists alike'
The Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Chicago) today announced its sponsorship of the #MyJihad Public Educational Campaign in Washington, D.C., launched by MyJihad inc., with ads appearing at the Shaw, Waterfront, Rockville, and Dunn Loring train stations.
In the past month, the #MyJihad campaign launched in two other major U.S. cities, Chicago and San Francisco. The campaign has also made its way to Cairo, Egypt, where it displayed messages of Muslim and Christian unity during the Christmas season.
The #MyJihad Public Education Campaign is an independent national public education campaign, which seeks to share the proper meaning of Jihad as believed and practiced by the majority of Muslims.
Jihad is a central tenet of the Islamic creed which means struggling uphill in order to get to a better place. MyJihad is currently pending 501(c)3 status. Private donations are managed by CAIR-Chicago as the sponsoring organization.
The official website includes detailed information about the campaign. For more information about the campaign, photos and video, visit the official #MyJihad Public Education website: myjihad.org
Volunteers working on the campaign include activists and students, but the majority of volunteers come from a group of working mothers who are disturbed by the prospects of their children growing up in an environment of gross misinformation about Islam that sometimes spills into outright hatred, such as with the recent anti-Islam ads sponsored by Pamela Geller and her group the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI). AFDI has been designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The campaign also includes putting up public ads on buses and trains, as well as a social media component on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, where users are asked to tweet what their Jihad (struggle) is using the #MyJihad hashtag. Thousands of users have already tweeted and thousands more have liked the Facebook page.
MyJihad has generated a national and global buzz, including a full hour of coverage on the BBC. The campaign has also been covered by media in Lithuania, China, Canada, and Aruba.
"The campaign has been met with tremendous support from across the board and, as expected, with resistance from the two extremes whose message of hate and divisiveness we are challenging," said Sadaf Syed, award-winning photojournalist who took the campaign's photos and San Francisco native based in Chicago. "MyJihad represents the average Muslim voice; as an American Muslim photojournalist, I am raised to become a medium for myself. That is my Jihad."
View Sadaf Syed in action with the ad models in the "making of" video.
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.
Posted by at No comments:

Action Alert: #687:
Action: Contact Senators to Urge Support for Immigration Reform
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 1/29/13) – CAIR today welcomed the announcement of a bipartisan plan in the Senate for comprehensive immigration reform and is asking all Americans who believe that immigration reform is long overdue to urge their senators to pass legislation by late spring or early summer.
Announced yesterday by Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Marco Rubio (R-FL), John McCain (R-AZ), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Jeff Flake (R-AZ), the proposed framework adopts a number of "tough but fair" measures that seek to create a path towards citizenship for the nation's 11 million undocumented residents. The outline also seeks to strengthen prohibitions against racial profiling and inappropriate use of force.

The two-party plan seeks to achieve permanent reform of the nation's broken immigration system by addressing the creation of a path to citizenship for undocumented residents that is contingent on securing the borders and combating visa overstays; improving the legal immigration system and attracting the world's best and brightest; enhancing employment verification; and, admitting new workers and protecting workers' rights.

CAIR believes that, in the absence of comprehensive federal immigration reform, many states have adopted punitive anti-immigrant enforcement laws that rely on racial profiling. Current federal immigration laws and practices have also led to racial and religious profiling at the U.S. border, improper detention, and mistaken deportation of immigrants and U.S. citizens alike.

For the past several years, CAIR has received numerous complaints by American Muslims about Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and FBI agents repeatedly harassing them at the U.S.-Canada border. These complaints include being unnecessarily handcuffed, agents aiming weapons at them, enduring prolonged periods of detention, being subjected to invasive and humiliating body searches, and inappropriate questions about religion and religious practices.

In the coming months, CAIR will ask Congress to address ongoing civil rights violations, and racial and religious profiling along the U.S. Border and points of entry as it deliberates how to best secure our nation while reforming our immigration system.

"Now is the time to act because comprehensive immigration reform can't wait," said CAIR Government Affairs Coordinator Robert McCaw. "CAIR supports this bipartisan attempt to find common ground and break through the tired rhetoric surrounding the immigration debate. As concerned citizens, we need to work together and urge our senators to join this bipartisan bloc and adopt lasting reform of our immigration system." 
Posted by at No comments:

CAIR
CAIR-MN Welcomes FBI Probe of Alleged Abuses by Agents
Agents reportedly used intimidation tactics on Somali Muslim
(MINNEAPOLIS, MN, 1/30/13) -- The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN) today welcomed an FBI investigation into alleged intimidation tactics used on a Somali Muslim by two agents.
Last week, CAIR-MN sent a letter to Special Agent in Charge J. Chris Warrener about allegations of improper behavior by the two agents and asked that an investigation be launched into the matter.
The complainant told CAIR-MN that two FBI agents approached him at his home and sought to pressure him to work for the agency reportedly as an informant. The man said he asserted his right to an attorney three times, but the agents continued to intimidate and coerce him.
According to the complainant, the agents threatened to withhold the man's asylum application, defame him in the Muslim community so others would fear speaking to him and influence his current employment by visiting his job site if he did not agree to work with their office.

Two days after the FBI visit, the man was followed by an SUV in which the driver took photographs of him while he was working for a transportation company. A few weeks after his interaction with the FBI, the alleged victim was fired from his job.

Last week, a local FBI official contacted CAIR-MN to acknowledge receipt of the letter and to state that the agency is looking into the matter.
The FBI is "prohibited from using threats or coercion" to blackmail individuals. Minnesota law also prohibits such conduct.
SEE: The Informants (Mother Jones)

"These tactics of intimidation are not only unethical and detrimental to building trust in the Muslim and Somali community, they are potentially unlawful," said CAIR-MN Executive Director Lori Saroya. "We welcome the FBI's decision to investigate the agents' actions."
Saroya said her office has seen a recent increase in calls from individuals approached to become FBI informants.
Under Minnesota Statute § 609.27 Subds. 1(3)&(4), it is unlawful to threaten to injure a person's profession or reputation in an effort to elicit action against a person's will.Minnesota Statute § 609.43 (1) & (3), deems it unlawful for a public officer or employee to intentionally refuse to perform a known mandatory duty or use color or official authority to injure another.
During a 2009 FBI investigation into Somali men who went abroad to join a terrorist organization, community members reported similar coercive tactics to CAIR-MN.
Community members reported being stopped at random on the streets and in shopping malls; Somali businesses were raided; students were approached by federal agents in campus libraries; community leaders were denied boarding passes without due process; agents talked their way into homes without warrants; non-English-speaking Somalis were interviewed without translators; agents in unmarked cars staked out Somali mosques, and; informants were allegedly sent inside mosques.

SEE: Rights Groups Say Somalis Being Stopped, Questioned (MPR)
Posted by at No comments:

  • Islamophobia Watch: School Recites Pledge in Arabic, One Nation Under Allah?
    [CAIR's] Hooper told Fox News he was dumbfounded by complaints about the Arabic version of the pledge. "How on earth is it un-American to recite the Pledge of Allegiance in another language," Hooper asked. "It doesn't make sense unless the people complaining are anti-Muslim or anti-middle eastern bigots."
BREAKING NEWS:
CAIR: Security Boosted for Texas Muslim Event Following Online Threats

(AUSTIN, TX, 1/30/2013) – The Texas chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Texas) said tonight that law enforcement authorities will offer stepped up protection for Muslims taking part in tomorrow's "Texas Muslim Capitol Day" at the state Capitol in Austin following apparent threats made on a notorious anti-Islam hate blog.
[ABOUT THURSDAY'S EVENT: A diverse group of Texas Muslims, representing Islamic organizations and mosques from across the state, are expected to take part in the day-long event, which is designed to encourage positive civic participation by Muslims and their interfaith partners. Advocacy training and meetings with elected officials and their staff will take place throughout the day. CONTACT: Mustafaa Carroll, executive director of CAIR-Texas's Houston chapter, 832-549-1042, E-Mail: mcarroll@cair.com]
CAIR-Texas contacted law enforcement authorities after learning of apparent threats by commenters on the virulently anti-Islam hate site "Bare Naked Islam."
The threats included statements such as one posted earlier this evening by "chris" (spelling and grammatical errors maintained): "A big bunch of muzzies all in one place eh??Why not give em a warm Texas welcome. . .How do you Americans say? LOCK AND LOAD!" ["Lock and load" is a slang military command to prepare weapons for battle by locking a magazine into the weapon and loading ammunition into the chamber.]
"Joel Carson" wrote: "Call out the texas militia and kill or capture all participants. What in hell is going on in texas?" Another person wrote: "Screw Moderation!! Every One of them should be looking over his/her shoulder. Did you hear that ?Crack????"
Other commenters suggested having a pork barbeque at the event so that "The smell of the pork ribs on the grill should help drown out the stink from the rump-raisers." (Muslims are prohibited from eating pork and place their foreheads on the ground during daily prayers.)
CAIR-Texas also received a hate call today.
"We have asked state and federal law enforcement authorities to ensure that Texas Muslims may participate in political activities without fear of attack or intimidation, and they have agreed to boost security for Muslim Capitol Day participants," said Mustafaa Carroll, executive director of CAIR-Texas's Houston chapter. "We appreciate their swift and professional response to the apparent threats."
Carroll noted that in 2011, CAIR called on the FBI to investigate threats of violence targeting mosques posted on Bare Naked Islam. Articles and comments posted on the hate blog urged attacks on and desecration of American and European mosques.
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
Posted by at No comments:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CAIR Welcomes Catholic Group's Decision to Drop Anti-Islam Speaker
Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik cited Robert Spencer's blog '162 times in his manifesto'
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 1/31/13) -- The nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization today applauded a decision by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Worcester, Mass., to rescind an invitation to Robert Spencer, the leader of a designated anti-Islam hate group, to speak at a Catholic men's conference this March.
The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said Spencer's invitation to speak at the Catholic conference was rescinded after Muslims in Massachusetts contacted the diocese to express their concerns about his extremist anti-Islam views.
SEE: Catholic Event Cancels Talk by Islam Critic (Boston Globe)
Catholic Diocese Boots Anti-Muslim Speaker (Salon)
At least one Catholic commentator joined CAIR in welcoming the cancelation.
SEE: A Speaker Cancellation to Applaud (National Catholic Reporter)
"We applaud the diocese's decision to withdraw its invitation to a person who is viewed by many as one of the nation's most notorious purveyors of anti-Islam hate," said CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper.
Hooper noted that "Fear, Inc.," a report by the Center for American Progress, revealed that "[Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik] cited Robert Spencer, one of the anti-Muslim misinformation scholars we profile in this report, and his blog, Jihad Watch, 162 times in his manifesto." Breivik is currently on trial for mass murder in Norway.
Spencer is a co-founder of Stop Islamization of America (SIOA), which has beendesignated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). Spencer's Jihad Watch blog is also designated as a hate group by the SPLC, which named Spencer as part of the nation's "Anti-Muslim Inner Circle."
Last year, a prominent New York law firm canceled an event featuring Spencer. The event would have promoted Spencer's claim that Islam's Prophet Muhammad may never have existed.
The independent national media watch group Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) identified Spencer as one of "Islamophobia's Dirty Dozen" who systematically "spread fear, bigotry, and misinformation."
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 understandin
Posted by at No comments:

CAIR
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CAIR-OK Seeks Bias Probe of Shooting Attack on Muslim Family's Home
(OKLAHOMA CITY, OK, 2/1/13) -- The Oklahoma chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-OK) today called on state and federal law enforcement agencies to investigate a possible bias motive for an alleged drive-by shooting attack last night on a Muslim family's home in Oklahoma City.

CAIR-OK said a Muslim family of Iranian origin reported that multiple shots from an apparently high-caliber weapon or weapons hit the walls and windows of their home just after 8 p.m. last night. The attack occurred just days after the family's son was approached by an individual who asked him about his religion.
A sign in front of the family's home shows a mosque and an Arabic inscription of the Muslim greeting "as-salaamu alaykum," or "peace be to you."
No one was hurt in the shooting and police are investigating. CAIR-OK has contacted the Oklahoma City Police Department's Criminal Intent Unit and asked for a hate crime investigation.
"Any time the home of a family belonging to an ethnic or religious minority is attacked in a potentially deadly manner, it is only prudent to investigate a possible bias motive," saidCAIR-OK Executive Director Adam Soltani.

Soltani said this incident comes following a rise in hate attacks targeting American Muslims and their institutions in the second half of 2012.

SEE: Eight Attacks, 11 Days (Salon)
CAIR: Arson, Vandalism at Mosques Not Uncommon (Joplin Globe)
Just this week, CAIR's Texas chapter welcomed stepped-up protection for Muslims taking part in yesterday's "Texas Muslim Capitol Day" at the state Capitol in Austin. Apparent threats targeting the event had been made on a notorious anti-Islam hate blog.
Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)