Tuesday, April 16, 2013


  • CAIR: Anti-Islamic Hate Crime Rate Differs Greatly Among States 
    The 2010 surge [in anti-Muslim hate crime] was stimulated by opposition to construction of the Park51 Islamic center near Ground Zero in New York, efforts like Oklahoma's to ban the supposed threat of Sharia Law being used in state courtrooms and the cacophonous political rhetoric that the issues spawned, said Corey Saylor, legislative director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil liberties group.
  • CAIR-MI: Area Muslims Tout Successes (Detroit News)
    The struggles and triumphs of Muslim-Americans were examined Sunday at an annual banquet for a civil rights and advocacy group. And to highlight this year's theme -- "Upholding Our Constitution: Defending Our Faith" -- at the 13th annual banquet of the Council on American-Islamic Relations-Michigan, the group touted recent successes or advocacy.
    • CAIR-OK, Muslim Advocacy Group, Hosts Annual Awards Dinner
      A Christian minister and a Muslim youth advocate were presented special awards at the 2013 banquet of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, held at Oklahoma City's Marriott Hotel Northwest.
CAIR Action Alert #690:
Ask Senate to Drop Israel Visa Waiver Exemption Making U.S. Muslims 'Second-Class Citizens'
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 4/15/13) -- The nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization today urged Americans who are concerned about equality under the law tocontact their congressional representatives and ask them to drop a provision from theU.S.-Israel Strategic Partnership Act of 2013 that would make American Muslims and Arab-Americans "second class citizens" who could legally be subject to Israel's policy of ethnic and religious profiling.
Taking a few minutes to contact Congress is worth your time. Build local civil rights and interfaith coalitions on this issue. This is a major test for our legal and democratic system.
To contact Congress on this issue, sign our letter or add your own message. 
For more information on the bill, go to S.462 - United States-Israel Strategic Partnership Act of 2013
The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) says the bill, introduced by Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Roy Blunt (R-MO), would allow Israel the unique privilege of continuing its "practice of routinely refusing to allow Americans of Arab ethnicity or Muslim backgrounds to enter their country or the occupied territories it controls." As the U.S. Department of State notes in its official travel advisory: "US citizens ... of Arab or Muslim origin have experienced significant difficulties in entering or exiting Israel or the West Bank."
The bill, which has 17 Senate co-sponsors, grants Israel entry into the 37-nation visa waiver program provided only that Israel "has made every reasonable effort, without jeopardizing the security of the State of Israel, to ensure that reciprocal travel privileges are extended to all United States citizens." No other nation has been granted a similar exemption to the equal treatment of American citizens regardless of faith or ethnicity.
In a statement, CAIR said:
"If this bill becomes the law of the land, American Muslims and Arab-Americans would be turned into second-class citizens who could be legally subjected to Israel's well-documented ethnic and religious profiling. It is unprecedented that any nation would diminish the rights of its own citizens in order to facilitate the discriminatory practices of a foreign government.
"We urge Americans of all faiths and backgrounds to contact their congressional representatives and demand that they drop this attempt at creating a two-tiered system of legal protection for American citizens."
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:

CAIR Urges Prayers, Blood Donations for Boston Bomb Victims
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 4/15/13) –- The Council on American-Islamic Relations(CAIR), the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, this evening condemned the bomb attacks earlier today on the Boston Marathon that left at least two people dead and many more injured.
CAIR urged all Americans to pray for the victims and their families and asked the Boston-area Muslim community to donate blood for those who were wounded.
In a statement, CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said:
"American Muslims, like Americans of all backgrounds, condemn in the strongest possible terms today's cowardly bomb attack on participants and spectators of the Boston Marathon.
"We urge people of all faiths to pray for the victims and their loved ones and for the speedy recovery of those injured. We also call for the swift apprehension and punishment of the perpetrators.
"While spiritual measures can serve to comfort those in physical and emotional pain, we also call on Muslims and others in the Boston area to donate blood through the Red Cross as a concrete show of support for the bomb attack victims. Those who were participating in the marathon or were watching the event should contact authorities with any potential eyewitness information they may have."
The Washington-based civil rights organization urged Muslims to listen to government announcements to determine other steps they might take to help first responders and those impacted by the tragic event.
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:

Posted by at No comments:

Posted by at No comments:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Oklahoma Governor Asked Not to Sign Anti-Muslim Bill
(OKLAHOMA CITY, OK, 04/11/2013) -- The Oklahoma chapter of the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIROkla. Governor Mary Fallin-OK) today called on Muslims and all other Americans who value civil liberties to contact Governor Mary Fallin to ask that she not sign a bill, the sponsors of which admit is designed to attack the religious principles of Islam. [Email the governor through this form]
The bill, HB 1060, is one of dozens of similar pieces of discriminatory and unconstitutional legislation that have been introduced in state legis latures nationwide. These legislative initiatives are promoted by those who seek to marginalize American Muslims and demonize Islam.
One of the primary sponsors of HB 1060, Rep. Sally Kern, has a history of making statements targeting minorities.  In 2011, Kern was reprimandedby the Oklahoma House for disparaging women and ethnic minorities. As reported by the Oklahoman, "During a debate Wednesday night on the House of Representatives floor, Kern said minorities earn less than white people and women earn less than men because they don't work as hard and have less initiative."
Kern has expressed her view that all followers of Islam are a threat saying, "Gays are an even bigger threat than terrorism or Islam, which I think is a big threat."
SEE: Oklahoma One Step Away From Banning Islamic Law (Again)

Rep. Kern has argued that the bill does not single out Muslims or Islam. However, the bill's anti-Muslim genesis is clear.
According to media reports, Kern worked with high profile Islamophobe Frank Gaffney to draft a similar bill and got support from the anti-Islam hate group ACT! for America in its passage. ACT! founder Brigitte Gabriel is on record saying that "every practicing Muslim is a radical Muslim" and that Muslims cannot be loyal American citizens.
In 2011, the American Bar Association (ABA) passed a resolution opposing legislation like HB 1060, noting that it is "duplicative of safeguards that are already enshrined in federal and state law," and saying, "Initiatives that target an entire religion or stigmatize an entire religious community, such as those explicitly aimed at 'Sharia law,' are inconsistent with some of the core principles and ideals of American jurisprudence."
In a statement, CAIR-OK said:
"We urge Governor Fallin to reject the minority-bashing of Rep. Sally Kern and to also reject Kern's thinly-veiled efforts to vilify Islam with bills like HB 1060.
"For years now, there has been an unfortunate effort in the Oklahoma legislature to single out Islam and Muslims for legislative censure. SQ 755, an amendment to the state constitution that passed in 2010, was the first such effort. It specifically targeted Islamic religious practices and we challenged it in court. So far, four federal judges have agreed with our arguments that SQ 755 violates the U.S. Constitution.
"This new effort presents a similar Establishment Clause problem. We know from the statements of lawmakers that this is yet another attempt to legislate against Muslims. By legislating against Muslims, HB 1060 violates the most basic premise of the First Amendment's religious liberty protections: that the government maintain neutrality regarding the faiths of all Oklahomans.
"If Sally Kern wishes to protect America, her first duty is to uphold the Constitution. Her current efforts to chip away at its protections serve only to undermine our nation's values."
In 2012, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit upheld a lower court's decision to block implementation of an Oklahoma state constitutional amendment that would have prohibited courts from applying -- or even considering -- "Sharia law" and "international law."
The lower court blocked implementation of the "Save Our State Amendment" based on arguments that it would unconstitutionally disfavor an entire faith and deny Oklahoma's Muslims access to the judicial system on the same terms as every other citizen.
Last year, CAIR released a community toolkit designed to assist those seeking to preserve America's ideal of religious pluralism in the face of the unconstitutional anti-Sharia campaign.
CAIR's toolkit includes background on David Yerushalmi, the anti-Islam extremist who authored the template for the anti-Sharia bills.
Yerushalmi is head of the anti-Islam hate group Society of Americans for National Existence (SANE), which once offered a policy proposal that would make "adherence to Islam" punishable by 20 years in prison, called for the immediate deportation of all non-citizen Muslims and urged Congress to declare war on the "Muslim Nation," which SANE defined as "all Muslims." The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) named Yerushalmi a member of the "anti-Muslim inner circle."
Background Information on David Yerushalmi:
CAIR Islamophobe Profile: David Yerushalmi
David Yerushalmi: A Driving Force Behind Anti-Sharia Efforts in the U.S. (ADL)
Meet the White Supremacist Leading the GOP's Anti-Sharia Crusade (Mother Jones)
The Man Behind the Anti-Shariah Movement (NY Times)
Anti-Islam Activist Yerushalmi Measures Imams' Beards (Forward)
Profile of Anti-Sharia Extremist David Yerushalmi
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:

Wednesday, April 10, 2013


CAIR Says Sponsors of Tenn. Anti-Islam Bill 'Sink' to New Low
CAIR today said a Tennessee state legislator who sponsored an anti-Islam bill in 2011 sunk to a new low when he raised concerns that a mop sink in the state capitol building might actually be a facility for Muslim religious ablutions. (Read more)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CAIR-Ohio Files Muslim Workers' Bias Complaints Against DHL Subsidiary 
Exel, Inc. reportedly fired 18 employees for seeking religious accommodation
(Columbus, Ohio, 3/26/2013) - The Columbus, Ohio chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Columbus) announced today that it has filed discrimination complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) against Exel, Inc., a subsidiary of DHL, on behalf of 18 Muslim employees who were allegedly fired for praying in the workplace.
The Muslim employees reported to CAIR-Columbus that they had asked the company several times for prayer accommodations, including adjusting break times or taking their prayer breaks without pay, but the company repeatedly denied any of the accommodations proposed by the employees. One manager allegedly told the employees they should pray in the bathroom so they wouldn't be seen praying. Other managers told them to "obey the rules or get fired."
In their complaints, the employees say they made an effort to resolve the dispute by trying to speak to human resources, but that Exel managers and supervisors repeatedly refused to allow them access to the human resources department.
Managers reportedly began terminating Muslim employees when they saw them praying at work. On February 8, 2013 the general manager called a meeting in which he reportedly told a large group of Muslim employees, many of whom had been working for the company for years, that Exel would not change its policies and that the company could not provide a religious accommodation. He ultimately terminated the entire group when they insisted they had a right to religious accommodation.
Both state and federal law requires employers to accommodate the religious practices of their employees unless it creates an undue burden on the company.
"This company has a history of discriminating against Muslims, especially Muslims of Somali origin," said CAIR-Ohio Legal Director Jennifer Nimer. "This is not the first time a group of Muslim employees has been fired from this company for requesting a prayer accommodation. This type of blatant discrimination cannot be tolerated."
According to the EEOC, 21 percent of religious discrimination complaints in 2011 involved bias against Muslim workers. CAIR offers a booklet, called "An Employer's Guide to Islamic Religious Practices," to help employers gain a better understanding of Islam and Muslims in the workplace.
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:

Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)