Category Archives: USA

Christian Right wants Los Angeles County sheriff sacked for links with CAIR

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Christian leaders in Southern California are calling on the L.A. County Board of Supervisors to fire Sheriff L.D. Baca for comments he made praising the Council on American Islamic Relations, a group with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, both have been linked to terrorist activities.”

So begins a July 7th message from DefendChristians.org, a ministry of the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission, a group whose usual métier is claiming that President Obama is not a Christian.

DefendChristians.org offers a video as evidence of Sheriff Baca’s perfidy and further add:

“Many have United States citizens have fled to America after violence was directed at them for their Christian faith. Sheriff Baca’s praise for an organization with known ties to Islamic terrorism is outrageous and is an affront to all the victims of Islamic terror. This infiltration of law enforcement by those with sympathies for organizations that support Muslim violence is terrifying for Christians who have fled to the U.S. because of Muslim violence. Sheriff Baca must go!”

Examiner.com, 9 July 2011

Local woman, rights group question hijab removal procedure of Dearborn police

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Rachel ChinavareDEARBORN — A local Muslim woman along with a Council on American-Islamic Relations-Michigan spokesman have questioned the protocol of the city’s police department after the woman was forced to remove her headscarf in the presence of male officers during a “facial recognition” procedure.

Rachel Chinavare said she was made to sit in a waiting area in the station without her hijab and then was forced to walk into a room containing five male officers to retrieve it from a locker after her request to have it brought to her in a separate room was refused. Chinavare said she felt embarrassed and was denied her religious need for privacy and modesty in the presence of men.

Dearborn Police Chief Ron Haddad said that officers followed standard procedure during the night regarding the facial identification process. Chinavare was also not allowed to continue wearing her hijab while waiting because it is perceived by the department guidelines as a potential hazard for despondent people who have been arrested and may wish to hang themselves. Haddad said that belts, shoelaces and other items are also removed and put in lockers because of the policy.

But Chinavare said she was cooperative after her initial disbelief over being asked to remove the hijab and could not have been perceived as a threat to harm herself.

Dawud Walid of CAIR-MI said he was surprised to hear about Dearborn’s policies in treating Muslim women wearing a hijab and respecting their religious need for privacy among male officers.

“Headscarves are allowed for Muslim women in state correctional facilities as long as they are not high risk, and taking pictures while having a hijab on is good enough for the Michigan driver’s license and for the federal government to get a passport, so why can’t it be good enough for the city of Dearborn?”

Walid said that he would like to speak with the department about possibly instituting similar protocols to the Canton Police Department, which has begun using a policy that allows Muslim women to wear headscarves during the booking process which includes taking a picture. “That’s a model I would hope Dearborn Police would take up,” he said.

Arab American News, 8 July 2011

Geller’s ‘transatlantic anti-jihad summit conference’ is called off

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“History will be made this July 2nd when Stop Islamization of America (SIOA) and Stop Islamization of Europe (SIOE) hold a joint demonstration and transatlantic anti-jihad summit conference in Strasbourg, France.”

Well, that’s how Pamela Geller advertised today’s planned event. She urged supporters: “Join us as leaders and freedom fighters come from all over the world to strategize on action plans to defeat Islamic Supremacism and preserve human rights and universal values of freedom.”

Alas, the struggle against the Muslim hordes has suffered a setback. Despite its world-historic significance, Geller’s summit has been cancelled. Richard Bartholomew has the details.

Tulsa federal judge rules against Abercrombie & Fitch in lawsuit over hijab

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A Tulsa federal judge ruled Wednesday in favor of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in its lawsuit against Abercrombie & Fitch for not hiring a Muslim teenager who wore a religiously mandated headscarf.

U.S. District Judge Gregory Frizzell found that the company did not show that it would have sustained any significant “undue hardship” if it had accommodated the religious beliefs of Samantha Elauf, who in June 2008 applied to work in a sales position at the Abercrombie Kids store in Tulsa’s Woodland Hills Mall.

Frizzell’s decision means a jury will determine what, if any, damages should be awarded. The trial is tentatively scheduled to start July 18.

Tulsa World, 30 June 2011

Update:  See “Oklahoman gets $20,000 in lawsuit against retailer”, Associated Press, 21 July 2013

Muslim weightlifter wears right to wear hijab

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Kulsoom_AbdullahThe International Weightlifting Federation has modified its rules and will allow athletes to wear a full-body, tight-fitted unitard during competition, the group said.

Wednesday’s rule change was prompted by an Atlanta woman, who wanted to take part in competitions governed by IWF rules but still adhere to the modest dress of her Muslim faith.

“Weightlifting is an Olympic Sport open for all athletes to participate without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, or national origin in accordance with the principles of the Olympic Charter and values,” Tamas Ajan, IWF president, said Wednesday. “This rule modification has been considered in the spirit of fairness, equality and inclusion.”

Before the change, the IWF’s technical and competition rules said weightlifting outfits – officially called “costumes” – had to be collarless and not cover the elbows or knees.

Kulsoom Abdullah, a 35-year-old with a doctorate in electrical and computer engineering, is not an Olympic athlete, but enjoys lifting weights. She generally wears loose, long pants past the ankles, a long-sleeve, fitted shirt with a loose T-shirt over it, and a hijab, or head scarf, covering her hair. “It’s what I believe in. It’s what I’ve chosen to do,” Abdullah told CNN this month about her decision to wear modest garb. “I’ve always dressed this way publicly.”

The review was prompted by the Atlanta resident wanting to take part in tournaments in the United States, including one coming up in July. But USA Weightlifting informed her that those events are governed by IWF rules, which at that time precluded her dressing in keeping with her beliefs.

Abdullah says she understands the need to make sure she isn’t wearing anything under her clothes to give her a competitive advantage. She says judges could check to make sure she is not wearing something on her elbows, for example, that might help her.

Abdullah told CNN her effort is not just about herself. “I should at least try,” she said, “if not for me then maybe for other women who – if they have my faith or another faith – dress a certain way.”

CNN, 30 June 2011

US Muslim woman sues Abercrombie over hijab ban

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Abercrombie__FitchA US Muslim woman sued Abercrombie & Fitch, accusing the clothing retailer of firing her for refusing to remove her religious head scarf, a Muslim advocacy group said.

Hani Khan of San Mateo, California, alleged that store managers had told her to remove her hijab as part of the clothing chain’s “Look Policy,” the Council of American-Islamic Relation (CAIR) said in a statement. Khan was fired from her job at an Abercrombie & Fitch store in California in February 2010, after working there for four months, when she refused to comply with the managers’ request, according to CAIR.

“When I was asked to remove my scarf after being hired with it on, I was demoralized and felt unwanted,” Khan said. “Growing up in this country where the Bill of Rights guarantees freedom of religion, I have felt let down.”

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Muslim woman accuses Air France of discrimination

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Air France logoA Virginia woman accused Air France of getting her terminated from the job she held briefly at Dulles International Airport because of her religion. “The hijab, to me, it’s empowerment,” 19-year-old Riham Osman said. “When people, men and women, talk to me, they’re looking at my personality, they’re listening to what I’m saying, they know that I stand for something.”

Osman is a proud Muslim from Herndon who wears a head scarf, or hijab, as a sign of her faith – a sign of her faith that she says got her fired from Air France. According to the copy of her contract she was hired by the staffing agency Aerotek to be a passenger service agent for Air France at Dulles. “I think the fact that I was hired at first with my scarf on shows that Aerotek hired me according to my [qualifications],” Osman said.

On June 2, Osman’s first day of work, an Air France supervisor pulled her from her training session demanding she speak with the person who hired her at Aerotek, Osman said. “He said that apparently Air France has an issue with the scarf that they will not allow me to work  because it violates their uniform policy,” Osman said.

Refusing to take it off, Osman left the airport in tears. Soon after, she contacted the Council on American-Islamic Relations for help. Noting the ongoing controversy in France about the legality of wearing a hijab, CAIR filed a complaint and sent a letter to Air France saying in part, “It is clear that a discriminatory dress code implemented in France would not supersede American laws protecting the religious rights of employees. Air France must follow American law and grant reasonable religious accommodations for its employees.”

A spokesperson for Air France acknowledged the company received a letter from CAIR but would say only that Air France is investigating.

After being notified about the situation, Aerotek said it asked Air France to make an exception to the dress code policy for Osman. “Air France declined to make this accommodation and instructed us to end her assignment at Air France,”read a statement from Aerotek.

Osman hopes travelers will boycott Air France until she gets an apology.

NBC Washington, 23 June 2011

New CAIR, UC Berkeley report documents growing Islamophobia in U.S.

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Same Hate New TargetThe Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the University of California, Berkeley’s Center for Race and Gender today released a report based on available data and interviews with experts that documents growing Islamophobia in the United States and offers recommendations about how to challenge the troubling phenomenon.

The groundbreaking report – titled “Same Hate, New Target: Islamophobia and Its Impact in the United States 2009-2010” – offers a definition of Islamophobia as a “close-minded prejudice against or hatred of Islam and Muslims” and an overview of its growing negative impact in the United States. After defining the term, the report states: “It is not appropriate to label all, or even the majority of those, who question Islam and Muslims as Islamophobes.”

Special sections in the report focus on the manufactured controversy over the Park 51 Islamic community center in Manhattan, the 2010 Oklahoma ballot initiative targeting Islamic principles (Sharia) and Islamophobia in the 2010 elections.

“This report shows that Americans who embrace pluralism must act together to prevent Islamophobia from being accepted in mainstream society,” said CAIR National Legislative Director Corey Saylor, one of the report’s co-authors. “Islamophobia is the new face of an old hate that has targeted minorities throughout our nation’s history.”

CAIR press release, 23 June 2011

Download the report here.

More information on the Center for Race and Gender’s Islamophobia Research & Documentation Project here.

Update:  Or, for an alternative view, see Robert Spencer, “Hamas-linked CAIR teams up with UC Berkeley prof who called for ‘intifada’ in U.S. for defamatory ‘Islamophobia’ report”, Jihad Watch, 23 June 2011

That’s the same Robert Spencer who is described in the report as promoting “an intellectualized Islamophobia through ‘selectively ignoring’ Islamic texts and principles that do not fit his view of Islam as the enemy”.

The report also notes: “In 2006, Spencer participated in a conference honoring anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn, who sought to legalize government discrimination in the Netherlands. Spencer proudly highlights his participation in this conference among his ‘Notable Speaking Engagements’. Fortuyn’s anti-Muslim views and the resulting backlash against Muslims living in the Netherlands are noted in the Department of State’s International Religious Freedom Reports for 2002 and 2005.”