Tom Griffin examines “the growing collusion between American neoconservatives and the European far right in stirring up hatred of Muslims”.
Category Archives: USA
‘Flying While Muslim’ website launched
A Web site, called “Flying While Muslim,” has been launched to seek support for the six American imams (Islamic religious leaders) who say their rights were violated in 2006 when they were removed from a US Airways flight in Minnesota and arrested.
The “Flying While Muslim” site offers background information and updates about the six imams case and about racial and religious profiling of airline travelers. It also seeks donations to support the legal challenge to the airline.
“As this case goes forward, it is important that the six imams have the full support of the community and of all people of conscience who value civil rights and respect the Constitution,” said Omar T. Mohammedi, one of the imams’ attorneys.
In July, a judge in Minnesota sided with the imams on key issues in their lawsuit against those involved in their removal from the plane. U.S. District Judge Ann Montgomery cleared the way for a trial by denying several motions to dismiss the case and ruling that a law passed by Congress after the incident does not grant protection from lawsuits to those sued by the imams.
Judge Montgomery also ruled that the actions of the imams prior to their flight did not justify their detention. She noted that the imams were subjected to “extreme fear and humiliation of being falsely identified as dangerous terrorists.”
Abercrombie & Fitch sued over discrimination against hijab-wearing US Muslim
A popular national chain of clothing stores is being sued by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for allegedly not hiring a Muslim Tulsa teenager because she wears a hijab, a religiously mandated head scarf.
The EEOC filed the lawsuit Wednesday against Abercrombie & Fitch in U.S. District Court in Tulsa, citing the Civil Rights Act of 1964, modified in 1991, as the basis for the action.
The suit says that Samantha Elauf, 17, applied in June 2008 for a sales job at the Abercrombie Kids store in Woodland Hills Mall. A district manager allegedly told her that the hijab, which Elauf wears in observance of her religious beliefs, did not fit the store’s image.
Anti-Islamic demonstrators mark 9/11 with march
The Dove World Outreach Center, a Gainesville church known for its anti-Islamic message, staged a march and demonstration in front of the Oaks Mall on Friday afternoon.
About 30 participants weaved their way through the mall parking lot and went out on the sidewalk on Newberry Road shortly after 5 p.m. They were wearing T-shirts with the slogan “Islam is of the devil” on the back and carrying signs saying such things as “Jesus is not a liberal,” “Islam Kills” and “Jesus is the only way.”
Senior Pastor Terry Jones said they wanted to memorialize Sept. 11, the people who died that day and the military, and to spread the church’s message.
He said they had planned on going into the mall but the Gainesville police told them earlier in the week that they would be arrested for trespassing if they did.
The demonstrators sang Christian hymns, the national anthem and the Lee Greenwood song “God Bless the USA.”
Some motorists honked horns. One man, who did not wish to be identified, stopped to debate the demonstrators, asking why they were so confrontational.
Meanwhile, on the Bo Diddley Community Plaza in downtown Gainesville, members of the Muslim Association of North Central Florida wore shirts with the message “Muslims Serving Society” as they served meals to about 60 to 100 homeless people.
“Helping the poor and serving the needy is one of the principles of Islam so we try to do it,” said Farouk Dey, a member of the Muslim Association of North Central Florida.
“Helping the poor and serving the needy is one of the principles of Islam so we try to do it,” said Farouk Dey, a member of the Muslim Association of North Central Florida. The organization, along with the local chapter of the national Muslim organization Project Downtown, serves the meals each Saturday but decided this week to move the meals to Friday to commemorate the Sept. 11th anniversary.
“As a Muslim community in America we are trying to send a message to our American brothers and sisters that (Sept. 11th) does not define us,” Dey said. “We are a peaceful religion.”
, along with the local chapter of the national Muslim organization Project Downtown, serves the meals each Saturday but decided this week to move the meals to Friday to commemorate the Sept. 11th anniversary.
“As a Muslim community in America we are trying to send a message to our American brothers and sisters that (Sept. 11th) does not define us,” Dey said. “We are a peaceful religion.”
Gainesville Sun, 11 September 2009
Richard Bartholomew uncovers Axis of Evil
Most Americans believe Muslims are discriminated against
The percentage of Americans who believe Islam encourages violence has declined in recent years but remains far above where it was in 2002, while very basic knowledge about the faith has shown modest increases, according to a new survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.
The poll’s findings, released ahead of the eighth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, come against the backdrop of President Barack Obama’s attempts to reach out to the Islamic world and eroding public support for the war in Muslim Afghanistan as U.S. combat deaths there rise to record levels.
Most Americans also believe Muslims are discriminated against, a finding that suggests empathy for a community whose leaders often say they are regarded with suspicion and hostility.
The nationwide survey of over 4,000 adults in August found that 58 percent of Americans believe Muslims face a lot of discrimination in the United States. By contrast the same numbers for atheists and Mormons are 26 and 24 percent respectively.
“The fact that Americans believe Muslims face a lot of discrimination is a substantial finding … It is sort of like the public looking at itself in the mirror and there is some empathy for a group facing discrimination,” said Michael Dimock, an associate director at the Pew Research Center.
See also “Muslims widely seen as facing discrimination”, Pew Research Center, 9 September 2009
Download the report here.
CAIR concerned by ‘spike’ in anti-Muslim incidents in Ramadan
A prominent national Islamic civil rights and advocacy organization today expressed concern about a recent “spike” in reports of anti-Muslim incidents nationwide during or just prior to the month of Ramadan. The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said the most recent incident involved a hate-motivated attack on a Muslim family’s home in Oregon.
“We are concerned that the rising level of anti-Islam rhetoric in our society is contributing to this apparent spike in hate crimes targeting Muslims or those perceived to be Muslim,” said CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad. “Our nation’s leaders must speak out against the increasing use of anti-Islam hate speech on the Internet, on talk radio and in editorial pages.”
Feminists face off over the veil
“You might notice that as this conflagration spreads, more and more conservatives – many of whom do not identify as feminists – are rushing in to stoke the fire. As they do, the discussion becomes less about defending women’s rights and more about supporting their ongoing culture war. That reminds me of a line from Wolf’s essay: ‘Ideological battles are often waged with women’s bodies as their emblems, and Western Islamophobia is no exception’.”
Tracy Clark-Flory examines the debate between Naomi Wolf and Phyllis Chesler.
US mayor forwarded anti-Muslim email
Clarksville Mayor Johnny Piper forwarded an e-mail this morning that urges “patriotic Americans” to protest a U.S. Postal Service stamp commemorating two Islamic holidays.
According to a copy of the e-mail obtained by The Leaf-Chronicle, Piper forwarded the e-mail, which had been forwarded several times previously, without comment. Piper sent the e-mail to every City Council member, every department head, and numerous other city employees, friends and family members.
The e-mail falsely claims that the stamp is new, and its creation was ordered by President Barack Obama. In fact, the stamp was first issued in 2001, and was reissued in 2002, 2006, 2007 and 2008.
The e-mail asks readers to remember a series of what it calls “Muslim” terrorist attacks. For example, “Remember the MUSLIM bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993!” After listing a series of similar comments, the e-mail concludes, “To use this stamp would be a slap in the face to all those AMERICANS who died at the hands of those whom this stamp honors.”
Piper today defended forwarding the e-mail, saying he sent it on as “information,” for others to read and make their own conclusions about.
US Islamophobes’ heroine lied about seeing Muslim student sit during Pledge
Fervent patriots held Heather Lawrence up as a hero. When her story broke last week, bloggers and online commenters praised the 16-year-old junior and JROTC member at Springstead High School for confronting a Muslim student for not standing during the Pledge of Allegiance.
Lawrence, however, fabricated that part of the story, school officials say. “This girl lied,” Springstead principal Susan Duval said Monday. “I have confirmed with the homeroom teacher the young (Muslim) lady stood for the pledge.”
Lawrence said she was walking by another homeroom Wednesday morning when she saw a girl with the traditional Muslim head scarf sitting during the pledge. Later, Lawrence said she confronted the girl, told her she should stand during the pledge out of respect and, according to her own account and a school report, said, “Take that thing off your head and act like you’re proud to be an American.”
A teacher witnessed the confrontation and Lawrence was suspended for five days for violating the district’s policy against bullying and harassment. The suspension has since been reduced to three days.
After the incident, Heather Lawrence was asked by a teacher why she confronted the girl. “She began to rant that she was enlisting and was going to Iraq and that basically because the girl looks Middle Eastern, that makes her an enemy because all Iraqis are Middle Eastern,” according to the referral signed by assistant principal Stephen Crognale.
The story, reported by the Times and other local media Friday, went viral, prompting some praise for Lawrence for speaking her mind and boos for school officials for quelling her free-speech rights. Duval said the school has received calls from angry people who have “abused” her staff.