Category Archives: USA

Nebraska Muslim workers faced ‘unlawful harassment’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Muslim advocates say federal officials have determined a Nebraska meatpacking plant isn’t doing enough to accommodate the religious needs of its Muslim workers.

Representatives of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said Friday that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled this week after a nearly yearlong investigation into conditions at the Grand Island JBS Swift and Co. plant.

Hundreds of Muslim workers walked off the job there last fall, saying they wanted time to pray during the workday. That led to mass firings.

Associated Press, 28 August 2009

See also CAIR press release, 28 August 2009

Michigan courts given leeway to force veil removal

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Michigan’s Supreme Court issued an order Tuesday allowing lower state courts to “exercise reasonable control” over the appearance of witnesses and parties, a rule change proposed after a Muslim woman refused to remove an Islamic garment in a small claims court.

The order allows courts “reasonable control over the appearance of parties and witnesses” so as to “ensure that the demeanor of such persons may be observed and assessed by the fact-finder and ensure the accurate identification of such person.”

The order, which amends a rule of the Michigan Rules of Evidence, is effective September 1.

The amendment was prompted by a 2006 small claims case in Michigan filed by Ginnah Muhammad, who wore a niqab – a garment that covers the entire face and head, except for the eyes – to court, the order said.

CNN, 26 August 2009

See also “Woman sues, claims judge forced her to remove hijab”,CNN, 26 August 2009

FBI investigates vandalism at South Carolina mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Greenville Islamic Center

Carved into concrete, the words outside the Islamic Center in Taylors might be hard to see. “Some of our students came in with their moms,” Omer Ahmed describes. “They found written on the floor ‘Death to Muslims.” The anti-religious message was written sometime in the early morning hours Saturday.

For members like Miriam Abbad, it’s hard to see. She’s worshipped for 10 years at the center. “When they say death to Muslims, that means me, my young children, my husband, my whole family. What did we do wrong to deserve such mean words to come out?”

Unfortunately, they’re not the only ones. Just last week, vandals hit the Prince of Peach Catholic School and Church right down the road. There, they left not just works, but shattered windows from bricks too.

At Ahmed’s center, the message was written just feet from the playground. “Especially since it’s going to be a school for the children, that’s even more thoughts of what’s going to happen next,” says Abbad.

It’s too early to know if the cases are connected, but deputies and the FBI are investigating every possibility. Since both cases involve anti-religious messages, they are considered hate crimes.

It’s the Islamic Center’s 3rd incident in several years. Many years ago, someone tried to burn the center down. Now, leaders are looking into extra security and warning members to be on guard.

Interestingly enough, they’re also inviting the culprits back, so they can learn more about the faith. “This is why they have this negative and very bad view of Islam,” says Ahmed. “If they know Islam, I believe they’re going to accept it.”

If you have any information on either case, call the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office at (864) 271-5210.

WSPA, 25 August 2009

Posted in USA

Somali-American professors angered over repeated searches

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Two Somali-American scholars at the University of Minnesota say they’re outraged by what they consider invasive questioning and searches while traveling abroad this summer.

Abdi Samatar chairs the U’s geography department. He’s married to Cawo Abdi, a sociology professor. Since June, the husband and wife say they’ve been pulled aside a total of six times at airports for lengthy interviews that have lasted up to two and a half hours. They believe customs officials targeted them for being Muslim and ethnic Somalis.

Earlier this month, Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan – the “Brad Pitt of India” – made headlines around the globe when he was stopped at a New Jersey airport. Khan said, at the time, that he believed he was questioned because his Muslim name raised red flags in a post-Sept. 11 world.

But countless Somali-Americans who don’t enjoy Khan’s level of celebrity say they’ve been subjected to similar searches, called secondary inspections, upon re-entering the U.S.

Samatar and his wife are both U.S citizens with American passports. In August, they were returning from South Africa on separate flights and were steered into a waiting room at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport. “We looked at each other, and we smiled, and we said, ‘OK, let’s see where this takes us,” recalled Cawo Abdi, Samatar’s wife.

But now, Abdi said, she feels indignation. “It’s a very unpleasant experience to be interrogated for two or three hours when you have never committed a crime, when you are doing your job, and you of course care about the security of every American,” she said. “Being a citizen, I expect, and I have a right, for a certain level of protection, and I don’t feel like I’m treated like an American.”

MPR News, 24 August 2009

US pastor uses 10-year-old daughter to promote Islamophobia

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Islam is of the Devil T-shirtsGAINESVILLE — A 10-year-old girl was sent home on her first day back to school in Gainesville for wearing a shirt that was deemed offensive.

Faith Sapp wore a shirt to class Monday with the words “Islam Is Of The Devil” printed on it. The words are the same as those at an outreach center where her father serves as the pastor.

The girl’s dad let her wear the shirt, but the school says it is against the dress code. The code states that a child must dress in a way that is not offensive or inappropriate. The school board says that Sapp is not suspended or expelled and can return to school Tuesday, but she must follow the dress code.

WDBO Radio, 25 August 2009

Update:  See also the Gainesville Sun, 26 August 2009

Flying while Muslim – Bollywood actor detained at US airport

Posted on by Bob Pitt

My Name is KhanA case of life imitating art has left American diplomats scrambling to soothe relations with Bollywood’s leading film star after he was detained as he entered the United States because, he said, of his Muslim surname.

Shah Rukh Khan was held at Liberty international airport in Newark, New Jersey, on Saturday. He said that he was questioned for two hours by an official who apparently had no idea that he was grilling one of the world’s most famous men.

The actor, known as King Khan to hundreds of millions of fans across the sub-continent, told reporters: “I was really hassled at the American airport because my name is Khan. While all around people from India and Pakistan were vouching for me, these guys just wouldn’t let me through.”

Mr Khan’s eagerly awaited next film, My Name is Khan, is about an innocent Muslim’s experiences of being mistakenly identified as a terrorist in the United States in the wake of 9/11.

The suggestion that the real Mr Khan, who was named one of the world’s 50 most influential men by Newsweek magazine this year, fell victim to the same kind of racial profiling depicted in the film, has provoked outrage in India. A headline in The Times of India said: “My name is Khan? Too bad. SRK feels the heat of American paranoia.”

Times, 17 August 2009

BNP nazi guest barred from UK

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Preston WigintonA white supremacist friend of Nick Griffin, the British National Party leader, was banned from entering Britain yesterday as he headed to speak at the BNP’s Red White and Blue festival this weekend.

Preston Wiginton, one of the world’s most active nazis and antisemites, was refused entry by immigration officers at Heathrow airport under laws to keep out “undesirables”. He was to have been the star overseas guest at the BNP’s tenth RWB festival, which opens today in Derbyshire.

It was Wiginton, 44, who organised Griffin’s anti-Islam tour of three US universities at the end of October 2007. As well as financing the trip, Wiginton appealed to users of the Stormfront nazi internet forum to donate money to Griffin while he was in America.

Searchlight, 14 August 2009

Blackwater founder implicated in murder

Posted on by Bob Pitt

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAOver at The Nation Jeremy Scahill reports that former employees of Blackwater, the private military and security company that worked as a contractor for the United States government during the invasion and occupation of Iraq, have made some shocking acusations against its owner Erik Prince, including allegations of involvement in the murder of individuals who were co-operating with federal authorities investigating the company.

Among the charges against Prince is that he “views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe”, according to a declaration by one of the witnesses. The declaration continues:

“To that end, Mr. Prince intentionally deployed to Iraq certain men who shared his vision of Christian supremacy, knowing and wanting these men to take every available opportunity to murder Iraqis. Many of these men used call signs based on the Knights of the Templar, the warriors who fought the Crusades.

“Mr. Prince operated his companies in a manner that encouraged and rewarded the destruction of Iraqi life. For example, Mr. Prince’s executives would openly speak about going over to Iraq to ‘lay Hajiis out on cardboard’. Going to Iraq to shoot and kill Iraqis was viewed as a sport or game. Mr. Prince’s employees openly and consistently used racist and derogatory terms for Iraqis and other Arabs, such as ‘ragheads’ or ‘hajiis’.”

Via Lenin’s Tomb