SAN FRANCISCO — Global shipping company UPS violated federal law when it allowed supervisors and coworkers to discriminate against and harass an employee for being Arab and Muslim, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed today. The suit also alleged UPS illegally retaliated against the worker after he reported the harassment to the company, his union and the EEOC.
Category Archives: USA
CAIR releases profile of Islamophobe Pamela Geller
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today released the second in a series of Islamophobe profiles documenting the individuals and organizations involved in spreading anti-Muslim bias in the United States.
This profile examines Pamela Geller, the “caustic mouthpiece” of the Islamophobia movement. She was cited today in an exclusive report by Reuters news agency exposing the American anti-Islam groups that support the extremist anti-Muslim views of Dutch politician Geert Wilders. Geller is also the person behind anti-Islam public advertisements going up in cities nationwide.
U.S. groups helped fund Dutch anti-Islam politician Wilders
Anti-Islam groups in America have provided financial support to Dutch politician Geert Wilders, an anti-immigration campaigner who is seeking re-election to the Dutch parliament this week.
While this is not illegal in the Netherlands, it sheds light on the international connections of Wilders, whose Freedom Party is the least transparent Dutch parliamentary group and a rallying point for Europe’s far right.
Wilders’ party is self-funded, unlike other Dutch parties that are subsidized by the government. It does not, therefore, have to meet the same disclosure requirements.
10 myths about Muslims in the West
Doug Saunders, author of the recently published book The Myth of the Muslim Tide: Do Immigrants Threaten the West?, debunks 10 common myths about Muslims in the West.
Huffington Post, 10 September 2012
Not that this will prevent the likes of Bruce Bawer and FrontPage Magazine continuing to publish ridiculous articles about the impending Muslim demographic conquest of Europe.
California governor signs law protecting Sikhs, Muslims, from workplace bias
California employers face new restrictions against shunting Sikh and Muslim workers to backroom jobs out of public view based on their wearing of turbans, beards and hijabs, under a law signed Saturday by Gov. Jerry Brown.
“This bill, AB 1964, makes it very clear that wearing any type of religious clothing or hairstyle, particularly such as Sikhs do, that that is protected by law and nobody can discriminate against you because of that,” Brown told some 400 Sikhs and supporters at a rally of the North American Punjabi Assn. on the steps of the Capitol.
Anti-Islam ads on San Francisco buses put Muslims at risk
“Geller’s ads demonize Muslims at a time when they are under attack. As an educator, I fully support free speech and the open exchange of ideas. But hate speech like the bus ads has a destructive, cumulative impact on society. The term ‘savages’ has been used to demonize people of color and marginalize them throughout this country’s history.”
An excellent piece by Hatem Bazian condemning Pamela Geller’s racist anti-Palestinian advertising campaign on San Francisco buses and their role in aggravating a situation where the US Muslim community is the victim of hatred and physical assaults.
A planned mosque inches along, but critics remain
The New York Times reports on the fight to build a mosque at Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, in the face of continuing Islamophobic opposition.
Pamela Geller is not happy: “Look at this mosquestrosity; you don’t have to be rocket scientist to see that this Muslim Brotherhood beachhead should never have been built on this street. Where is the money coming from to pay for this fortress?”
Plan for suburban Detroit mosque draws resistance
Jeff Karoub reports on the Islamophobic campaign against the sale of a former school building in the Detroit suburb of West Bloomfield to the local Islamic Cultural Association.
Geller accuses Washington’s National Geographic Museum of promoting Islamization of the West
Anti-Muslim organizer Pamela Geller has joined forces with Justice Department attorney and author, J. Christian Adams, in a scathing critique of a National Geographic Museum exhibit on the contributions of Muslim scientists, the Washington City Paper reports.
The exhibit, called “1,001 Inventions: Discover the Golden Age of Muslim Civilization,” debuted at the Washington, D.C. museum in August and will stay through February. Featuring a video starring Academy-Award winning actor Ben Kingsley, as well as various interactive displays, “1,001 Inventions” aims to explore basic science principles in fields such as optics, time-keeping, hydraulics, navigation, architecture, and math, according to its website.
Geller recently posted an article on her popular blog, Atlas Shrugs, in which she called the exhibit “Islamist propaganda” and “fabricated.”
Protesters denounce Geller ads, call on New York transport authority to take action
WHITE PLAINS — As supporters held up signs protesting Islamophobia, a coalition of community leaders and residents gathered downtown Thursday to denounce anti-Muslim advertisements posted at Metro-North stations throughout Westchester County.
The coalition revealed its plan to counter the anti-Islamic campaign, calling on Metro-North to distance itself from the advertisement and donate revenue earned from its publication to an organization that combats extremism.
Paid for by the American Freedom Defense Initiative – a group led by Pamela Geller – the ads associate the religion of Islam with 19,250 terrorist attacks carried out by extremists since Sept 11, 2001. Printed in large block lettering on a dark background, an asterisk denotes that number is rising, and a slogan below reads: “It’s not Islamophobia, it’s Islamorealism.”
“The bigotry and hate this ad directs at Muslims and Islam is totally unacceptable in Westchester or anywhere else,” said Priscilla Read, a community activist who helped organize the event. “Our purpose is to raise awareness about what this ad represents, and mobilize action in support of our Muslim neighbors.”