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CAIR – November 23, 2009
Muslim student in Maine allowed to pray
WASHINGTON, D.C., Nov 23, 2009 - The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today announced that a Muslim student in Maine will be allowed to exercise her constitutionally-protected right to pray between classes.
The 7th-grade student at Lewiston Middle School in Lewiston, Maine, was allegedly told not to pray on school property. Today, the student told CAIR that she was informed by school officials that she would be allowed to pray in a private area. In fact, two other Muslim students joined the girl in prayer today at the school.
“We are pleased that students of all faiths at this school will have their religious rights protected,” said CAIR Civil Rights Manager Khadija Athman.
Brandweek - Nov 23, 2009
Best Buy Wishes Muslims Happy Eid al-Adha
Todd Wasserman
Best Buy stands by its decision to wish U.S. Muslims a Happy Eid Al-Adha, a rep for the company said, and though some Best Buy customers took offense, a Muslim advocacy group praised the move.
The retailer got some flak this week for including, along with its circular advertising Thanksgiving Day sales, a note saying "Happy Eid Al-Adha," which refers to a holiday of sacrifice for followers of Islam on Nov. 27 this year. After TechCrunch ran an item about the circular, some claimed offense and said they'd take their business elsewhere. "I spent about $3,000 with . . . your store. I will be shopping somewhere else," one consumer wrote on Best Buy's Web forum. "BB has the Muslims covered with the 'Happy Eid,' but what about the rest of us Americans?" wrote another. "Do we get a 'Happy Thanksgiving'?"
(The American Family Association, a Christian advocacy group, has singled out` Best Buy for using "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas." Best Buy rep Lisa Svac Hawks, however, didn't agree with the claim, saying: "You will see more of Christmas in our holiday messaging. Christmas will be included in our insert and online. We have 'Merry Christmas' on our gift cards, too. In addition. we have developed the Christmas Morning simulator as an online interactive game.")
Not everyone was dismissive. "Stop with the hatin' and happy Eid," wrote one TechCrunch commentor. "For every anti-BB post, I'm going to spend $1 there," wrote another.
Hawks explained the thought behind the greeting: "Best Buy's customers and employees around the world represent a variety of faiths and denominations. We respect that diversity and choose to greet our customers and employees in ways that reflect their traditions," she said.
Ahmed Rehab, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said he could not recall when any American retailer mentioned the holiday in its ads. "It makes perfect business sense to acknowledge and celebrate a holiday that one out of four people celebrate," Rehab said.
Best Buy's not the only retailer to be criticized for its holiday advertising this year. The AFA is calling for a boycott of Gap because the company has downplayed the word "Christmas" with a campaign that states: "Go Christmas, Go Hanukkah, Go Kwanzaa, Go Solstice," and beckons consumers to "86 the rules."
http://www.brandweek.com/bw/content_display/news-and-features/direct/e3i34ed23c06f1a45805a365ba41d797ae7
Gotham Gazette – November 23, 2009
School holiday issue sends Muslims to NY city hall
By Farah Akbar
Isabel Bucaram of Astoria, Queens, didn’t want her 6-year-old daughter, Huyam, to miss her class trip to the Nutcracker ballet, but she could find no other alternative. The trip coincided with the Muslim holiday of Eid-ul-Fitr, one of the holiest days in Islam, and Bucaram wanted her daughter to participate in the day's religious festivities. "It was upsetting for her not to share in that field trip with her teachers and friends," Bucaram recalled.
Not wanting her daughter or any other Muslim child to miss out on a day of school because of a religious holiday ever again, Bucaram last winter become involved in the movement to have Muslim holidays recognized by the New York City Department of Education. Until then, Bucaram’s political knowledge had revolved mostly around national politics. But once she started working with the Coalition for Muslim School Holidays, a group of over 80 labor, community, faith, and civil rights organizations, she was meeting with City Council members James Gennaro and Peter Vallone Jr., and learning about what it take to change policy.
Bucaram is not alone. More Muslims are getting involved in the political process than ever before, many spurred by the Muslim school holiday issue, according to Faiza Ali, community director for the Council on American Islamic Relations and a member of the coalition’s steering committee. "The issue of Muslim school holidays has mobilized the community in a great way," she said. "Across the five boroughs, community members have participated in the civic process testifying at hearings in City Hall and lobbying their elected officials, some for the first time, to support this cause."
Muslims in the Schools
The Muslim population in New York City numbers around 600,000 according to a study by Columbia University. Peter Awn, the dean of Columbia’s School of General Studies, characterizes Muslims as one of the fastest growing religious communities in New York City. Muslim New Yorkers hail from all parts of the globe, and an estimated 10 percent of the city's 1.1 million public school students are of the Muslim faith. Approximately 90 percent of Muslim children in the city attend public schools.
The movement to make the New York City Department of Education recognize the holidays of Eid-ul-Fitr, which marks the end of the month of Ramadan, and Eid-ul-Azha, which is the culmination of the yearly hajj to Mecca, began a few years ago when concerned parents like Bucaram decided that they should not have to choose between their children’s education or their religion.
This summer, the City Council's education committee voted overwhelmingly in favor of a non-binding resolution to close all public schools on Eid-ul-Azha and Eid-ul-Fitr. The full council approved the resolution in a voice vote.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, though, indicated his opposition to the proposal. "One of the problems you have with a diverse city is that if you close the schools for every single holiday, there won’t be any school," he said last summer.
The coalition’s Faiza Ali disagreed. "Giving days off for the Eids does not mean fewer days in school," she said. She maintains that recognition of the holidays would alter the school calendar only slightly since Muslims follow a lunar calendar. Thus, the holidays may fall on a weekend, on a school holiday or during a recess in any given year, as was the case this year when Eid-ul-Fitr fell on a Sunday.
Ali acknowledged that there will be instances when the Eids will fall on what would normally be school, but said the Department of Education has various methods to close for the two holidays and not decrease the overall amount of time in school.
Political Muscle
Muslims must be resolute in order to achieve victory on the holidays, according to Amy Sugimori of La Fuente, an organization that advocates for workers’ and immigrants’ rights. "They must demand an answer from Mayor Bloomberg," she said.
The New York Civic Participation Project, which works with La Fuente and other groups, played a major role in educating Muslims about voting and the political process. The project has organized voter registration drives in collaboration with neighborhood mosques in Queens and Brooklyn.
Sugimori, who oversaw the voter registration drives, said Muslims "were really into the idea that they needed to be full participants in civic participation."
La Fuente's members, most of whom are of Latino descent, have shared their experiences with Muslims members. Sugimori believes that hearing the stories of how other communities overcame injustice "resonated with the Muslim community." "We have all fought to be able to vote," she said. "We all should exercise this right."
Prior to November's municipal election, the New York chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations held 10 voter registration drives to encourage Muslims to vote and fielded calls from community members asking for information on how to register to vote, the primaries, the candidates and elections…..
http://www.gothamgazette.com/article/education/20091123/6/3108
Oregon Mosque Targeted with Hate Graffiti
WASHINGTON, D.C., November 30, 2009 - The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today reported that hate graffiti was scrawled on the mailbox of a Eugene, Ore., mosque.
CAIR said a police report indicates that vandals wrote “Allah is a pig” on the Abu-Bakr As-Siddiq Islamic Center‘s mailbox sometime on or before November 15th. Local police say they view the incident as a bias crime.
Earlier this month, CAIR called for an investigation of a possible bias motive for repeated vandalism at a North Carolina mosque.
CAIR also called on the FBI to investigate the bias-motivated vandalism of a Houston, Texas, mosque in which anti-Islamic remarks were scrawled on the walls of the facility.
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