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CBS Atlanta Reporter - October 23, 2009
Expansion of mosque in Lilburn, Georgia opposed
By Mike Paluska
LILBURN, GA -- The Dar-E-Abbas Islamic center currently sits on a small plot of land on Highway 29 and Hood Road. They want to raze the current building and build a two-story mosque.
It’s that expansion that has residents living in the area up in arms.
“I am prejudice, I just don’t like Muslims and I don’t want them taking over our neighborhood,” said one resident who lives near the mosque. He did not want to be identified for fear of retaliation. “I don’t want someone coming to my house and burning it down.”
An attorney for the mosque, Woody Galloway, told CBS Atlanta he hopes the issues residents have isn’t about religion, but, knows it is a strong possibility. “The mosque just wants to be a part of this community and make it better,” Galloway said.
In order for the mosque to expand they must rezone from residential to commercial. That rezoning is what residents are fighting against and followers of the mosque are fighting for.
The plans include building a 10,000 square foot worship building. The building is modeled after a shrine in Karbala Iraq, for the Shrine of Abbas. The mosque also wants to be an 8,400 square foot indoor sports facility. The site has been occupied by the mosque for the past 11 years. In that time membership has grown from 10 to 70 with attendance of 250 or more during special religious ceremonies. A cemetery is also in the plans.
“I don’t have a problem with it being a place of faith I have a problem with it being a cemetery,” Resident Rod Oaks said. According to the letter filed with the rezoning office the cemetery would only take up 1 acre of the 8 acre site...
http://www.cbsatlanta.com/news/21406971/detail.html#
USA Today – October 26, 2009
‘Flying while Muslim’ is no reason
to detain or remove passengers
Ibrahim Hooper
The recent settlement in the case of the six imams, or Islamic religious leaders, who said their rights were violated in 2006 when they were removed from a US Airways flight in Minnesota should not prevent anyone from acting on legitimate security concerns. But reports based solely on anti-Muslim or anti-Arab bias and hysteria should not be used as the basis for a "flying while Muslim" incident.
Absent actual suspicious behavior, merely offering one of the five-daily Islamic prayers in a terminal, speaking Arabic to a fellow passenger, wearing a head scarf, or "looking Muslim" is insufficient justification to detain passengers or remove them from a flight.
In July, a federal judge agreed that the imams' actions before the 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," and said "similar behavior by Russian Orthodox priests or Franciscan monks would likely not have elicited this response."
American Muslims are just as concerned about flight safety and security as citizens of other faiths. They and their families take the same flights and are subject to the same risks as other members of the travelling public.
Flight safety should be based on legitimate law enforcement techniques, not on racial or religious profiling.
Our nation's civil rights movement has been advancing steadily for decades, despite calls to maintain the status quo or suggestions to curtail the rights of certain citizens. That movement toward justice for all must not be put into reverse because of post-9/11 fears. When anyone's rights are diminished, all Americans' rights are threatened.
America is an increasingly diverse society in terms of race, religion and ethnicity. The best way to react to that increased diversity, and to prevent situations in which stereotypes or bias can create a snowball effect of escalating discrimination, is to learn more about the faith and background of our fellow Americans.
Our nation's history has been marred by periods in which groups — whether Irish Americans, African Americans, Japanese Americans, or others — were deemed appropriate targets for discrimination.
Thankfully, Americans are capable of looking beyond the prejudices of the moment to see a future of equal treatment for all.
(Ibrahim Hooper is national communications director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR))
CAIR – October 27, 2009
California Muslims join rally against Neo-Nazis
ANAHEIM, CA, October 27, 2009 - The Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA), along with members of the Riverside Muslim community, joined a rally on Saturday against neo-Nazis who had gathered to protest undocumented day laborers.
The organizers of the counter-protest said more than 600 members of diverse faiths and backgrounds joined the rally to speak out against the hatred and bigotry espoused by the neo-Nazis.
CAIR-LA Executive Director Hussam Ayloush, who attended the rally with his children, said:
“It’s important for all Americans -- whether Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Asian, Latino, African-American, or other -- to strongly and vehemently speak out against the hatred and bigotry of those who seek to dehumanize others.
“I brought my teenage children with me to the counter-protest to make sure they never take for granted the sacrifices of early civil rights activists such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and Cesar Chavez.
“With the continued economic downturn, anti-immigrant and racist groups are increasingly promoting anti-immigrant sentiment by unfairly blaming immigrants documented or otherwise for ‘stealing’ American jobs.
“CAIR-LA rejects such scapegoating and calls for immigration reforms that preserve the dignity and respect of immigrants and their families.”
The neo-Nazi group, National Socialist Movement, held a rally last month but was met with hundreds of counter-protesters. Earlier this month, Jewish worshipers at Temple Beth El in Riverside were intimidated and harassed by neo-Nazis who held signs and flags bearing Nazi swastikas in front of the synagogue.
The counter-protest was organized by 50 community organizations, including CAIR-LA and the Islamic Center of Riverside.
Star Tribune - October 27, 2009
Ellison denounces campaign against CAIR
By Eric Roper
Speaking on the House floor last night, Rep. Keith Ellison read a statement denouncing a group of conservative lawmakers who think an Islamic group may be sending spies into Congress.
The statement, which was co-authored by several minority caucuses, criticized four representatives for seeking an investigation into the Council on American-Islamic Relations in response to claims in a new book, "Muslim Mafia," that CAIR is trying to plant interns on Capitol Hill.
One of the representatives calling for the investigation, North Carolina Republican Sue Myrick, wrote the forward to the book. Ellison, the first Muslim member of Congress, called the allegations "racist." Ellison related the probe to McCarthyism in the 1950s.
"These charges smack of an America 60 years ago where lists of `un-American' agitators were identified," Ellison said. "We should be affirming the importance of diversity and tolerance for all interns and staff who serve in Congress without suspicion of being identified as `spies.' "
"The idea that we should investigate Muslim interns as spies is a blow to the very principle of religious freedom that our Founding Fathers cherished so dearly," he added. "If anything, we should be encouraging all Americans to engage in the U.S. political process, to take part in, and to contribute to, the great democratic experiment that is America."
http://www.startribune.com/blogs/66459447.html
Text of Ellison’s statement
Madam Speaker, I come here to read a statement that was recently issued by an organization here in our own Congress, our own body, known as the Tri-Caucus. The Tri-Caucus includes members of the Black Caucus, Hispanic Caucus and the Asian Caucus, and is made up of about 87 Members of this body.
The statement says as follows:
``Four of our colleagues, Representatives JOHN SHADEGG of Arizona, PAUL BROUN of Georgia, TRENT FRANKS of Arizona and SUE MYRICK of North Carolina recently requested the House Sergeant at Arms to launch an investigation of the civil rights group CAIR, or Council on American-Islamic Relations, to determine whether it was placing staff and interns in key congressional offices who they fear are acting as `spies.'
``This proposed investigation coincides with the launch of a book by Dave Gaubatz, an anti-Islamic activist and author of the book `Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld that's Conspiring to Islamize America.' It features an introduction by Representative Myrick and was written after Gaubatz posed as an intern at CAIR in an effort to `infiltrate' the group.
``These charges smack of an America 60 years ago where lists of `un-American' agitators were identified. We should be affirming the importance of diversity and tolerance for all interns and staff who serve in Congress without suspicion of being identified as `spies.'
``The idea that we should investigate Muslim interns as spies is a blow to the very principle of religious freedom that our Founding Fathers cherished so dearly. If anything, we should be encouraging all Americans to engage in the U.S. political process, to take part in, and to contribute to, the great democratic experiment that is America.
``We all have experienced the sting of discrimination and we know that there will be challenges ahead. But our message should be firm that the America we believe in welcomes people of all backgrounds to the U.S. Congress.
``We ask these charges be disavowed and we issue a hearty welcome to interns and staff of all creeds, color, ethnicities and sexual orientation.''
I read this statement and will submit it for the Record and again thank the leadership of the Tri-Caucus, Congresswoman BARBARA LEE, Congresswoman, NYDIA VELAZQUEZ and Congressman MIKE HONDA.
I thank all of them.
http://www.c-spanarchives.org/congress/?q=node/77531&id=9049702
The Argus – October 30, 2009
Clinic to Muslim doctor: Its policy bars headscarf
Plano, Texas, October 30, 2009 —A Muslim doctor interviewing for a job at a suburban Dallas medical clinic says officials there told her she couldn't wear her headscarf in the workplace.
Dr. Hena said today that she was shocked when CareNow officials told her that a no-hat policy extended to her hijab.
The 29-year-old doctor wants an apology and a change in CareNow's policy.
However, CareNow President Tim Miller says he sees nothing wrong with the policy and feels no need to apologize. In a statement, his company says it does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, religion or national origin in employment decisions.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations calls CareNow's policy "a blatant violation" of federal law.
http://www.insidebayarea.com/nation-world/ci_13680482
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