Opinion Editorials, March 2016

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• Sale of 'Make America Great Britain Again' Donald Trump Parody Hat to Benefit CAIR
  
  The something the MAGBA team settled on is an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign seeking to raise money for what it describes as "organizations who are doing the hard work to make America ... more diverse, safe, inclusive and pluralistic." Those organizations are the National Council of La Raza, Planned Parenthood and the Council on American-Islamic Relations. 
  • CAIR-CT: Islam Awareness Week Opens Dialogue
    
    "I am very hopeful that the young generation will be able to help overcome this wave of Islamophobia," Mongi Dhaouadi, executive director of Connecticut's Council on American-Islamic Relations, told the News after speaking during the third panel on Saturday.
  • Donald Trump Faces 'Stop Islamophobia' Protest in North Carolina
    
    The final two people escorted from the arena held three fingers in the air in a kind of salute. One of the men had on a yellow emblem reading, "Stop Islamophobia."
• Bomb Threat Closes Ohio Islamic Academy
  
  • Video: JetBlue Attendant Doesn't Like Being Stared at by Muslim Women, Calls Police to Take Them Off Plane
  • Prayer Dispute Between Somalis and Plant Reshapes a Colorado Town, Again (NY Times)
• New York's Muslims Struggle to Bury Their Dead (Al Jazeera)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CAIR-AZ Urges Lawmakers to Oppose Anti-Boycott Bill Targeting Free Speech

(PHOENIX, ARIZ. - 3/7/16) - The Arizona chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-AZ) today called on Arizona lawmakers to oppose HB 2617, which requires that the state's pension systems divest from any companies that boycott Israel, because the bill would restrict freedom of speech. HB 2617 would require companies that wish to do business with the state government to certify that they do not conduct boycotts against Israel.

Bills like HB 2617 are designed to counter and undermine boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) efforts that protest illegal Israeli settlements in Palestinian land. Critics say implementation of HB 2617 would alienate a growing number of businesses, major church denominations, charitable foundations, university student governments, labor unions, and investors who have called to boycott or take other economic measures against companies and institutions complicit in Israel's human rights abuses.

"The proposed bill violates our right to engage in free speech," said Imraan Siddiqi, CAIR-AZ's executive director. "It would be un-American to deny constituents the right to work to change the illegal and discriminatory actions of a foreign government."

He noted that boycotts supporting civil and human rights such as the Montgomery Bus boycott against segregation or the boycott of companies enabling South African Apartheid have been revered throughout American history as an integral part of our political process and means by which to participate in democracy.

CAIR-AZ also recently hosted Arizona Muslim Capitol Day where Arizona Muslims met with state legislators to discuss their concerns with HB 2617 amongst other issues.

SEE: AZ Muslim Capitol Day

CAIR-Arizona is a chapter of America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialog, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

CONTACT: CAIR-AZ Executive Director Imraan Siddiqi, 480-704-3786, isiddiqi@cair.com

• CAIR: Educators Update Anti-Bullying Messages to Protect Muslims (AP)
  
  While schools generally do not keep statistics on motivations for bullying, a survey of 600 Muslim students in California by the Council on American-Islamic Relations found in October, even before the latest attacks, that 55 percent reported facing religion-based bullying � a rate twice as high as the national average of students who report being bullied at school. Officials with the group say bullying reports spiked in recent months.
  
  Parents say that incidents often go unreported, particularly among older students, and that many families address the problem by changing schools or home-schooling.
• CAIR-Texas: Speak Up on Anti-Muslim Sentiments (San Antonio Express-News)
  
  Texans shouldn't be afraid because they are Muslims. But, as a recent Express-News article by Adam Hamze of the Hearst Austin bureau details, they are.
  In this, unfortunately, Texas is not an outlier. The FBI reports that although hate crimes have dropped nationally, those targeting Muslims have increased.
  
  The Council on American-Islamic Relations for Dallas-Fort Worth reported a call each day on discrimination, violence or harassment � up from two to three a month.
  
  Feces were smeared and a Quran defaced at the Islamic Center of Pflugerville in November. A gun was pointed at two Muslim women driving in Austin in December. Armed anti-Islamic protesters rallied outside a mosque in Irving, also in November.
• CAIR: Idaho Newspaper Slams Anti-Islam Bill introduced in Legislature
  
  The only purpose this McCarthy-style bill serves is to spread the kind of fear, hate and paranoia that represents the absolute worst about the fringe far-right increasingly finding influence in our Capitol.
  
  "It's completely disingenuous," Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said of the bill. "It's 100 percent designed to target Islam and Muslims. And it's driven by a cottage industry of Islamophobes that introduce these things nationwide."
• CAIR-MN: Some Muslim Leaders See Double Standard in Case of St. Paul Cop (MPR)
  
  "I think the Somali community, the African-American community, I think a lot of the minority communities that have been asking really tough questions of law enforcement would see that, 'Aha, yeah, this is what we've been talking about,'" said Jaylani Hussein, director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. "There is a clear double standard."
• CAIR-LA Joins Vigil for Social Justice (OC Register)
  
  Local civil rights groups, including Los Amigos of Orange County, the OC Human Relations Commission and the Council on American-Islamic Relations answered the call for peace. So did Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice and clergy from various faiths.
  • Montana Parents Try to Block Prof's School Presentation on Islam
  • When the Tide of Islamophobia Reached My Hometown Mosque (NY Times)
• CAIR: The FBI Has a New Plan to Spy on High School Kids Across the Country (Salon)
  
  The first public iteration of the U.S. counterpart to this program emerged five years ago to "address ideologically inspired violence in the Homeland," uniting a broad array of government agencies, including the FBI and Department of Homeland Security.
  
  In 2015, Attorney General Eric Holder announced a CVE summit at the White House and unrolled three "pilot programs" in Boston, Minneapolis and Los Angeles. According to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, these initiatives solely target Muslims in each of these cities.
• Will America's Olympic Flag Bearer Be Wearing a Hijab? (The New Yorker)

• CAIR Offers Condolences on Passing of Internationally-Recognized Muslim Scholar and Leader Dr. Taha Jabir Alalwani
  
  The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today offered condolences to the family and loved ones of Muslim scholar and leader Dr. Taha Jabir Alalwani, who passed away today after a long illness.
  
  "On behalf of CAIR's board and staff, we offer sincere condolences to the family and loved ones of Dr. Taha Jabir Alalwani, whose work - including the students he taught, the books he wrote and the institutions he helped establish - will benefit Muslims around the world for generations to come," said CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad. "To God we belong and to Him we return."
  
  Awad added: "Dr. Taha Jabir Alalwani was an internationally-recognized pioneering leader and reformist thinker who founded institutions and helped to advance beneficial knowledge in the U.S. and around the world.
• CAIR-FL: Central Florida's Muslims to Protest Donald Trump Rally in Orlando
  • Islamophobic Texas Lawmaker Loses Re-election by 118 Votes
  • Anti-Muslim Conspiracy Theorist Frank Gaffney is Back at CPAC After Years of Drama
  • At CPAC 2016, Fear of a Muslim Planet Dominates a Mainstream Republican Conference
• Missouri Man Charged with Threatening Muslim Family with Gun
  • Wisconsin Muslim Group Reports Increasing Incidents of Islamophobia in Schools
• CAIR-FL: Syrian Refugees Prompt Controversial Discussion at Meeting

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CAIR-WA Expresses Solidarity with Sikh Community After Desecration of Temple Mistaken for Mosque

(SEATTLE, WA, 3/4/16) � The Washington state chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-WA) today expressed solidarity with the Sikh community in that state following the vandalism and desecration of a Sikh temple in Spokane.

The Sikh Temple of Spokane was vandalized Wednesday night and early Thursday by a man who "mistakenly thought the temple was a mosque" and that the house of worship was affiliated with ISIS. [NOTE: Sikh men who wear beards and turbans as part of their faith are often targeted by bigots who mistake them for Muslims.]

Jeffrey C. Pittman, 44, was arrested Thursday morning inside the temple after a short altercation with police. Police say Pittman admitted that he broke into the temple through a side door because he was cold and hungry. Once inside, he became convinced the temple was a mosque. He allegedly defaced and ripped pages from the Sikh faith's holy text.

Pittman was charged armed burglary, malicious mischief and malicious harassment based on religious discrimination.

SEE: Spokane's Sikh Temple Vandalized, Holy Book Desecrated

In a statement, CAIR-WA Executive Director Arsalan Bukhari said:

"Hate speech leads to hate crimes. When hate speech and conspiracy theories against an American minority are constantly spread by public figures, and go unchallenged by fair-minded leaders, they foster an atmosphere that causes hate crimes. Never before in our nation's history have reported hate crimes or bias incidents targeting Muslims, or those perceived as Muslim, been as high. During most of these attacks, attackers uttered or expressed the same anti-Muslim views repeated daily by candidates and elected leaders.

"American Muslims stand with the Sikh community of Spokane and of Washington state in rejecting the intolerance and ignorance that prompts such incidents. We thank local law enforcement authorities for their prompt response and swift apprehension of the alleged perpetrator."

Bukhari noted that CAIR has repeatedly condemned attacks on and discrimination against American Sikhs.

CAIR: Chicago, National Civil Rights Organizations Seek Hate Crime Charges for Attack on Sikh American Called 'Terrorist,' 'Bin Laden'
CA: Man Charged in Racially Motivated Attack on Sikh Metro Bus Driver, Prosecutors Say

CAIR recently released a report on more than 70 incidents targeting American mosques and religious institutions in 2015 that showed a greater frequency of damage, destruction, vandalism, and intimidation than in any other year since CAIR started tracking such cases in 2009.

FBI Investigates Vandalism at Indiana Islamic Society Headquarters as Hate Crime

• CAIR-SFBA to Host Meeting Between Peninsula Area Muslims and Belmont, Burlingame and Foster City Elected Officials
  
  On Friday, March 4, the San Francisco Bay Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-SFBA) will host an "Evening with Elected Officials" event in Burlingame at the new Yaseen Foundation Center.
  
  At the event, members of the Muslim community from the Peninsula area will meet with elected officials, including the mayors, councilmembers, and chiefs of police from Belmont, Burlingame and Foster City.
• Video: CAIR-NY Urges Buffalo Muslim Teens to Come Forward Following Attack
  • CAIR-NY: Two Muslim Girls Urged To File Complaint About Egg-Throwing Incident (Buffalo News)
    
    Sadyia Khalique, director of operations of the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NY), urged the girls and their parents to report the attack to police.
• Virginia Republican Leader Delays Request for New Culpeper Mosque
  
  Christensen did not reply when asked Monday night if he suspected that the Islamic Center wanted the house for some kind of sinister activity. When asked after Tuesday's meeting if the word "Islamic" had anything to do with his concern, he replied, "That was a piece of it."
  • Feds to Recommend Oregon Mosque Arsonist Face Probation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CAIR Super Tuesday Poll Shows Muslim Voters Support Hillary Clinton, Concerned About Islamophobia
Survey shows that more older Muslim voters back Clinton, while younger Muslims support Bernie Sanders

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 3/2/16) � The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today released the results of a six-state "Super Tuesday" poll of almost 2000 Muslim voters indicating that almost half of those voters (46 percent) support Hillary Clinton, followed by Bernie Sanders at 25 percent and 11 percent support for Donald Trump.

CAIR's poll also showed that growing Islamophobia is the top issue for Muslim voters.

"American Muslim voters are worried about the unprecedented anti-Muslim rhetoric being used by presidential candidates and are going to the polls in increasing numbers at both the state and national levels to make their voices heard by the candidates," said CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad.

An exit poll of Muslim voters in Texas and Virginia indicated that Sanders narrowed Clinton's lead in those states � 34 to 40 percent in Virginia and 29 to 37 percent in Texas.

In upcoming primary elections in California, Illinois, New York, and Florida Clinton's lead over Sanders ranged from 22 percent (California) to 40 percent (New York).

The survey indicated that older Muslim voters - 65 percent of those 45 to 64 and 80 percent of those 65 and older - backed Clinton, while younger Muslim voters (18 to 24) supported Sanders (78 percent). In the 25 to 44 age group, support for Clinton and Sanders was more evenly distributed at 44 percent for Sanders and 56 percent for Clinton.

CAIR noted that Muslim support for Sanders may actually be higher because its poll surveyed more voters over the age of 45.

Nationwide, Islamophobia continued to rank as the most important issue of concern for all Muslim voters (24 percent), a partisan divide was evident with Muslim Democrats ranking Islamophobia highest (27 percent) and then the economy (19 percent), while Muslim Republicans ranked the economy (38 percent) highest followed by Islamophobia (14 percent).

Support for the Democratic and Republican Parties mostly remained constant from previous surveys with 67 percent of Muslim voters supporting the Democratic Party and 18 percent supporting the Republican Party. CAIR's February 1 poll of Muslim voters showed 67 and 15 percent respectively voiced support for the Democratic and Republican Parties.

CAIR's survey of more than 1,850 registered Muslim voters was conducted March 1 using CallFire, an independent automated call survey provider and asked the following questions:

Exit Poll Questions of Muslim Voters in Virginia and Texas:

1. "What is your gender?"
2. "What is your age?"
3. "Did you vote today in your state's primary election?"
4. "Which political party did you support today in your state's primary election?"
5. "Based on your party support which candidate did you vote for in your state's primary election?"
6. "What is the most important issue to you in the 2016 presidential election?"

Pre-Primary Poll Questions of Muslim Voters in California, New York, Illinois, and Florida:

1. "What is your gender?"
2. "What is your age?"
3. "Do you plan to vote in your upcoming state primary election?"
4. "Which political party do you plan to support in your upcoming state primary election?"
5. "Based on your party support which candidate do you plan to vote for in the upcoming state primary election?"
6. "What is the most important issue to you in the 2016 presidential election?"

On April 18, CAIR will join other members of the US Council of Muslim Organizations (USCMO), a coalition of leading national and local American Muslim organizations, at the second annual National Muslim Advocacy Day on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. USCMO recently announced a drive to register one million voters prior to the 2016 presidential election.

SEE: U.S. Muslims to Hold 2nd Annual National Capitol Hill Advocacy Day April 18, 2016
Video: U.S. Muslim Leaders Announce Campaigns to Enhance National Security, Address Islamophobia

CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.



CONTACT: CAIR Government Affairs Manager Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com;

CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com;

CAIR Communications Coordinator Nabeelah Naeem, 202-341-4171, nnaeem@cair.com

CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding. www.cair.com

Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Ave, S.E., Washington, D.C., 20003

Opinions expressed in various sections are the sole responsibility of their authors and they may not represent Al-Jazeerah & ccun.org.

editor@aljazeerah.info & editor@ccun.org