The United States of Islamophobia

I'm an Atheist and do not believe in any religion. I am also anti-fascist, anti-racist and anti-bullying. Therefore I defend people who are being attacked because of their race and/or religion out of empathy for the bullied.

I am utterly disgusted by the right wing Nazis calling themselves Christian and their racist attacks on Muslim people.

Therefore I defend the right of Muslim people to the same First Amendment protections I expect for myself.

Moreover these attacks are rarely simply religion based attacks but are generally speaking racist attacks aimed at Middle Eastern people.

It is especially despicable for the Government to engage in these attacks on a minority groups human rights and freedoms based race and/or religion.

This is unacceptable and I call on all my human rights supporting readers to take an active stand against these utterly despicable attacks on a group of people chosen for vilification based on their race and religion.

From Socialist Worker: http://socialistworker.org/2012/01/19/united-states-of-islamophobia

The United States of Islamophobia

Interview: Abdul Malik Mujahid with Eric Ruder

January 19, 2012

President Barack Obama's signing of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) on December 31 shocked many people who hoped that Obama, a former constitutional law professor, would reverse the abuses routinely committed by the administration of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.

But while the NDAA--with its provisions that authorize the military, on the say-so of the president, to indefinitely detain U.S. citizens--is ominous, it certainly isn't Obama's first assault on civil liberties. After spending his presidential campaign in 2008 criticizing the Bush administration for providing a "legal" justification for torture, Obama has refused to take action against Bush-era officials for violating international law, and he has made sure the U.S. government's repressive apparatus remains in place, at home and in countries around the world.

Abdul Malik Mujahid is a leader of Muslim Peace Coalition, an organization formed in 2011 to challenge Islamophobia. He spoke with Eric Ruder about the anxiety that the NDAA has caused in the Muslim American community--and what people are doing to stand up for their rights.

WHAT WAS your reaction was when you heard that Barack Obama had signed the NDAA?

I REMEMBERED a moment when Obama was asked a question while he was still on the campaign trail and competing with Hillary Clinton. "If Dr. King were alive today, would he support you or Hillary Clinton?" someone asked. Obama took a professorial pause and then responded, "He would support neither one of us; he would be mobilizing people for his demands."

I think all those people who took his promises at face value should have considered that he is a savvy politician. And like all savvy politicians, he must be held to his promises, rather than trusted to deliver.

He has continued and in some ways strengthened the policies of abuse characteristic of the Bush era. Without a doubt, the signing of legislation that authorizes the indefinite detention of American citizens adds to this.

I'm not an economic refugee in America. I had better job, a better life, in my home country. I came here because of the Bill of Rights, because of the promise of freedom above and beyond the practice in my country. But today, it seems like there is more freedom written into the law in Pakistan than there is in the United States.

Complete article at: http://socialistworker.org/2012/01/19/united-states-of-islamophobia

From Think Progress: http://thinkprogress.org/security/2012/01/18/406061/connecticut-muslim-student-reports-sexual-harassment-gets-reported-to-fbi-for-terrorism-and-expelled-from-university/

Muslim College Student Reports Sexual Harassment, Gets Reported To FBI For Terrorism And Expelled

By Tanya Somanader

Jan 18, 2012

n 2008, African-American Muslim student Balayla Ahmad enrolled in Connecticut’s University of Bridgeport with hopes of becoming a chiropractor. Instead, she became of a victim of sexual harassment. Distressed by the repeated sexual advances and “graphic offensive comments” of a male student, Ahmad reported the harassment and “fears for her safety” to multiple teachers, who urged her to say nothing, and finally the university’s president and dean. The dean told Ahmad, “My hands are tied. What do you suggest I do?”

Rather than having her claims addressed, Ahmad received allegations of her own. Learning of her report, Ahmad’s harasser decided to falsely accuse her of terrorism to the FBI. And rather than fully investigate what was happening, the University of Bridgeport just expelled Ahmad altogether:

After reporting the sexual harassment in April 2009, Ahmad said she was approached by two university security directors who told her someone had made allegations against her and they threatened to call the FBI and have her arrested.

Later, two FBI agents knocked on Ahmad’s apartment door, questioned her and left a business card, according to the lawsuit. She said she learned that her harasser or his associates had fabricated a story falsely accusing her of being a terrorist in apparent retaliation for having made a sexual harassment complaint against him.

“Ahmad was racially profiled and discriminated against because of her race, color and ethnic identity as an African American Muslim and labeled a terrorist based on false accusations provided by the harasser and adopted without adequate investigation by the university,” the lawsuit states.

Continue reading at: http://thinkprogress.org/security/2012/01/18/406061/connecticut-muslim-student-reports-sexual-harassment-gets-reported-to-fbi-for-terrorism-and-expelled-from-university/