Muslim American News Briefs, November 12, 2008

A RECLAMATION OF PEACE Groups seek end to gun crimes, honor recent victims Scott Barker, Knoxville News Sentinel, 11/10/08 Two by two, the teenage girls walked in silence through Knoxville Center mall on Sunday.

They wore green, symbolic of peace, and cream-colored headdresses, emblematic of their Muslim faith.

They also carried signs with various messages that could be boiled down to a single statement - "End gun violence."

The girls, followed by Muslim boys, a contingent of youth from Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church and various adults, about 40 people in all, then held a vigil in the center of the mall near the scaled-down house where Santa soon will be taking gift requests from young children. (MORE)

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CAIR-PA: WE ARE MUSLIMS. SO WHAT? - TOP Safdar Khwaja, TOP The News-Gazette, 11/10/08

An anti-war rally set for noon Nov. 13 at the University of Illinois Quad will launch a series of peace events.

From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. the same day, the Quad will have the Eyes Wide Open Boot Display, sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee. That evening at 6 p.m. in Room 103 of Mumford Hall, 1301 W. Gregory Drive, U, a panel discussion, "The Legacy of GI Resistance," will feature Joe Allen, author of "Vietnam: The (Last) War the U.S. Lost"; Joe Miller, UI lecturer and member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War; and Richard Stacewicz, historian and author of "Winter Soldiers: An Oral History of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War." From 7 to 8:30 p.m., there will be testimony by Iraqis and veterans of the global war on terrorism.

Event sponsors are Iraq Veterans Against the War, Vietnam Veterans Against the War, the Champaign-Urbana Arab Students Association, the American Friends Service Committee, Campus Greens, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Anti-War Anti-Racism Effort, the Campus Antiwar Network, the International Socialist Organization and Students for Justice in Palestine.

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CAIR-NJ: JERSEY NO STRANGER TO BIAS, HATE CRIMES - TOP Racial, religious intolerance spur most incidents Heather Haddon, Herald News, 11/10/08

The Hope Reformed Church in Clifton is a century-old house of worship whose members pride themselves on their neighborliness. When their new pastor arrived from Minnesota last year, the 80 congregants pitched in to restore the rambling clergy house next to the church.

But last month, parishioners did not feel so welcome on their quiet, tree-lined stretch of Burgess Place. During the night, someone sprayed a green pentagram — a symbol commonly referring to Satan — on their church's facade.

"Many of the older parishioners were upset," said Steven Wolters, 27, the pastor. "We had just painted the church white."

Clifton detectives are investigating the vandalism as a hate crime.

According to FBI figures released last week, New Jersey had the second greatest number of hate crimes in the country last year, trailing only California…

Advocates who track bias crime worry that many incidents go unreported, especially among groups who fear for their immigration status or do not know that intimidation constitutes a crime.

"Our community is not in the habit of reporting hate crimes," said Afsheen Shamsi of the New Jersey chapter of Council on American-Islamic Relation, an advocacy group. "They say, I'm Muslim, I expect that I would be targeted." (MORE)

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CAIR-MN 2ND ANNUAL BANQUET A SUCCESS - TOP

(ST. PAUL, MN, 9/10/08) - Some 200 people turned out on Saturday for the 2nd annual Banquet of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN).

Speakers for the event included James Yusuf Yee, former Muslim Army Chaplain, and author of “For God and Country: Faith and Patriotism Under Fire,” and Dr. Aminah McCloud, director of World Islamic Studies at DePaul University and author of several publications. The event also included a post-event “Meet the Authors” reception and opportunities to learn about CAIR-MN’s accomplishments in defense of civil rights over the past year.

CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties and advocacy group has 35 offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada. 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: CONTACT: CAIR-MN Communications Director Kenya McKnight, 612-483-3245; CAIR-MN Outreach Coordinator Abdul Basit, 612-201-9109; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202 488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail: ihooper@cair.com

----- NY: FBI PROBING 'OBAMA' ATTACK - TOP Agency joins investigation into alleged beating of Muslim teen after election Phil Helsel, TOP

View the video.

A Staten Island teen who is black was viciously assaulted Tuesday night in what police believe was a bias attack sparked by Barack Obama's presidential victory.

Seventeen-year-old Ali Kamara walks with a limp and has staples in his head. They are the results of a beating that he says was committed by four young men the night President-elect Obama was declared the winner.

Kamara, a high school student who is Muslim and lives in the Stapleton Section of the borough, was attacked while walking home around 10 p.m. the night of the election. He says as he approached his street, a gold car with four white men drove up behind him, with the men yelling Obama's name.

The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations has called on the FBI to launch a hate crime investigation into the assault.

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NY: FEDS JOIN PROBE INTO ELECTION DAY ATTACK ON BLACK STATEN ISLAND TEEN - TOP John Marzulli, TOP Jennifer 8. Lee, TOP Kevin Mooney, CNS News, 11/10/08

Nearly 90 percent of American Muslims supported Democrat Barack Obama on Election Day -- and did so on the basis of economic and foreign policy concerns, top Muslim groups said in Washington, D.C., Friday. Muslims overlooked differences they might have had with the President-elect’s positions on same-sex marriage and abortion, just as Catholics and other religious groups did on Tuesday, according to top officials connected with the American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights and Elections (AMT). Although most Muslims probably voted in favor of the same-sex marriage ban on the ballot in California, a position at odds with Obama's, they found enough common ground with the candidate in other areas that were central to their concerns in the 2008 election cycle, according to Mahdi Bray, executive director the Muslim-American Society Freedom Foundation. . . The AMT -- an umbrella organization that includes 11 other Islamic groups, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the American Muslim Alliance, the Islamic Circle of North America, the Muslim Alliance in North America and the Muslim Student Association-National -- gathered at the National Press Club to report on the electoral preferences of Muslim voters and their level of participation. . .

“The economy really stood out here,” Nihad Awad, the executive director of CAIR, said in an interview. “Muslims share the same concerns as other Americans about the economic picture. They are worried about losing their homes and losing credit. So it’s logical to see this result right now. I would say that civil rights are also very central.”

A survey of over 1,000 Muslims taken earlier in the year -- long before the stock market slide -- showed that civil rights and education were also top issues.

Awad called on the new president-elect to shut down the detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba as way of “restoring America’s moral standing in the world.” (MORE)

SEE ALSO: CAIR-MI: RELIGIOUS GROUPS REFLECT ON OBAMA'S WIN - TOP Some say God sent him as a uniter; others decry his views Niraj Warikoo, Detroit Free Press, 11/10/08

In the churches of many African-American Christians on Sunday, Barack Obama's election was celebrated as a triumph of racial harmony and unity. . .

Over the past year, the faith and values of Obama have been closely scrutinized and debated, with some praising his religious ideas, others decrying them. Those opposing views continued to be heard this weekend in metro Detroit places of worship, where supporters and detractors saw Obama's election victory in different ways. . .

Among some religious minorities, Obama did well. About 78% of Jewish voters chose Obama, despite strong efforts by Republicans to win over Jewish voters by linking Obama to Arab extremists. And 89% of Muslims voted for Obama, compared with only 2% for McCain, according to a survey released Friday by the American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights and Elections.

On Friday, the day of the traditional weekly sermons inside mosques, Muslim leaders said that Obama's victory was a positive sign.

At the American Muslim Center in Dearborn, Dawud Walid -- head of the Michigan branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and an assistant imam at Masjid Wali Muhammad in Detroit -- talked about the struggles of African Americans in the United States.

"It should give us hope for being more involved," Walid said in his recorded sermon. "We have to believe, and we have to get involved. If he can be elected as president, there is hope for us." (MORE)

--- CAIR-OK: MINORITY GROUPS RESPOND TO OBAMA ELECTION - TOP Bill Sherman, TOP Erika Niedowski, TOP Columbus Dispatch, 11/7/08

The Noor Islamic Cultural Center in Dublin has become the first Muslim organization to join the social-justice group Building Responsibility, Equality and Dignity, or BREAD.

The interfaith alliance of Christian and Jewish congregations works on social-justice issues such as affordable housing and health care. All 50 member congregations are in Franklin County; the group formed in 1996.

Noor was inducted, along with four Christian groups, at a ceremony yesterday.

"Our goals go with BREAD very well," said Hany Saqr, director of the mosque. "We are looking for justice in the community, and they are looking for justice in the community."

Saqr said he also appreciates the opportunity for Muslims to work alongside people of other faiths on common concerns. (MORE)

----- MI: AIRPORT LAPTOP SEIZURES ANGER MUSLIMS - TOP Gregg Krupa,

Elahi was confronted with what many local Muslims and residents of Arab descent say are increased searches and seizures of laptops at airports and border crossings without warrant or warning. Civil rights groups are challenging the tactic, as the Bush administration and citizens continue to grapple with the conflict between civil liberties and national security seven years after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

They say the laptops of Muslims, in particular, are targeted, seized and retained without any notification of the cause. Meanwhile, Elahi has been forced to spend thousands of dollars to retrieve scholarly research, contact lists, e-mails from devoted followers about intimate marital problems and photos of his family. (MORE)

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