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Asian
American bodies denounce hearings targeting Muslims
As a US
Congressional panel began a controversial hearing on the
radicalisation of Muslim Americans, several organizations
representing South Asian, Chinese, Japanese and other Asian
American communities denounced the move. .
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On March 29, Democratic Senator Dick
Durbin held the first-ever Congressional hearing on the civil rights
of American Muslims by saying a "backlash" which began after the
attacks of September 11, 2001, continues against "innocent Muslims,
Arabs, south Asians and Sikhs." American Muslims are entitled to the
same constitutional protections as other Americans, Durbin said,
adding that this is an issue of "not just free exercise of religion
but freedom of speech."
The hearing, largely ignored by the media, came just a few weeks
after a controversial high-profile hearing held by Representative
Peter King chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, on the
so-called Muslim radicalization. The New York Republican has accused
the Muslim community of refusing to cooperate with law enforcement
and charged that preaching in some U.S. mosques was leading to
radicalization.
Senator Durbin said that the goal of his hearings was to show that
most Muslim Americans “are patriotic, law abiding people who simply
want to live their life as we do.” “Many of our nation’s founders
fled religious persecution, which is why our Constitution puts great
importance on religious freedom,” Durbin said adding: “Today,
addressing anti-Muslim discrimination is an important civil rights
issue of our time. It is important for our generation to renew our
founding charter’s commitment to religious diversity and to protect
the liberties guaranteed by our Bill of Rights.”
Senator Durbin went on to say: “We should all agree that it is wrong
to blame an entire community for the wrongdoing of a few. Guilt by
association is not the American way. And American Muslims are
entitled to the same constitutional protections as every other
American.”
According to the Washington Post, the
hearing featured the same partisan sparring and many of the same
arguments as Rep. Peter King’s hearing on Muslim radicals just three
weeks ago.
Senator Lindsey Graham, the ranking Republican on the subcommittee,
said that "there are efforts to recruit radical Muslims that must be
dealt with." Graham added, "To the American Muslim community I stand
with you. But you're going to have to help your country. I'm asking
you to get in this fight."
Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), meanwhile, said that he was
“a bit perplexed by the focus of today’s hearing.”
“If we’re concerned about the most
egregious hate crimes,” he said, "Crimes against Jews and Christians
far outnumber those against American Muslims.”
Kyl also defended Rep. King’s anti-Muslim hearings,
stating, “Political correctness cannot stand in the way of
identifying those who would do us harm.”
Testifying on March 29 were four
witnesses: Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the former archbishop of
Washington; the executive director of Muslim Advocates and former
counsel to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee that dealt with civil
rights and religious profiling, Farhana Khera; Assistant Attorney
General for Civil Rights Thomas Perez; and law school dean Alex
Acosta, former assistant attorney general for civil rights under
George W. Bush.
In his testimony, McCarrick, an internationally-known voice on peace
and justice issues, drew a parallel between the experiences of
Catholics and those of American Muslims. “Catholics have been
explicit targets of the Ku Klux Klan and the Know Nothing Party,”
McCarrick said. “The very idea of a Catholic in the White House was
questioned. Because of this history, we cannot help but be sensitive
to the experiences of other religious groups who suffer prejudice,
bias and discrimination.”
Cardinal McCarrick said today, we note with particular sadness that
Muslim Americans, with whom we have had a positive ongoing dialogue
for over two decades, have had their loyalty and beliefs questioned
publicly in sweeping and uninformed ways. “This causes us great
concern and compels us to reach out in solidarity in support of
their dignity and rights as Americans and believers.”
Thomas Perez, the assistant attorney general for civil rights, told
the Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing: "We continue to see a
steady stream of violence against Muslims... The good news is that
with each wave of intolerance, our nation has responded by passing
news laws."
He said regrettably, Arab-American,
Muslim American, Sikh-American and South Asian American individuals
have become targets for those who wrongfully wish to fix blame on
members of these groups for the despicable acts of terrorists. Perez
said since 9-11, the Department of Justice has investigated more
than 800 incidents involving violence, threats, vandalism and arson
against persons perceived to be Muslim or to be of Arab, Middle
Eastern, or South Asian origin.
Farhana Khera, the executive director of Muslim Advocates, in a
20-page testimony described the anti-Muslim climate and provide
examples of American Muslims and institutions that have been
unfairly targeted.
She said that in the last several
months, anti-Muslim rhetoric has reached a disturbing new level as
“prominent religious, military and even political leaders have
joined the fray, feeding fear and hysteria, with some going so far
as to say Islam is a cult, not a religion.”
Khera pointed out that work place
discrimination against Muslims is at an all-time high. From 2008 to
2009 25 percent of all complaints to the Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission were Muslim bias-based. In addition,
community opposition to the construction of mosques has increased
and is “getting uglier.”
Not surprisingly, the hearing on protecting the civil rights of
American Muslims was criticized as a sideshow by the Republican
Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Peter King, who
organized the high-profile congressional hearing three weeks ago
into the so-called radicalization in the Muslim community.
"This just perpetuates the myth that
somehow Muslims are the victim of September 11," King, told Fox
News. King questioned why Durbin wouldn't examine civil rights
violations of other religious groups.
"The best they can do is come back
with these hearings by Senator Durbin, which is somehow trying to
create the illusion that there's a violation of civil rights of
Muslims in this country. It's absolutely untrue, and to me it makes
no sense," King said.
Read full version on:
http://www.amperspective.com/?page_id=1342
Abdus Sattar Ghazali is
the Executive Editor of the online magazine American Muslim
Perspective:
www.amperspective.com
Email: asghazali2011 (@)
gmail.com
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