Islam & Muslims in the Post 9/11 America – 2012 Edition (PDF)

Chronology of Islam in America from 1178 to 2011 (PDF)

HEADLINES

The First Muslim Day at the CA Capitol

By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: California Muslims gathered today at the Sacramento Convention Center and the State Capitol for the first-ever Muslim Day at the Capitol.The event was organized by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a leading Muslim civil advocacy organization to discuss topics ranging from civil rights to immigration with legislators. Read More

Terrorist, a forbidden jargon when you are writing about the Norway terrorist Breivik

By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: Perhaps terrorist is a prohibited jargon when you are reporting about the Norway terrorist Anders Behring Breivik whose trial began on Monday for killing 77 people last July. He killed eight people by detonating a bomb in Oslo and a further 69 during a shooting spree at political youth camp on nearby Utoya island.  Here are sample headlines in the major American, British, Australian and New Zealand newspapers/news networks on the first and second day trial of the Norway terrorist which perhaps give credence to my argument: Read More

The politics of religious freedom

By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: A broad national coalition of more than 60 civil advocacy organizations and individuals have sent a joint letter to Senators Inouye, McConnell and Durbin expressing “deep concern” at the recent controversial appointment of Zuhdi Jasser to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). The coalition asked that Jasser’s appointment by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) be rescinded because he has been a vocal opponent of religious freedom for American Muslims. Read More

The Muslim swing vote in 2012 election

AMP Report: As the 2012 presidential election season moves into full swing, the American Muslim minority community has become a more important player on the political landscape, especially in key swing states, says a report titled Engaging American Muslims: Political Trends and Attitudes released by the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding on April 3, 2012. Read More

Another attempt to undermine established American Muslim advocacy groups

By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: In the post-9/11 America, there have been persistent efforts to undermine well established and vocal American Muslim civil advocacy organizations while promoting fringe compliant Muslim groups. The latest effort comes in the shape of the appointment of Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, founder president of one-man organization, the American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD) as a commissioner of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom which advises the president, Congress and State Department on religious rights abuses internationally. Read More

The Right Wing’s Election-Year Islamophobia

By John Feffer: A succession of Republican candidates have attempted to run to the right of party favorite Mitt Romney by asserting that only a true conservative can defeat Obama in November. Most of them boasted of the same powerful backer. Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Rick Perry, and Rick Santorum all declared that God asked them to run for higher office. Together with Newt Gingrich, they have deployed various methods of appealing to their constituencies, but none is more potent than religion. …..ugly Islamophobia has already insinuated itself into the 2012 elections in a potentially more damaging way than did the overt disparagement of Obama’s religious bona fides back in 2008. Read More

NYPD kept secret files on Muslim-owned businesses

AMP Report: The New York Police Department kept secret files on businesses owned by second- and third-generation Americans specifically because they were Muslims, according to newly obtained documents that spell out in the clearest terms yet that police were monitoring people based on religion, the Associated Press reported today. The New York police monitored Muslims in New Jersey at businesses and their mosques in a surveillance operation that was disclosed recently by The Associated Press in a series of news stories. Read More

U.S. mosques encourage civic engagement

New York, February 29, 2012: A comprehensive study of mosques and the attitudes of mosque leaders in the United States released today indicates that the number of American mosques increased 74 percent since 2000 and that Islamic houses of worship are ethnically-diverse institutions led by officials who advocate positive civic engagement.  A coalition of major American Muslim and academic organizations released the report, titled “The American Mosque 2011: Basic Characteristics of the American Mosque, Attitudes of Mosque Leaders,” at a news conference this morning at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. Read More

NYPD built secret files on NJ, Long Island mosques

AMP Report: The Associated Press reported Wednesday (2/22/2012) the New York Police Department’s (NYPD) Demographics Unit conducted surveillance operations of Muslims in Newark and on Long Island, filming and listening in on conversations where they worship, at stores and restaurants they frequent, and at places where they work. However, when the mission was concluded, the NYPD put together a 60-page report about their operations — which uncovered no evidence of terrorism or criminal behavior. Read More

Probe urged into widespread spying against Muslim students across Northeast

AMP Report: The New York Police Department monitored Muslim college students far more broadly than previously known, at schools far beyond the city limits, including the Ivy League colleges of Yale and the University of Pennsylvania, The Associated Press reported Sunday (2-19-2012). American Muslim civil advocacy groups have expressed concern over the spying of Muslim college students  across the northeast and called upon the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the New York City Police Department. Read More

Building African-Arab connections during Black History Month

By Khaled A Beydoun  and Abed Ayoub: While reflecting upon the transformative contributions and sacrifices made by African Americans should be a yearlong process, Black History Month offers a special opportunity to do so. It also offers a moment to emulate the courageous and progressive spirit of leaders such as Frederick Douglass, Malcolm X, Rosa Parks and Jackie Robinson. For Arab America, the month presents an opportune moment to set aside racism for reconciliation, convert boundaries into bridges, and take strides toward building a lasting coalition with the community that blazed the civil rights trail in America. The first step of this journey starts back home - in Detroit. Read More

Anti-Muslim rhetoric by the Republican presidential hopefuls

By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: In the post-9/11 America, anti-Islam and anti-Muslim rhetoric and hate has become commonplace and increasingly acceptable in political and civic discourse. Anti-Islam and anti-Muslim rhetoric or Islamophobia is no longer questioned, even by our elected representatives. During 2011 there was phenomenal rise in anti-Islam and anti-Muslim rhetoric particularly by the Republican Party politicians. As the 2012 election nears, some Republican presidential hopefuls and congressional candidates have clearly opted to try to win votes by denigrating Islam and disparaging Muslims. Read More

Hearings urged on NYPD targeting of Shia mosques

AMP Report: Arab and Muslim communities today expressed outrage about a leaked 2006 New York Police Department document – titled “US-Iran Conflict: The Threat to New York City” – which called for widespread profiling and surveillance of entire Shia and Iranian communities. Read More

1500 NYPD officers viewed Anti-Muslim film

AMP Report: The New York Times reported today that, despite the New York Police Department’s denials last year, the propaganda film – The Third Jihad – “was shown to more than a thousand officers as part of training in the NYPD.” According to the film’s narrator, the “true agenda of much of Islam in America” is to “infiltrate and dominate America … This is the war you don’t know about.” Read More

Newt Gingrich again plays “Sharia” card

AMP Report: Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich says that he would only support a Muslim for the presidency if that person would “commit in public to give up Sharia.” Gingrich was addressing a town hall audience in South Carolina on Tuesday (Jan.17, 2012). Read More

Washington State Muslims meet lawmakers on MLK Day

AMP Report: Some 400 Washington State Muslims celebrated the 5^th annual Muslim Day at the Capitol on January 16, 2012 and meet with dozens of their elected representatives. Read More

While desecration of Bodies is widely condemned
Anti-Muslim blogger ‘loves’ Marines peeing on

AMP Report: A video clip that appears to show Marines urinating on dead Taliban fighters has been condemned by U.S. officials, the Pentagon, Afghan president Hamid Karzai, Taliban leaders and American Muslim groups but Pamela Geller, an anti-Islam and anti-Muslim blogger. Read More

Federal court deals blow to “anti-Muslim” bigots

AMP Comment: In a major blow to the anti-Islam and anti-Muslim bigots taking refuge behind the so-called anti-Sharia legislation, a federal appeals court on January 10, 2012 agreed with a lower court that blocked an Oklahoma law that would have barred state courts from considering or using the so-called Shariah law. Read More

First anniversary of Arizona shooting spree

AMP Report: January 8^th marks a year since a gunman, Jared Loughner, fired a semi-automatic pistol into a crowd gathered at Gabrielle Giffords’ “Congress on Your Corner” event in Tuscon, Arizona, killing six people and wounding 13 others. The killing spree was seen a product of spiteful politics, wide-open gun laws and suburban alienation. Read More

Why New York bomb blasts?

By Khalid Saeed: The negative forces from all side are always working hard to achieve their goals by spreading negativity and hate. Right on the first day this year (2012) Molotov cocktails made from glass bottles were hurled at three sites in Queens, including a mosque with 80 people inside, a Hindu Temple and a bodega. Read More

2011 another hard year for Muslims in America

By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: “Where there are Muslims, there are problems.” This alarmingly sweeping comment by the New York Post best reflects the dilemma of the seven-million strong American Muslim community which remains under siege in the post-9/11 era. The New York Post comment came amid heated discussion and opposition to the proposed Sheepshead Bay (NY) Mosque. In a hard hitting article titled “New Yorkistan? Don’t rule it out!” Shavana Abruzzo wrote: “There’s no denying the elephant in the room. Neither is there any rejoicing over the mosques proposed for Sheepshead Bay, Staten Island and Ground Zero because where there are mosques, there are Muslims, and where there are Muslims, there are problems.” In the post-9/11 America, it has become difficult to build new mosques or expand the existing places of worship which became frequent target of hate attacks. Ironically, the Board of Standards and Appeals last month unanimously rejected opponents’ biased claims and gave approval of the mosque. Read More

Islamophobia: The Ideological Campaign Against Muslims

Book Review: Stephen Sheehi in his book - Islamophobia: The Ideological Campaign Against Muslims - argues that Islamophobia is “an ideological formation created by a culture that deploys particular tropes, analyses and beliefs, as facts upon which governmental policies and social practices are framed.” He believes that Islamophobia is an ideological phenomenon which exists to promote political and economic goals, both domestically and abroad. Read More

Are you being tracked? Eight ways your privacy is being eroded online and off

By David Rosen: One of the great paradoxes of the online experience is that the more online connectivity becomes social, becomes shared between select friends and global others, sometimes involving millions of people, the more people as individuals are robbed of their personal privacy. Obviously, technology enables this process, but it is corporate practice and lax regulation (and enforcement) that facilitate the commercialization that erodes personal privacy. Read More

Gaza: Remembering Cast Lead

By Stephen Lendman: December 27 marks the third anniversary of Israel’s lawless war on Gaza. Without provocation, three weeks of terror bombing and invasion devastated the Strip. Missiles, bombs, shells, and illegal weapons were used against defenseless people. Mass slaughter and destruction followed. Read More

U.S. Muslim groups welcome U.N. resolution condemning religious intolerance

By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: Leading American Muslim civil advocacy groups have welcomed passage of a United Nations resolution that condemns the stereotyping, negative profiling and stigmatization of people based on their religion, and urging countries to take effective steps “to address and combat such incidents.” The resolution also expressed concern about growing incitement to religious hatred worldwide. Read More

The ADC is alarmed by increase in reported discrimination complaints

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), in a Community Advisory said today (Dec. 22, 2011) that it is alarmed at the significant rise in the number of discrimination complaints that have been reported to the Legal Department during the month of December thus far. Read More

Twenty examples of the Obama adm. assault on domestic civil liberties

By Bill Quigley: The Obama administration has affirmed, continued and expanded almost all of the draconian domestic civil liberties intrusions pioneered under the Bush administration. Here are twenty examples of serious assaults on the domestic rights to freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of association, the right to privacy, the right to a fair trial, freedom of religion, and freedom of conscience that have occurred since the Obama administration has assumed power. Consider these and then decide if there is any fundamental difference between the Bush presidency and the Obama presidency in the area of domestic civil liberties. Read More

2012 ‘Muslims Vote’ campaign launched

WASHINGTON, D.C., Dec 20, 2011– America’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), today launched its 2012 “Muslims Vote” campaign designed to empower American Muslims by increasing their political capacity and presence. Read More

Peter King continues anti-Muslims witch hunt

By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: Republican Rep. Peter King – an avowed supporter of the Irish Republican Army, the Irish terrorist organization during the 80′s and 90′s – continued his anti-Muslim witch hunt Wednesday (Dec 7, 2011) with his controversial congressional hearing. This time the focus of his hearing was the Threat to Military Communities Inside the United States from what he claims homegrown terrorism. This was King’s fourth such hearing. Read More

Anti-Muslim bigots pressure TLC advertisers on ‘All-American Muslim’

AMP Report: December 9, 2011 – American Muslim civil advocacy groups today expressed concern at the pressured being exerted on major advertisers by known anti-Muslim bigots to drop advertisements on The Learning Channel’s (TLC’s) new reality eight-part series “All-American Muslim.” Read More

American companies accused of joining the all-American anti-Muslim bandwagon

By Sheila Musaji: TLC has a reality series called “All-American Muslim” which has aired four out of a planned eight episodes. The program follows five Lebanese American families in Dearborn, Michigan. The Islamophobia network was enraged that this program only depicts normal American Muslim families, and doesn’t include terrorists, criminals, perverts, and other types that exist in the Muslim community (as they do in all communities). According to the Islamophobes this constitutes “deception and obfuscation,” an “attempt to manipulate Americans”, “propaganda”, “cultural jihad.” Read More

Republican Presidential Candidates on Islam

Huffington Post: As republican voters near the time to elect their presidential candidate for the 2012 election, the candidates’ respective religious perspectives become significant to many. One topic that does not escape public scrutiny is the candidates’ stand on Islam and Muslims in America. It has become an important issue that calls the attention of both Muslim and non-Muslim voters. Noticeably some candidates appear not to realize that the American Muslim community has a significant number of political conservatives sympathetic to many issues within the Republican Party platform. The GOP presidential hopefuls’ stand on Islam and Muslims has been varied. Their stands have ranged from being thoughtful and considerate to being discourteous, rude and unappreciative of the history, losing potential support. Read More

FBI using community outreach to spy on Muslims

Washington Post: The FBI is using its extensive community outreach to Muslims and other groups to secretly gather intelligence in violation of federal law, the American Civil Liberties Union has alleged. Citing internal bureau documents, the ACLU said agents in California are attending meetings at mosques and other events and illegally recording information about the attendees’ political and religious affiliations. FBI officials denied the allegations. They said that records kept from outreach sessions are not used for investigations. Read More

Celebrating and encouraging violence against Muslims

by Sheila Musaji: The American Muslim has been regularly tracking attacks on and vandalism against mosques. This month there have been three attacks on mosques in France. An anti-Muslim site called Bare Naked Islam has posted an article celebrating this. The article is titled “WOO HOO! Yet ANOTHER anti-Muslim attack on a French mosque”. Just in case they take it down, CAIR has saved the page here. The lead of the article states Apparently, Hell hath no fury like a Frenchman scorned. It’s the third attack on a mosque just this month. Will the Muslims ever get a clue that they are not welcome in France? Read More

Happy New Hijra Year 1433

By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: November 27^th marks the first day of Muharram and the beginning of the New Hijra Year 1443, according to the Hijra calendar adopted by the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) in 2006 when it announced a 20-year fixed calendar based on the moon sighting in Makka. Read More

FBI reports dramatic spike in anti-Muslim hate violence

By Mark Potok: Anti-Muslim hate crimes soared by an astounding 50% last year, skyrocketing over 2009 levels in a year marked by the vicious rhetoric of Islam-bashing politicians and activists, especially over the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque” in New York City. Read More

Tenn. State Republican legislator calls for purging Muslims from the military

AMP Report: Tennessee state Republican legislator, Rick Wommick today called for the removal of all Muslims serving in the military. In an interview on the sidelines of an anti-Shariah conference in Nashville, TN, Womick told ThinkProgress that he doubts that any devout Muslim could be loyal to the US military. “Personally, I don’t trust one Muslim in our military,” he said. Read More

Michigan’s ‘anti-bullying’ legislation allows bullying

AMP Report: The Michigan State Senate recently passed SB 137, dubbed an “anti-bullying bill,” which includes a clause that allows bullying through statements based on “a sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction of a school employee, school volunteer, pupil, or pupil’s parent or guardian.” The draft law, which passed the state Senate with 26 Republican votes against 11 Democratic votes and now advances to the lower house, includes language inserted before the vote that says the bill “does not prohibit a statement of a sincerely held belief or moral conviction” of a student or school worker. Read More

Florida county official blocks the Muslim animal slaughter ritual

By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: In the name of protection of animals, Sunrise (Florida) commissioner, Sheila Alu, has stopped Muslims from slaughtering (sacrificing) animals as part of the Eid Al Adha ritual. Sheila Alu’s move symbolizes the anti-Islam and anti-Muslim environment prevailed in the post-9/11 America that witnessed the cropping up such Islamophobic groups as David Yerushalmi’s Society of Americans for National Existence with acronym SANE which has a mission to demonize and banish Islam from the US by making adherence to Islam a felony punishable by 20 years in prison. Read More

Extremists must not hijack our political discourse

By Hassan Shibly: It is very concerning when mainstream politicians openly advocate for positions that are antithetical to our core values and constitutional principles. Enough is enough. We must stand united as Americans and make it clear to politicians that we will not let them divide us against each other, use fear-mongering to distract us from the real issues or take away our fundamental rights and values. Read More

FBI memo raises concerns of profiling of Muslims in metro Detroit

AMP Report: An internal FBI memo from its Detroit office says that “because Michigan has large Middle-Eastern and Muslim population, it is prime territory for attempted radicalization,” according to a copy obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) under Freedom of Information Act requests made last year through 34 ACLU affiliates. Read More

Prisoner exchange cannot be in lieu of Palestinian statehood

The path to peace in the Middle East is not through prisoner exchanges, but through recognizing the fundamental right of Palestinians to statehood and equality. That should be the focus of the United States and the international community. Read More

The wrong way to fight terrorism

By Salam Al-Marayati: Law enforcement and intelligence agencies’ continued use of anti-Muslim training materials could lead to the collapse of a critical partnership with the Muslim American community. Read More

Tennessee Muslim student barred from JROTC over hijab

AMP Report: Demin Zawity, a Ravenwood High School, Brentwood, Tennessee, student says her Muslim beliefs were put to the test when commanding officers in her Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program told her she couldn’t both wear a headscarf and march in the September homecoming parade. Read More

Biased training colors FBI dealings with American Muslims

Lisa Fernandez: Dozens, perhaps hundreds, of (San Francisco) Bay Area Muslims have been unjustifiably visited by FBI agents over the past two years and some of those agents may have received biased, anti-Islamic training. That’s according to three Bay Area attorneys and nearly 30 civil rights and community groups seeking more accountability from the FBI. And the complaints here about the FBI’s alleged lack of sensitivity toward Muslims are mirroring similar criticisms across the country. Read More

Reps. send BOP letter on treatment of Muslim inmates in CMUs

October 13, 2011: This week, Members of the House of Representatives issued a Congressional Letter of Inquiry to the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) expressing their concerns with the Communications Management Units (CMUs), experimental federal prison units with overwhelmingly Muslim populations. Read More

Still waiting for justice – 26 years since Alex Odeh’s murder

ADC: October 11, 2011 marks the 26th Anniversary of the murder of Alex Odeh. The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) remembers Alex and continues to reinforce its demand that those responsible for his murder be brought to justice. Alex was killed on October 11, 1985, when a powerful pipe bomb exploded as he unlocked and opened the door of the ADC office in Santa Ana, California. In addition to killing Alex Odeh, the bomb injured several other victims. Read More

Frank Miller’s Holy Terror provides new fodder to anti-Muslim extremists

By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: Holy Terror, Frank Miller’s long, long, long-awaited statement on 9/11 and counterterrorism, hit comic book stores Wednesday (Sept 28, 2011). Longtime Miller watchers have viewed it with apprehension, hoping that his dark views about the source of that national trauma wouldn’t turn the comic into a vulgar, one-dimensional revenge fantasy, Spencer Ackerman of Wired.com said adding: They were wrong. It’s even worse than that. Newsamara, which gave Holy Terror three points in its 10 points rating scale, says that Holy Terror is a mean and ugly book. In Holy Terror, there are no shades of grey. You are either an American or a Muslim, which when you think about it is an apples-to-oranges comparison of a nationality and a religion. Read More

Massachusetts sting operation sparks fresh concerns:
FBI targeting Muslims using entrapment techniques

AMP Report: The dramatic arrest of a man in Massachusetts accused of plotting to crash explosive-filled miniature airplanes into the US Capitol and the Pentagon has sparked fresh concerns that the FBI might be using entrapment techniques aimed at Muslims in America the Guardian says. Rezwan Ferdaus, a 26-year-old US citizen and physics graduate who lived at home with his parents in Ashland, near Boston, was the target of an FBI sting in which he bought a miniature aircraft that he planned to outfit as a flying bomb. Read More

Profiling is noxious to the American way

By Rekha Basu: Throwing a blanket of suspicion around people of different ethnicities goes against American notions of due process, civil liberties, the presumption of innocence and equality. History is full of examples of unfair racial profiling. From slavery to the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II to random police stops without cause of black, Hispanic and Native American drivers today, it has never accomplished much except to further marginalize and isolate minority groups, resulting in some payouts and apologies and a great deal of mutual distrust. Read More

More cases of NYPD spying of Muslims exposed

NEW YORK – The New York Police Department put American citizens under surveillance and scrutinized where they ate, prayed and worked, not because of charges of wrongdoing but because of their ethnicity, according to interviews and documents obtained by The Associated Press. The documents describe in extraordinary detail a secret program intended to catalog life inside Muslim neighborhoods as people immigrated, got jobs, became citizens and started businesses. The documents undercut the NYPD’s claim that its officers only follow leads when investigating terrorism. Read More

Travesty of Justice: Muslim groups appalled by ‘Irvine 11’ guilty verdict

AMP Report:Sept. 23, 2011 – Four prominent Muslim organizations today said they are appalled by an Orange County Superior Court jury’s verdict convicting 10 of the “Irvine 11” students on both misdemeanor counts of disturbing a meeting and conspiring to disturb a meeting. Read More

Hidden agenda of Gallup Poll and PEW Institute

AMP Comment: Opinion polls and surveys are sophisticated propaganda tools while the modus operandi for influencing any opinion and survey is now well established. From its inception a century ago, and in its current construction, the terrain of public opinion polls is far from being a neutral. An opinion poll result can be easily manipulated through the wording of the questions, the order in which they are asked and the number and form of alternative answers. This applies to the recent poll and survey results of Gallup Polls of August 2, 2011 and the PEW Institute survey of August 30, 2011. These surveys were released on the 10^th commemoration of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Read More

FBI training material portrays Islam as an indicator of terrorist activity

AMP Report: Seven-million strong American Muslim community was shocked to know that the FBI has been using anti-Muslim instructors and Islamophobic materials in counterterrorism training. An article published on Wired Room.com on Wednesday revealed that the FBI training materials teach counterterrorism agents that mainstream American Muslims are likely to be terrorist sympathizers, that the Prophet Mohammed was a “cult leader,” and that Islamic charitable giving is a “funding mechanism for combat.” Read More

Sabra and Shatila massacre remembered

29^th anniversary of Sabra-Shatila massacre

by Engr. Sharique Naeem: This week, marks the anniversary of the Sabra-Shatila massacre at the hands of Israeli, which took place in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon between September 16-18 in 1982. Read More

American Muslims ten years after 9/11 PDF

By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: The 9/11 attacks have left a lasting and damaging image for American Muslims who to this day are still fighting stereotypes and a negative image. The challenge that most Muslims face is their concern in the way they dress or their name might make them an easy target for stereotyping. Arab and Muslim Americans increasingly feel targeted by negative media portrayals and concerned about profiling. Read More

2001-2011: A decade of civil liberties’ erosion in America – Part One

(This is part one of a three-part series)

By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: In the last ten years we have seen a steady erosion of the fundamental rights and civil liberties, all in the name of national security. The gradual erosion of our civil liberties came in the shape of Warrantless Wiretapping, abuse of the USA PATRIOT Act, the National Security Entry/Exit Registration System, the Real ID Act, the Military Commissions Act, No Fly and Selectee Lists and Abuse of Material Witness Statute. Read More

2001-2011: A decade of civil liberties’ erosion in America – Part Two

(This is part two of a three-part series. Click here to read Part One)

By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: In the last ten years we have seen a steady erosion of the fundamental rights and civil liberties, all in the name of national security. Peacemaking and whistleblowing has been virtually criminalized. FBI agents encouraged to search your trash, public databases just to sniff around for crime. Obama administration wants to read your email and search your laptops. Read More

2001-2011: A decade of civil liberties’ erosion in America – Part Three

(This is the final part of the three-part series. Click here to read Part One Part Two]

By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: In the last ten years we have seen a steady erosion of the fundamental rights and civil liberties, all in the name of national security. The FBI is now investigating domestic peace activists and under the cover of studying “violent radicalization,” the already-fluid definition of “terrorism” is being broadened to encompass political activity and protest by dissident groups.

Mother Jones reports that after years of emphasizing informant recruiting as a key task for its agents, the FBI now maintains a roster of 15,000 spies — many of them tasked with infiltrating Muslim communities in the United States. Not surprisingly, the Associated Press reveals that the New York City Police Department have carried out covert surveillance on Muslims with the help of the CIA. Read More

Islam in America chronology

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