Messaging: One House

Opinion: Homegrown terrorists are not just Muslims – Rep. Bennie Thompson – POLITICO.com. Today’s terrorists do not share a particular ethnic, educational or socioeconomic background. Recently, when state law enforcement agencies were asked to identify terror groups in their states, Muslim extremist groups ranked 11th on a list of 18.  Law enforcement agencies identified neo-Nazis, environmental extremists and anti-tax groups as more prevalent than Muslim terrorist organizations. The sophisticated explosive device found along a parade route in Washington on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, an act of domestic terrorism clearly motivated by racist ideology, should prove that other groups are…

Islamophobia is Real, Mr. Mayor—A New York City Muslim Explains | Religion Dispatches. In fact, one of the amazing elements of Islamophobia is the denial of its own existence—as Nathan Lean explains. In his article, Lean also offers several examples of the impact Islamophobia has had on the lives of Americans; Wajahat Ali has written about the fear and death that an Islamophobic environment sanctions; Erik Love gives us sociological background on the impact of Islamophobia. I want to offer a reflection of what a New York Muslim sees and hears as Islamophobia becomes so normalized that it becomes an institution.

CHRGJ at NYU Law: Racial Profiling and Counter-Terrorism. CHRGJ announced the release of our latest report Targeted and Entrapped: Manufacturing the “Homegrown Threat” in the United States. The U.S. government must stop its discriminatory targeting of Muslim communities in counter-terrorism investigations said the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ) at NYU School of Law today, as it released a report on the issue. The government’s use of intrusive surveillance, untrained paid informants, and manufactured terrorism plots raise serious human rights concerns that must immediately be addressed, said the group.