Category: Politics

Seven Muslim Americans on Ballot in Suburban Chicago | USA | English. Hasan is hoping to make history as the first Muslim American candidate elected to the Justice Public Library board.  She is one of seven Muslim Americans on ballots in municipal elections in suburban Chicago April 5.  Five are women

Muslim Employees: Valuable but Vulnerable. For many U.S. Muslims, the American dream is fading as they endure the fear and suspicion that their religion, race or national origin seems to generate. Yet, to many employers’ credit, the sensationalist attitudes reflected in some news reports typically don’t carry over to the workplace.

For Muslim politicians, running for office is the American way – CNN.com. Across the country, dozens of Muslims have actively engaged in the American political process, running for — and winning — elected offices. From a mayor in New Jersey; to state representatives in North Carolina, New Hampshire, Iowa, Maryland and Missouri; to congressmen in Minnesota and Indiana, American politicians from the Muslim faith are increasingly in political positions.

Muslim Congressman Keith Ellison Breaks Down at Peter King Hearing — Daily Intel. it was near the end of his remarks, when Ellison told the story of Mohammad Salman Hamdani, a Pakistani-born American citizen who drove an ambulance part-time and worked as a research assistant, that Ellison’s emotions overwhelmed him. As Ellison recounted, some people initially suggested, after Hamdani disappeared on 9/11, that he had been involved in the attacks. It was only later that his remains were discovered in the rubble of the World Trade Center. He had seen the smoke that morning and rushed to help.

Sen. Durbin chairs first ever hearing on the civil rights of U.S. Muslims on March 29 – Lynn Sweet. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) holds a hearing on the civil rights of U.S. Muslims on March 29—the first of its kind–a pointed response to a hearing held earlier this month on terrorism in the U.S. Muslim community chaired by Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.).

Mr. King’s Sound and Fury – NYTimes.com. Mr. King, chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security, offered not a scintilla of substantiation for his charges that more than 80 percent of American mosques are run by radicals — “an enemy living amongst us.” Nor did he offer any evidence to support his assertions that “law enforcement officials throughout the country told me they received little or — in most cases — no cooperation from Muslim leaders and imams.”

Beyond the Clash of Civilizations – NYTimes.com. On the one side were the radicals, who would use more and more demonstrative violence to underline the weakness of the powers-that-be in an attempt to mobilize the masses on their side, and who would finally find themselves isolated and ostracized by those same masses, as the failure of Egyptian and Algerian radicals had proven in the 1990s.  On the other side, a growing amount of Islamists were converting to the creed of pluralism and democracy, as was already then the case in Turkey. That change would not take place without turmoil within…

Terror Hearing Puts Lawmakers in Harsh Light – NYTimes.com. But at Thursday’s hearing, there was no single institution summoned to the hot seat. The few outside witnesses who appeared were eager to combat radical extremism, not defend it. Mostly, it was the committee itself that seemed to be on trial.

Peter King’s subversive fantasy | Wajahat Ali | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk. Congressman Peter King, who has rationalised his past defence of IRA terrorism without a hint of self-awareness or irony, is now the self-appointed protector of America from future terrorist attacks by holding a congressional hearing on the “Extent of Radicalisation in the American Muslim Community and that Community’s Response.” King presiding over this hearing would be like asking Mel Gibson to chair an impartial session on Jewish American loyalties. King has in the past claimed there are “too many mosques” in America and that 85% of American…

Interview with Wajahat Ali | FPIF. Basically, the reason they’re taking place now is that this is an unprecedented time in American history for the mainstreaming of Islamophobic sentiment and rhetoric. What was once allowed to operate on the fringes and by fringe actors has been co-opted by mainstream political actors and parties to capitalize on people’s fears, panic, and hysteria. You see this pattern in American history. When there is a moment of panic and fear around an economic downturn, politicians and people in cottage industries turn on minorities. It has happened with Jews and with African Americans in…