BR (Baton Rouge) seminar educates Muslims on rights

Baton Rouge Advocate ^ | January 22, 2005 | CHUCK HUSTMYRE

[Land_of_Lincoln_John]

A representative of a national Islamic group hosted workshops on civil rights and media relations Sunday at the LSU Union.

Ibrahim Abusway, community affairs coordinator for the Washington, D.C.-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, presented the pair of programs to about 50 people.

The first workshop was called "What to do if the FBI visits you."

Jehad Mahmoud, president of the Islamic Center of Baton Rouge, which sponsored the workshops, said he's not aware of many cases of religious-based discrimination against Muslims in Louisiana, but said, "We want our community members to know their rights."

During Abusway's presentation, he said that part of CAIR's mission is to protect the rights -- particularly the religious rights -- of Muslims in the United States. He said Muslims are frequently the targets of unwarranted government scrutiny.

"The reality is many members of the (Muslim) community are being visited by the FBI. In many cases it's unjust," Abusway said.

"Make sure you don't speak to the FBI unless you have an attorney," he said.

Abusway said one of the reasons CAIR fights so hard for the rights of Muslims is because of their often unfair portrayal in the media. During the workshop, Abusway showed a 10-minute video containing news clips he said were offensive to many Muslims.

During the playing of one clip, some members of the workshop audience gasped after hearing the Rev. Jerry Falwell say, "I think Muhammad was a terrorist."

Baton Rouge was Abusway's third stop in a three-city tour that included Jackson, Miss., and New Orleans.

According to CAIR's national headquarters, CAIR has about 40,000 members. The purpose of the organization, Abusway said, "is to promote the image of Islam and Muslims and to dispel the misconceptions and misunderstandings people have about Islam."

Ibrahim Hooper, national communications director for CAIR, said, "One of our biggest concerns, post 9-11, is the degradation of civil liberties, particularly targeting the American Muslim community; so for American Muslims, one of their top concerns is how to preserve their civil liberties."

Following the first workshop, Abusway handed out a multipage, credit card-sized pamphlet titled "Know Your Rights." The pamphlet addresses workplace discrimination, rights as a student, reacting to hate crimes, airline travel and responding to the FBI.

The second workshop was on media relations. Abusway's presentation covered 10 things he said Muslims need to know when dealing with the media.

They include presenting accurate information, 24-hour availability, representing a cross-section of Muslim community opinion and responding to negative coverage.

Since the workshops, Mahmoud said he has heard a lot of positive feedback from those who attended.

"Many of them felt very proud about what CAIR is doing at the national level," he said.

Mahmoud said he personally learned a lot from Abusway's media workshop. "He outlined certain tools that I wasn't aware of," Mahmoud said. "As president of the Islamic Center, I will go ahead and implement a very ambitious plan to take a more positive and more proactive stance with the media."

One thing Mahmoud said he would like to do is promote the diversity of Islamic cooking through media outlets.

"We can have a new recipe for a food item every week," he said.

[atomic_dog]

"Make sure you don't speak to the FBI unless you have an attorney,"

Wow! At last something CAIR and I agree on.

[Oorang]

"Many of them felt very proud about what CAIR is doing at the national level," he said.

Pride is not the word I would use to describe what I feel about what CAIR is doing.

Mind if I add a couple of links, along the same lines?

Terror U.
By Joe Kaufman
FrontPageMagazine.com | January 21, 2005

Prelude

One year ago, I wrote a piece exposing radical Islam within Florida Atlantic University (FAU). My goal was twofold: [1] to bring awareness concerning a growing problem within FAU [2] to push the university to take action so that this problem ceases to exist.

Excerpted

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=16714

http://www.campus-watch.org/

[Publius6961]

That's what we need: seminars on how to spot and deal with terrorist sleeper cells of any nationality or ethnicity.

Personally, I would concentrate on a single religion, but that's just me.

[jolie560]

..."...The purpose of the organization, Abusway said, "is to promote the image of Islam and Muslims and to dispel the misconceptions and misunderstandings people have about Islam."...

Misconceptions like all infidels must succumb to a Muslim, convert to Islam, or die. Those misconceptions.

[Dallas59]

Bring a Jooo into one of their meetings...watch the "diversity" and "I am a poor Muslim", fly right out the door.