One of several rows housing Islam's Encyclopedia Of Grievances (Abridged Edition) recently acquired by Franklin Heights library. News Courier photograph.
Posted on 09/03/2006 8:23:21 PM PDT by Alouette
DEARBORN, United States (AFP) - Discrimination and harassment by law enforcement have come to plague American Muslims in the years since the terrorist attacks of September 11.
There have been suspicious looks, slurs, physical attacks, extra screening at airports and arrests on groundless charges.
And it seems to be getting worse.
A recent Gallup poll showed that 39 percent of Americans admit to being prejudiced against Muslims and that nearly a quarter say they would not want a Muslim for a neighbor.
"Most Americans don't know Muslims except for those they work with in an urban environment so all the information they get is through the media," said Dawud Walid, director of the Michigan chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations.
After having shown some restraint in his rhetoric after 19 Muslim men affiliated with Al-Qaeda flew planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, President George W. Bush has of late been using far more inflammatory language such as 'Islamofacists,' Walid said.
"When the religious and political leaders use polarizing language these are the unfortunate side effects. It stretches from the likes of (Christian Coalition leader) Pat Robinson all the way up to President Bush."
CAIR has seen a steady increase in the number of complaints of harassment, violence and discriminatory treatment over the past five years. In 2004, complaints rose 49 percent to 1,522, of which 141 were reports of actual and potentially violent hate crimes.
It appears that those numbers will continue to rise in 2005 and 2006, Walid said.
Osama Abulhassan, 20, registered one after he spent a week in jail on terrorism charges last month. He was arrested for buying pre-paid cell phones in a small town in the midwestern state of Ohio with his friend Ali Houssaiky. Both were born in the United States to Lebanese immigrants.
"I couldn't believe they would charge us for something like that," he said over a Halal chicken sandwich. "For a week straight we were asking what are we doing here and realizing it could happen to anybody."
Dressed in an Air Jordan T-shirt and Puma baseball cap, Abulhassan looks like any other college student. But his name has evoked gasps when he is called onto the basketball court for a game and he has grown used to suspicious looks as he walks down the street.
He never expected to be sitting in a jail cell and seeing his mug shot on the national news interspersed with images of bombings in Iraq.
"This didn't need to happen. It was all very unwarranted," he said of the charges that were eventually dropped.
"We're still proud to be Americans and of our heritage, but you experience something like that it's going to change the way you see things," he explained. "It makes us feel, not hatred... I've lost confidence in the justice system in general and the way things are done here."
At the Islamic Center of America, Imam Sayed Hassan Al-Qazwini sorts through his hate mail. After five years, the virulence still shocks him.
"I hope all you and your swine people die. Go home towel head," one reads.
"After seeing the sinister rise of Islamofascism over the last several years I am now dedicating my life as a Christian to do whatever it takes to cleanse the world of islam (sic) and hopefully convert its sad and misguided followers," reads another.
But more disturbing than the e-mails are the actions of the Bush administration and law enforcement.
"I see that the United States is slipping into being a police state, at least to us Muslims," he said as he recounts incident after incident that have affected the members Dearborn's large Muslim and Arab communities.
The cell phone arrests. The mosque board member who was handcuffed by border guards. His own six-hour detention after he took a wrong turn and ended up on the bridge to Canada.
"There is a saying, those who sacrifice liberty for the sake of security -- they deserve neither one," he said. "If a moderate Muslim leader speaks with so much disappointment and dismay and is giving up on American ideals, this tells you what other American Muslims feel."
Moslem women shot and killed by "Jewish extremist" during an attack on a mosque?
Moslems run over by hit-and-run Christian driver on a crusade?
It's a "hate crime" when Moslem is walking down the street and the arrogant infidel won't step off the sidewalk into the gutter so the mislamin can pass.
SHUT. THE. F##K. UP.
Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.
Those suspicious looks are the worst, a real atrocity.
Ummm...
Don't muslims have sharia law as part of their Koran?
And don't muslims have the obligation to believe and obey the Koran?
And doesn't that collide with the U.S. Constitution?
How stupid do they think we are?
So?
Elaine (from Seinfeld): "Get out!"
I am so swick and friggin' tired of these whiney, terrorist loving, women hating, cowardly slugs bitching about my country.
One of several rows housing Islam's Encyclopedia Of Grievances (Abridged Edition) recently acquired by Franklin Heights library. News Courier photograph.
CAIR is whining.
The globe is warming.
The world is spinning.
===
So, what else is new?
I despise that term. They are two words that do not go together, some would call it an oxymoron.
Can anyone ever imagine the term ' American Christians' or 'American Jews' in the MSM?
Tell ya what, Dawud... how 'bout you admit that there is a sect within your religion that is completely over the top and that henceforth you'll have nothing to do with them.
That would go at least a little ways towards getting what you want.
People who compose this sort or hatred are no better than the Islamic extremists they claim to oppose.
Total hypocrites.
Hmmm, so what's the problem?
It was mohammadens who attacked the U.S. Never forget it.
Here's some more info on that
Michigan man’s pretrial hearing is rescheduled
Friday’s pre-trial hearing for Osama Abulhassan, 20, of Dearborn, Mich., is being rescheduled, according to the Washington County Prosecutor’s Office.
A new hearing date has not been set for Abulhassan, one of two men arrested Aug. 8 by Marietta authorities on suspicion of violation of state anti-terrorism laws.
Abulhassan and Ali Houssaiky, 20, also from Dearborn, admitted to purchasing more than 600 TracFones over a one-month period and reselling them to someone in Dearborn, a city reportedly used as a base for several terrorist-related groups.
Felony charges were dropped against the pair on Aug. 15 for lack of evidence, but the prosecutor’s office is proceeding with misdemeanor charges of falsification against both men.
Police said when originally arrested the men did not give their real names, then changed their story about why they had $11,000 in cash in their possession.
http://www.mariettatimes.com/news/story/new60_92200623216.asp
And?
Obviuosly we have some so absorbed in their hatred that they no longer believe America is place where The simple solution for muslims is to leave the U.S. people have freedom of religion.
This is as sick as Bin Laden and his nuts promoting their intolerance of Christians and Jews.
Tell ya what, Dawud... how 'bout you admit that there is a sect within your religion that is completely over the top and that henceforth you'll have nothing to do with them.
That would go at least a little ways towards getting what you want.
That's right.
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