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."
Wishful thinking, cardinal.
Well ya know, I bought 600 phones myself last week (for perfectly innocent reasons, I can assure you) but obviously they only pick on the mooselimbs.
Do tell.
And the explanation would be, what?
:-)
Add me to our ping list, please.
As to the question at hand, when I see "non-terrorist" (if there truly be any!) Moslems actively "ratting out" the Islamofacist terrorists in our midst, I might, just might, mind you, change my mind.
In the meantime, I'll not trust any Moslem!
So it's OK with you if people express the same sort of hatefilled relgious intolerance....as long as they haven't actually flown planes into buildings, yet.
Well this is absolutely awful!
I suggest they take up the issue with their brethren that are murdering and killing people and getting them a bad name.
Until then, they can bend over and grab their ankles...
....well, at least Americans don't blow up Mosques with bombs strapped aroundt their waists and shoot up Muslim grocery stores....
Wow, what a surprise!
Ya don't think this would have anything to do with the fact that, for example, Muslims have carried out 5727 murderous attacks worldwide on innocent victims since 9/11?
I mean, why wouldn't you want one of these wonderful people living next to you?
Having worked with more than a handful of Muslims, I can honestly say that yes, I am prejudiced against them and will be such forever more.
I respect people of so many ideologies, but that is not one of them. There is something wholly unstable, not right, and downright evil in Islam. I really wish that our nation would get smart and end all the visas and green cards from the Middle East.
I'm torn because I have known some good Muslims. Unfortunately, the evil ones waaaay outweigh the filthy ones. Part of me wants to be open to the people of Iraq and Iran, those escaping the Jihadis. The problem is that there are so, so many who wish this nation and our country harm and are solely using it for our money and to take advantage of American women (the latter after ease-dropping in on several extremely vulgar conversations discussing fantasies of harming Western women).
What "same sort of hatefilled religious intolerance" are you suggesting? The "supposed religious" angle has only come from Islam at large. Dispute that fact- by fact & not emotional rhetoric.
Thank you to whomever wrote that.
That rant echoes my exact thoughts, Alouette.
Oh, I beg to differ. Hoping and bombing are worlds apart.
How about the post I was responding to that suggested ALL MUSLIMS GET OUT of the USA?
The "supposed religious" angle has only come from Islam at large. Dispute that fact- by fact & not emotional rhetoric.
You should try actually reading threads before responding to them.
So it's the same with these tracphones I bought. These are special Ohio tracphones...you can't get 'em in Michigan, and everyone there wants them.
I'd like to know where they're getting the money to make those purchases.
Read the Qur'an, then get back to us.
You read it and the get back to us if you actually have something to contribute to this debate.
And I'm willing to bet you can't present anything about or from the Qur'an I haven't heard before.
What have you heard before?
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