Cases of anti-Muslim bias on rise

Contra Costa Times ^ | 7/3/7 | Rebecca Rosen Lum

[SmithL]

Bay Area complaints more than doubled from 2005 to 2006, reflecting national increase.

Civil rights violations targeting Bay Area Muslims spiked last year, ranging from schoolyard taunts to deadly assaults, to routine citizenship applications strangled by government red tape.

Reports more than doubled from 2005 to 2006, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

The nonprofit organization documented 246 incidents in 2006, up from 113 in 2005.

The Bay Area numbers reflect national numbers, which show episodes of anti-Muslim bias jumping 25 percent. California accounted for nearly one-third of all the complaints.

The report chronicles verbal and physical harassment and circumstances in which Muslims were singled out for questioning, subjected to lengthy delays in immigration or naturalization or otherwise discriminated against. The venues ranged from airports and government agencies to schools, work places and mosques.

And cyberspace.

An e-mail from an angry Danville man to an East Bay blogger triggered one of the complaints.

"Hey, (expletive) bag, get the (expletive) out of my country," it read. "If I run across you in my daily tasks, I will get you."

Twenty-four hours and plenty of dialogue later, the Danville man apologized.

Alia Ansari of Fremont never got an apology. In October 2006, the Afghan mother of six was gunned down as she walked with her 3-year-old daughter. A suspect was arrested, but no motive has been determined. Family members and Muslim leaders suspect her hijab scarf marked her for a hate

"Hate mail is actually quite common," said council spokeswoman Abiya Ahmed. "Compared to the rest of the country, the Bay Area is pretty tolerant, so we're surprised when we get an episode of violence or a case of discrimination against a child."

The rise in reported cases is partly due to the organization's Citizen Delay project, which documents instances in which immigrants are forced to wait beyond the legal limit of 120 days to their citizenship applications processed, Ahmed said. Many have been waiting for years, she said.

Other factors compelling people to report incidents include inflammatory rhetoric on talk radio and by political leaders, and Council workshops that instruct residents about their rights and the steps to take when those rights are abused, Ahmed said.

Legal or immigration problems accounted for 35 percent of all complaints, followed by due process issues and hate mail.

Ahmed herself figured in one of the hate mail complaints. After reading an Oct. 14 commentary in the Contra Costa Times in which Ahmed said all thoughtful Muslims decry violence, an Oakland letter writer sent her a vitriolic missive saying her words were "like poison."

"May you wander in the desert for a thousand years," the letter writer said. "Believe me no one will miss you, or look for you or pine for your return."

In another case, a Contra Costa judge pinch-hitting in a Sacramento Superior Court for the day refused entry to a woman unless she removed her hijab.

In Santa Clara, a man stabbed his Sikh neighbor in the neck, mistakenly believing he was a member of the Taliban. Iqbal Singh was preparing to leave for religious services with his 2-year-old granddaughter when the attack occurred. He survived, and police arrested the suspect.

The agency received 276 reports and found 246 warranted further investigation, Ahmed said. In some cases, council staff members mediated problems. In others, they referred victims to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Complaints of workplace discrimination based on both religion and national origin had been steadily declining since they spiked in 2002 but increased last year, according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

"There is a slight increase at certain times," said Azima Subedar, civil rights coordinator for the Council on American-Islamic Relations. "We got more calls when the London bombings happened."

The findings struck a chord with attorneys at the Asian Law Caucus, who take cases of employment discrimination, citizenship delays and racial and ethnic profiling.

"Our office continues to see some pretty significant violations against Muslim folks," said attorney Malcolm Yeung. "On an initial glance, you would think, why would one of the most diverse and theoretically progressive areas of the country see so much discrimination? The diversity of the Bay Area doesn't mean you don't have to be vigilant."

[svanni]

...or genius. One of those.