Posted on 12/13/2007 6:37:58 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
NEWARK — The fourth annual American Muslim Voice peace convention brought many speakers of various backgrounds to provide a blueprint for protecting civil rights in the post-Sept. 11, 2001, era.
Visitors at the Chandni Restaurant in Newark on Sunday evening cheered and listened to guest speakers, such as anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, Muslim convert Brandon Mayfield and Ron Takaki, an ethnic studies professor at University of California,Berkeley.
The conventions theme was building a beloved community, which included topics such as Fighting for the American Constitution and America, One Nation under God? These topics were discussed by a group of panelists in two sessions.
Welcomed with a standing ovation, Sheehan headlined the first session, reiterating that she will be running for Congress against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for the congressional seat representing San Francisco.
Events, coalition building and groups like the American Muslim Voice are very important to Sheehan, she said, because they allow her to tear down the boundaries whether they are real or fake that prevent us from having true and authentic relationships with each other.
In April 2004, Sheehans son was killed in Iraq. She has protested and expressed her disgust about the U.S.s involvement in the war andwith government officials.
"We elect our representatives to protect our rights and not to take them away from us," she said. "We have to stand up for the people that do not have voices. Ignorance is a wall and we break down those walls to build bridges with each other." Sheehan added that changing the way people think about each other is a way of improving relations among different people in the world.
"This occupation of Arab-Muslim land shows how racist we really are," she said. "If we can justify it by saying it's OK to kill a million Iraqis, but at least my family is safe... No, that is not okay!"
In 2004, Brandon Mayfield, an American who converted to Islam, was falsely linked to the Madrid train bombings and received an apology and restitution from the federal government after being held in jail for weeks.
His recollection of racial and religious profiling after 9/11 was a highlight of the event. Mayfield said the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System, a system designed to protect U.S. citizens from terrorism, "was really a war on Islam." His situation is one of the most prominent cases opponents cite against the Patriot Act.
"I should remind you, If you didn't know already that our freedom of religion in this country is a sacred right and to exercise ones beliefs should never be a factor of a governments investigation in its citizens."
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Staff writer Jamaal Johnson can be reached at 510-353-7003 or jajohnson@bayareanewsgroup.com.
She’ll be appearing next, at the opening of Ahab’s bait & Tackle shop, next Saturday on the Jersey coast, two blocks away from the Industrial Park Highway exit.
America’s enemies all have at least one thing in common: they’re America’s enemies.
Please tell me that was photoshopped!!!
Did you read that “she will be running for Congress against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for the congressional seat representing San Francisco”? I didn’t think we could get a worse Speaker, but now I know better.
bump/index
Damn!
The combination of a Berkeley “Ethnic Studies” asshole, Anti War “Peaceniks”, ethnic illiterates, Muslim converts and Cindy Sheehan is a toxic combination...
One would think that Kalifornicate would disallow the combination, out of concern for the public’s safety....
I expect her to eventually devolve to "going underground" to live her life as a Patty Hearst wannabe. The only way for her to do anything newsworthy any more is to die in a police shootout.
Its sad because I can go back & remember being taken to Newark to see Santa as a child & it was nice. But then I can remember the Newark riots & being afraid as we lived in Glen Ridge & I had Aunts who still lived in Newark. I have not been there in years & have no intention of going back. I moved to the shore to get away from that area but my oldest daughter tells me that Newark is changing. My dad grew up in the Italian section of Newark as a boy.
I think it’s great. As a matter of fact I think all Dem-fems should wear burkhas. That way you could tell their allegiance from a block away.
More proof of the deep alliance between the left and the jihadis.
It was ;)
Sheehan’s a muslim now?
Or do the “moderate” muslims in America think that we (kufir) are fighting the Iraiq terrorists simply because they are muslim?
She doesn’t see her son as a hero. She wanted to hit him with a car to keep him from being deployed. That is not a peaceful act and it seem she sees him as an evil invader.
Sick woman.
Muslims are not a race, but nice try Cindy. Didn't you say you were breaking down barriers of ignorance?
Thank goodness! I thought she went off the deep end even more than I would have expected possible.
Your photo is quite realistic.
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