Posted on 05/30/2002 8:51:05 AM PDT by TopDog2
HAMMOND — Many members of the Northwest Indiana Muslim community have felt frightened and targeted for racial profiling since since Sept. 11.
The stories and feelings aren’t new, but what’s frustrating to Northwest Indiana Muslims is they had hoped the poor treatment might get better with time.
But they say it hasn’t.
Several residents spoke at a forum Wednesday at Purdue University Calumet sponsored by the U.S. Attorney’s office. About 30 people attended the meeting set up to open communications between the Muslim, Arab and Sikh communities. The forum was a response to dozens of questions raised during a meeting at the Northwest Indiana mosque this spring.
The forum included several federal officials from the U.S. Attorney’s office, the FBI, the U.S. Department of Transportation and the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, who discussed how their departments have changed since Sept. 11 to try to prevent a future attack.
“We’re trying to change the way we approach things,’’ said Joseph Van Bokkelen, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Indiana. “If an act of terrorism occurs, we’re one moment too late. A lot of what we’re doing is a different way of thinking.’’
The forum also came on the heels of FBI Director Robert Mueller saying Wednesday that there may have been more missed clues before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and suggested for the first time that investigators might have uncovered the plot if they had been more diligent about pursuing leads.
Charles S. Porucznik, supervisory senior resident agent of the FBI in Merrillville, said local FBI agents have been keeping a close eye on the national scandal. He couldn’t discuss the specifics, but said the FBI is forming new strategies to battle terrorism in the future.
But local Muslims fear local officials and many Americans are overcome with fear of a future attack, and are retaliating against Muslims.
Ali Khan of the American Muslim Council held a speeding ticket in the air, and said it’s his second traffic violation since Sept. 11. Before that, he said his driving record was nearly impeccable.
He realizes traffic tickets are small issues compared to what some other Muslims are facing, but it still shows racial profiling occurring in Northwest Indiana, he said.
“I’m making an issue out of this. My sense of freedom has been lost since 911,’’ he said.
Van Bokkelen said officials must walk a balancing act to ensure safety of Americans and ensure that civil rights aren’t violated. “We’re trying to address it,’’ Van Bokkelen said. “But we’re taking baby steps.’’
This article enrages me. WHY are authorities having meetings with these people and telling them HOW we are going to fight terrorism at home?
"poor treatment might get better with time..." ---- as has treatment of Americans all over the world? HUH?
Message to law-breaking Muslims residing in America: Praise Allah for the U.S. (secular) legal standard of "innocent until proven guilty". You're privileged not to get your steering wheels chopped off.
Well, gee, if they'd get off of their doggone you-know-whats and speak out against what their brethern did, maybe there wouldn't be such a danged problem.
Wow! This should be printed on all our paper money, or posted in some other manner for all Americans to read on a daily basis! 'Bout time we asked these arab-"Americans" to recite The Pledge of Allegiance before we bother listening to any of their gripes. A lot of us are still waiting to hear what they can offer to do for our country, other than trying to tear it down.
Nice attitude for a patriot toward American citizens.
Exactly.
I want to commend my fellow Americans for their calm, dispassionate attitude toward individual Muslims. It shows the world how we operate, even in the face of the extreme and blatant provocation common in the mosques around the country. But for any Muslim to expect this tolerance to last forever .. or just through one more incident ... is just plain foolish.
To our fellow American citizens of the Muslim faith the window of opportunity is till wide open for them to go into American mosques, reform this religion of hate and war, and make it a form of worship worthy of a free citizen of a free republic. That window will not stay open forever. Instead of mouthing off about traffic tickets, the Worthy Oriental Gentleman in this excellent post should be talking to his local Muslim cleric about his mosque's support of terroristic organizations. Get on with it.
I advocate the wholesale removal from this country of Muslims who are not citizens. They should sort themselves out on the home sands and re-apply. While they're still here, they ought to have the intelligence to keep their mouths shut. We now know how they feel about America and American Culture. Frankly, many of our presently restrained citizens are itching to show them some of its more direct sides. For Muslim illegal aliens, their very presence is a sign of a foolish and serious weakness in our institutions. They should be in the air, flying toward the Islamic world tonight.
To both groups, I say, "Don't press your luck."
They haven't seen crap yet. IF a nuke or suicide bombers go off it will be the American Kristalnacht.
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