Articles
December 2011, Pages 52-54
Muslim-American Activism
CAIR's Annual Fundraiser a Huge Success
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) invited Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) to give the keynote speech [see box] at its 17th annual banquet on Oct. 15, at the Crystal Gateway Marriott, in Arlington, VA. Some 800 community members, leaders, diplomats and public officials attended the dinner, emceed by CAIR board member Ahmed Bedier.
A small group of anti-CAIR protesters demonstrated outside the hotel, waving signs saying, "The U.S. Constitution gives us free speech." Bedier said he was bewildered by the protest because "CAIR defends this right everyday. We're in the forefront in defending the Constitution." Attendees agreed and, inspired by Imam Siraj Wahhaj, leader of the Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA), donated more than $400,000 in one night to support CAIR's civil rights and advocacy work.
Referring to recent efforts to enact "anti-shariah" legislation and constitutional amendments that seek to ban Islamic law in 24 states, Imam Wahhaj told the gathering, "People are people, good and bad." This wave of anti-Islamic sentiment, often led by state legislators, is sending a clear message of governmental disapproval of Islam. "Americans have the best Constitution in the world," the imam opined, and CAIR is fighting legal battles to protect it for the next group of Americans who are targeted by bigotry. "Since people are people, some bad people can change it," he warned listeners.
CAIR board chairman state Sen. Larry Shaw (D-NC) and CAIR national legislative director Corey Saylor presented the first of CAIR's annual awards, the Rosa Parks Civil Rights scholarship, to Jeania Ree Moore, a senior at Yale who has been involved in interfaith initiatives.
CAIR's American Hero Award was presented to the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro, whose plan to build a mosque near Nashville, TN was met by protests, Islamophobic sentiment, spray paint and arson while the Park51 controversy was raging in New York near Ground Zero. The town of Bridgewater, NJ, which boasts 17 churches, a convent, synagogues, and one Sikh and two Hindu temples, changed its zoning laws when Muslims tried to build a mosque there. CAIR has taken on that legal battle as well.
There are also happier stories, banquet attendees learned. When Muslims in Memphis, TN bought 20 acres next to Steve Stone's church, that Christian pastor built a 6-foot-tall sign welcoming the Memphis Islamic Center to the neighborhood.
Another awardee was the Muslim Community Center (MCC) Medical Clinic in Maryland (see November 2009 Washington Report, p. 44), which treats thousands of patients—many without medical insurance—regardless of their faith. Pakistani-American Olympic weightlifter Kulsoom Abdullah, a computer engineer, received the John Hancock Award for her fight to amend the dress requirements of the International Weightlifting Federation.
Dr. Iqbal Unus received the Lifetime Service Award for his work leading the Muslim Students Association and transitioning the MSA to the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). Bangladeshi-American Rais Bhuiyan received the Peace and Justice Award for founding a campaign called World Without Hate. Bhuiyan was shot in the face by Mark Stroman, a white supremacist who killed three people who looked Arab after 9/11, and was sentenced to death. Bhuiyan's unsuccessful efforts to save his shooter's life reached the Supreme Court, and Bhuiyan's story, especially his strong Islamic belief in forgiveness, continues to touch people around the world.
CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad described the Center for American Progress' report "Fear, Inc.: The Roots of the Islamophobia Network in America," published Aug. 26, 2011 (see November 2011 Washington Report, p. 18). Seven foundations have invested $42 million to defame American Muslims and work against Islamic organizations like CAIR, Awad said. "Fear is a mushrooming business, but CAIR is working to put it out of business," he promised. "Now is the time for American Muslims to stand up and help future generations...failure is not an option."
On Oct. 3 CAIR filed the first brief by a Muslim organization to the Supreme Court, Awad added. It calls for law enforcement authorities to obtain a warrant before placing a GPS tracking device on any individual's vehicle. CAIR is litigating a lawsuit on behalf of Yasir Afifi, a Santa Clara, CA resident who discovered a GPS tracking device placed on his vehicle in October 2010.
Award-winning comedian Dean Obeidallah, who uses comedy to both entertain and dispel negative stereotypes of Middle Eastern-Americans, left the audience in stitches. There's a little-known advantage to being Muslim, he said. Muslims are immune from identity theft: "If your name is Ossama, you can leave your credit card in a crack house and no one will touch it!"
—Delinda C. Hanley
