fuckyeahmarxismleninism:
NYC: Solidarity with the besieged Muslim Community
RALLY & FRIDAY PRAYERS:
NOVEMBER 18, 2011 from 12PM-4PM,
FOLEY SQUARE
(Worth St. b/n Lafayette & Centre St.)
To Demand:
1. An immediate end to all racial, ethnic and religious profiling
2. The dismantlement and disclosure of all surveillance operations
3. An independent commisssion to investigate all NYPD and CIA operations against the Muslim community.
4. The immediate protection of our right to freedom of worship, free speech, and free association, and….
5. The equal protection, under the law, of Muslims and all people of New York.
SPONSORED BY:
Majlis Ash-Shura of Metropolitan NY, Arab Muslim American Federation, Council on American Islamic Relations- New York (CAIR-NY), Desis Rising Up and Moving! (DRUM) Muslim American Society-NY, Al-Awda NY: the Palestine Right to Return Coalition, the Mosque of Islamic Brotherhood, Social Justice Task Force of Muslim Alliance in North America, Muslim Bar Association of New York, National Lawyers Guild-NY, International Action Center, Existence is Resistance.
Please contact nov18rally@gmail.com to endorse or co-sponsor.
I’d go if I lived in NYC
(via stfuislamobigotry)
Herman Cain had his much-ballyhooed meeting with Muslims Wednesday, and he emerged, he said in a campaign statement “humble and contrite for any statements I have made that might have caused offense to Muslim Americans and their friends.”
Cain stood behind his past remarks about Islam and sharia law, but he apologized to the Muslims he may have offended. In a recent interview, Cain said that Americans should be allowed to ban mosques from their communities if they so choose.
“While I stand by my opposition to the interference of sharia law into the American legal system, I remain humble and contrite for any statements I have made that might have caused offense to Muslim Americans and their friends,” he said in the statement. “I am truly sorry for any comments that may have betrayed my commitment to the U.S. Constitution and the freedom of religion guaranteed by it.”
Cain’s meeting came at the ADAMS Center, a Northern Virginia mosque complex that recently hosted deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough.
At ADAMS, Cain met with Imam Mohamed Magid, the executive director of the center, as well as several other top officials. In the statement, Cain said he found common ground with the Muslims he met with Wednesday from his own past.
“As I expected, we discovered we have much more in common in our values and virtues,” Cain said. “In my own life as a black youth growing up in the segregated South, I understand their frustration with stereotypes. Those in attendance, like most Muslim Americans, are peaceful Muslims and patriotic Americans whose good will is often drowned out by the reprehensible actions of jihadists.”
In the past, Cain has been less willing to take his own experiences and connect them with the lives of Muslims in modern America. In the Fox News Sunday interview July 17 where he said American communities have the right to keep out mosques if they wish, Cain rejected a direct comparison with discrimination from the Civil Rights era. Show host Chris Wallace asked Cain about the mosque comment as well as Cain’s past promise to use special precautions to ensure Muslim applicants for his administration are not not “terrorists.” Wallace said that sounded like religious discrimination to some.
From the transcript:
WALLACE (Host): As someone who I’m sure who faced prejudice growing up, in the ’50s, ’60s, how do you respond to those who say you are doing the same thing?
CAIN: I tell them that that’s absolutely not true, because it is absolutely totally different. I grew up, like you said, in the ’50s and the ’60s. I grew up before civilian rights movement, during the civil rights movement and after the civil rights movement.
I went in to corporate America when the openness to putting blacks and minorities and corporation and I was able to move up the corporate ladder. We had some laws that were restricting people because of their color and because of their color only. That’s what that situation was.
WALLACE: But aren’t you willing to restrict people because of their religion?
CAIN: I’m willing to take a harder look at people that might be terrorists. That’s what I’m saying. Look, I know that that there’s a peaceful group of Muslims in this country. God bless them and they are free to worship. I have no problem with that.
In the statement, Cain said he “enjoyed heartfelt fellowship and thoughtful dialogue” with the Muslims he met with Wednesday. They discussed “how patriotic Americans of all faiths can work together to restore the American Dream.”
The meeting appeared to go well, from Cain’s telling.
“The relationship we established was so positive that the Imam has invited me back to speak to not only some of their youth, but also at one of their worship services,” he said.
~~~~Maybe he has seen the light, but more likely that he saw his poll numbers
almaswithinalmas:
Islamophobes think they have it all figured out. After they read the works of anti-Muslim pseudo-intellectuals and propagandists, they become self-proclaimed “experts” on Islam. The message they absorb from their favorite Islamophobe stars can be easily summarized as: “Islam is evil and must be wiped off the face of the Earth. Furthermore, every single Muslim on the planet is plotting to take over the West (read: world) and any Muslim who claims otherwise is lying. Yes, this includes your Muslim friends, who you shouldn’t be friends with anyway.”
I’ve seen some Islamophobes embrace the term “Islamophobia” because they proudly admit being fearful of Islam. “Yes,” they say, “We are afraid of Islam, which is why we want it destroyed.” Dang. Geert Wilders has never been shy in stating he wishes for the Qur’an to be banned (Nazi-style) and for Muslims to be massively expelled from the West (Spanish Inquisition-style). Clearly, these views are appalling, dangerous, and racist. However, as odd as it may sound (at least to people who abhor racism and oppression) Islamophobes justify their racism by claiming they are not racist. Hence, the argument, “Islam is not a race. I cannot be racist.”
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve heard Islamophobes and some well-intentioned non-Muslims make this argument whenever Islamophobia is addressed. The purpose, of course, is to derail conversations about Islamophobia and racism. I’ve noticed the pattern of this response for quite a long time in workplaces, classrooms, on internet forums and blogs, etc. You can picture the scenario involving an Islamophobe telling a Muslim that “all terrorists are Muslim.” The Muslim is insulted and calls the remark “racist.” The Islamophobe steps up into the Muslim’s face and says, “It’s not racist! Islam is not a race, idiot!” He turns around and walks away, claiming victory for himself and starts high-fiving his buddies, who are like, “Oh man, you are so effing awesome! You shut that Mozlem down!”
I wonder how Islamophobes expect Muslims to react after they make this pathetic argument. Are we supposed to look surprised and realize, “Oh my God, Islam is not a race? Really? You mean I’ve been practicing Islam this whole time and didn’t know it was a religion?” Yes, thank you, Captain Obvious, we know full well that Islam is not a race. We know Islam, like any religion, is open to people of all racial backgrounds, including to those who are white (*gasp*). However, what is also true is that Islam is racialized by white supremacist settler states, which means Muslims are cast as threatening racial Others.
Read More - (The article gets very interesting)
(via stfuislamobigotry)
