The stories you want. The opinions that matter.
No, thanks
Tag: mosque
Three California Mosques Receive Hateful Letters Mentioning Trump

Three California Mosques Receive Hateful Letters Mentioning Trump

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Hateful letters sent anonymously to three mosques in California with a warning that President-elect Donald Trump would “cleanse” the United States of Muslims have stirred fears among congregants, a community leader said on Saturday.

Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Los Angeles chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the letters were identical and were postmarked as being sent from Santa Clarita just north of Los Angeles.

Ayloush said his group is considering asking the Federal Bureau of Investigation to look into the letters, which he believes were sent to other mosques aside from the three that received them earlier this week.

Civil rights groups have signaled alarm over attacks targeting minorities, including Muslims, since Republican Trump won the presidential election on Nov. 8. There have also been reports of harassment toward Trump supporters.

The letters were sent earlier this week to the Islamic centers of Long Beach and Claremont in Southern California and to Evergreen Islamic Center in the Northern California city of San Jose, Ayloush said.

They are signed anonymously as “Americans for a Better Way” and say that Trump would “cleanse America and make it shine again” and would carry out a genocide against Muslims.

“You Muslims would be wise to pack your bags and get out of Dodge,” the letter said.

Ayloush said he has counseled the three mosques to work with their local police departments to have the letters investigated as hate crimes.

The San Jose Police Department in a statement said that, following a report about the letter, it sent officers to Evergreen Islamic Center on Thursday and that a unit that handles hate crime investigations will conduct the probe.

Trump’s name has been mentioned in some hateful graffiti markings that surfaced since his election.

A representative of Trump’s transition team could not be reached immediately for comment.

Last year, as a candidate in the Republican presidential primary, Trump called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States. Trump this year pledged to suspend immigration from countries where Islamist militants are active but did not say he still wanted to ban all Muslims.

Following his election, Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, promised to be a president for all Americans.

CAIR has tallied more than 100 incidents targeting Muslims in the United States since Trump was elected.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis)

IMAGE: A mosque in Riverside, California December 4, 2015. REUTERS/Mike Blake

Welcome to the Trump Internment Palace and Casino!

Welcome to the Trump Internment Palace and Casino!

Good morning, and welcome to the Trump Internment Palace and Casino! You are in for a real treat. This is by far the most amazing ghetto that the world has ever seen. It has everything: lines for watery soup, university classes about real estate development — a steal, at only $35,000 each — the music of the wind softly passing through the hollowed-out remains of the old newspaper building. It’s tremendous.

On your left you’ll see the local mosque, except here we call it the Temple of America and Liberty and Some Other Really Incredible Things. We don’t really use the word “mosque” anymore. If you do, people will start asking questions. And as President Trump always says, the last thing you want is people asking questions.

Oh my gosh, I almost forgot! Here’s a copy of The Donald J. Trump Book of Wise Tweets and Just Some Thoughts That I Had. We all carry it with us wherever we go. Look — it fits right in your pocket. It’s the perfect-sized book for a person with normal-sized hands. If you think it’s too small, you have monster hands. I have monster hands.

When you are at the Temple of America and Liberty and Some Other Really Incredible Things, don’t forget to speak English. I know you’re not used to it in some of your prayers, but the last guy who spoke Arabic didn’t end up so well.

Congrats on staying on the Outside for so long, by the way. How did you manage it? Wait, don’t tell me — you told them you were Lebanese Christian. But then you said you weren’t hungry on National Pork Roast and Loyalty Discovery Day. Did I guess correctly? I did, didn’t I?!

We’re almost at the deluxe shed where you’ll be staying. It’s just like the normal sheds that you see over there, except that it doesn’t have a roof yet. Shingles are in short supply since the crash. Except for the infection. That’s pretty rampant.

But look at the walls! Aren’t they great? We have the best walls here surrounding the Internment Palace and Casino. Ignore the fact that they’re made out of plywood that is painted shiny silver. Just say, “Wow, this is the best wall I have ever seen,” and there shouldn’t be any trouble.

You can think of it as a temporary vacation — it’s only from now until our leaders figure out what the hell is going on. At least, that’s what’s it says on page four of The Donald J. Trump Book of Wise Tweets and Just Some Thoughts That I Had.

 

Photo: A man walks past the closed Trump Casino on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City November 17, 2015. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

In Mosque Visit, Obama Delivers A Clear Message Of Inclusion

In Mosque Visit, Obama Delivers A Clear Message Of Inclusion

In his first visit to a mosque as president on Wednesday, Barack Obama condemned surging Islamophobia on the right and sought to assuage fears of persecution in the American Muslim community. His speech, delivered at the Islamic Society of Baltimore, drew attention to the long history of Islam in the United States and reassured American Muslims that they are an integral part of the country’s present and future.

“This is a struggle between the peace-loving, overwhelming majority of Muslims around the world and a radical, tiny minority. And ultimately, I’m confident that the overwhelming majority will win that battle,” said the president. “Muslims will decide the future of your faith.”

Obama was calm and collected, showcasing the qualities that delight his supporters. Unlike the Republican Party’s presidential contenders, he did not encourage fear, but sought to outline what Muslims and non-Muslims in this country can do together. While he didn’t put the full onus on Muslims to combat religious extremism in their community, he said they are best situated to take a leading role in the fight.  But non-Muslim Americans also had a responsibility to reject hatred and fear-mongering.

“We can’t be bystanders to bigotry,” Obama said. “And together, we’ve got to show that America truly protects all faiths.”

Obama articulated his own understanding of the concerns of the American Muslim community as well. “Some of them are parents,” he said, speaking of Muslim-Americans with whom he had met, “and they talked about how their children were asking: ‘Are we going to be forced out of the country, or, are we going to be rounded up? Why do people treat us like that?’ Conversations that you shouldn’t have to have with children — not in this country. Not at this moment,” he said.

Obama’s steadfastness in defending Muslims from bigotry and racism has reassured American Muslims in a time of deep anxiety. Reports of hate crimes have shot up following the San Bernardino shootings and the attacks in Paris. Republican presidential candidates promote Islamophobic and racist views of Muslims. Armed “protesters,” overly zealous in exercising their First and Second Amendment rights, fan the flames of incitement by protesting outside mosques.

By giving a speech in a mosque, Obama revealed that Islamic centers are like any other place of worship in America. “Think of your own church, or synagogue, or temple, and a mosque like this will be very familiar. This is where families come to worship and express their love for God and each other,” he said. “There’s a school where teachers open young minds. Kids play baseball and football and basketball — boys and girls — I hear they’re pretty good. Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts meet, and recite the Pledge of Allegiance here.”

According to Obama, there is no doubting Islam’s compatibility with American values, even as he referred to his own Christian faith. He even poked fun at continuously unfounded accusations that he’s secretly Muslim, saying Thomas Jefferson’s opponents tried to foment opposition to him by spreading rumors that the Virginian president was a Muslim, too.

Obama discussed terrorism at length as a concern to all Americans, Muslim or not. Many Muslims feel they have been asked to bear an unfair burden to condemn attacks by ISIS and other groups, while the same is not required of white Americans when white men shoot up churches or abortion clinics. According to the FBI, 94 percent of domestic terrorism incidents have not involved Muslims.

At a time when Donald Trump and his followers demand exclusion of Muslims from the U.S. to combat terrorism, fomenting open religious and ethnic bigotry, Obama’s speech offered a strong message of inclusion. To Obama, Islam is as American as apple pie, telling Muslims: “If you’re ever wondering whether you fit in here, let me say it as clearly as I can, as President of the United States: You fit in here — right here. You’re right where you belong. You’re part of America, too. You’re not Muslim or American. You’re Muslim and American.”

If there ever was a moment when Muslims in America found their very own Defender of the Faith, they found him today — speaking plainly at a mosque in Baltimore.

Photo: U.S. President Barack Obama greets students after his remarks at the Islamic Society of Baltimore mosque in Catonsville, Maryland February 3, 2016. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Plan For Virginia Mosque Becomes Target Of Anti-Muslim Backlash

Plan For Virginia Mosque Becomes Target Of Anti-Muslim Backlash

By Noah Bierman, Tribune Washington Bureau (TNS)

SPOTSYLVANIA COUNTY, Va. — The zoning meeting, in a community room packed beyond capacity, was intended to focus on traffic, lighting and parking impacts from a proposed building.

But the building in question was a new mosque — and the meeting occurred four days after the terrorist attacks in Paris.

A thickly built man interrupted the discussion about stormwater runoff, saying to the small group of Muslims in the crowd, “Nobody wants your evil cult,” and “Every one of you are terrorists. I don’t care what you say. I don’t care what you think.”

The unidentified man pledged to do everything in his power to block the mosque, jabbing his finger toward one of the mosque’s trustees, a civil engineer leading the presentation, according to a video posted by the Free Lance-Star of Fredericksburg.

Many groaned. But there was enough applause — and enough other comments like it — to shut down the meeting under orders of a sheriff’s deputy, and to shock the small Muslim community near historic Fredericksburg.

The incident is one of a growing number that have put American Muslims on the defensive since the attacks Nov. 13 in France. Bullets were fired at a mosque in Connecticut. Feces were smeared on an Islamic house of worship in Texas. A fake bomb was left at another in northern Virginia.

“We always see a certain amount of backlash” following an overseas Islamist terrorist attack, said Corey Saylor, who monitors anti-Muslim incidents for the Council on American-Islamic Relations. “This time, however, it’s getting fueled by people who are exploiting it for political purpose. … That is essentially pouring gasoline on an already burning fire.”

President George W. Bush pointedly visited a mosque after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to defuse similar tensions. By contrast, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has asserted that, contrary to evidence, thousands of American Muslims in New Jersey cheered after the attacks. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, another GOP candidate, has said that only Christian refugees from Syria should be allowed to resettle in the U.S.

The mayor of Roanoke, Va., a Democrat, spoke favorably about Japanese internment camps during World War II to buttress his position that Syrian refugees should be blocked from entering the country.

The incident over the mosque near Fredericksburg was striking in its bluntness. Samer Shalaby, the engineer and trustee for the Islamic Center of Fredericksburg who bore the brunt of the negative comments, said he was saddened by the number of people who came to applaud the hateful comments. “I was kind of stunned,” he said.

The Cairo native said he moved here three decades ago after attending George Washington University, when there were only four Muslim families in the area. The community grew to include many professionals and small-business owners, some of whom drive about 55 miles to jobs in Washington, he said.

The community has grown more diverse, but the large Confederate flag waving near the highway exit is a reminder that the past remains in full view.

In 2000, the Muslim community built a small mosque, a spare brick building with two basketball hoops in front, across from a Goodwill store in the sprawling suburbs near downtown Fredericksburg. The mosque hardly stands out amid the strip malls, looking more like a house than a house of worship.

But the membership, now between about 250 and 300 families, feels cramped during Sunday school and other large gatherings, Shalaby said. The new building, which would be built on a 10-acre plot a few blocks away, would fit about 350 people, he said.

Shalaby said he had never experienced discrimination here. In retrospect, he believes the timing of the meeting was poor. He and other leaders have tried to emphasize their ties to the community, including work to feed the hungry and help the homeless.

In fact, members of the mosque said they had heard from hundreds of supporters, including local Christian and Jewish clergy, who have offered support.

Greg Bundrick, a retired social worker, drove 19 miles to tell the imam in person that he did not approve of the ugly words delivered at the meeting.

“It was wrong. It’s important for me to stand up and say how wrong it was,” he said, standing in the small office next to the sanctuary.

Imam Sherif Shehata gave Bundrick a hug and a piece of chocolate from a box the mosque kept on hand for well-wishers.

Swalha Craig, a Kenya native whose American-born husband converted to Islam, said she has never felt overt discrimination but does sense some sideways glances directed at her head scarf. Still, even after the frightening meeting, she considers this home.

“I got married here,” said Craig, who works as a part-time office manager for the mosque. “I love it here.”

©2015 Tribune Co. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Photo: Samer Shalaby, trustee for the Islamic Center of Fredericksburg, Va., on November 23, 2015. (Noah Bierman/Tribune Washington Bureau/TNS)