Minnesota man who sent threatening letter to Islamic Center sentenced to 12 months In prison

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Jaylani Hussein and members of the Minnesota Muslim/American community address the media

THE MAN who sent a threatening letter to a Minneapolis mosque received a year's sentence in prison for his act of hate.

Daniel George Fisher, 57, of Minneapolis, Minnesota was sentenced March 8 to 12 months in prison and three years of supervised release for mailing a letter in which he threatened to blow up an Islamic Center.

“The free exercise of one’s religious beliefs is a fundamental tenet of our democracy,” Acting Assistant Attorney General Tom Wheeler said in a prepared statement announcing the sentence. “This sentence sends a message that anyone who threatens others with violence because of religious intolerance will face significant consequences.”

On Nov. 30, 2016, Fisher pleaded guilty to violating 18 U.S.C. § 247, for obstructing, by threat of force, the free exercise of religious beliefs. According to his guilty plea, in September 2015, Fisher wrote and mailed an anonymous letter to the Tawfiq Islamic Center (TIC), located in Minneapolis, and threatened to “blow up your building with all you immigrants in it.” The letter also included slurs and disparaging statements, evincing the defendant’s strong anti-Muslim animus.

Fisher told investigators that he had been increasingly angry with Muslims since the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, DC. Fisher admitted that he sent the letter to scare and intimidate the TIC's members so they would stop building the Center in his former neighborhood.

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“My Office takes very seriously any threat of violence against an individual or their place of worship based on race, religion or cultural practices,” said U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger of the District of Minnesota. “We will continue to work closely with the FBI to prosecute these types of crimes, which threaten religious freedoms and violate fundamental civil rights.”

“The sentence handed down today committing the defendant to federal prison reflects the severity of his appalling hate crime,” said Special Agent in Charge Richard T. Thornton of the FBI's Minneapolis Division. “The FBI will continue to prioritize, investigate, and bring to justice those who commit federal hate crimes and other civil rights violations.”

Hate incidents directed towards Muslims have risen dramatically since Donald Trump was elected president.

"This is definitely a scary time for the American Muslim community," said Jaylani Hussein, executive director of Minnesota's chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

"Mosques aren't just buildings. They're symbols of the community. Individuals are obviously facing some form of aggression, but most don't report those aggressions. In Minnesota we've seen that really increase, and it shows this rhetoric and intimidation leads to violence."

REPORT: Hate groups emerging from the shadows

Social media has allowed groups to share their ideology of hate with millions.

I HAVE A LOT of white friends. I work alongside many white people and we get along rather well. I have white people in my family. I fear those statements might sound like the  cliche, "I have a lot of (fill in the blank) friends." Nevertheless, they're true.

I had to get that paragraph stated right away because I don't want readers to think I'm talking about ALL white people. There is a small segment who have re-emerged in American society in a more vocal way and, some say, in a more powerful presence largely due to the recent presidential campaign.

Vox has an interesting report that should worry Asian/Americans and Pacific Islanders. It says most of our country's hate groups are rooted in white supremacy. This confirmation is nothing new for people of color but it might open a few eyes among Vox's readers.

In an extensive 2015 analysis, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) determined that 892 hate groups exist in America. Of these groups, 528 — or roughly 60 percent — subscribe to white supremacist ideologies.

“White supremacy” is a very broad term, says the Vox report, "referring to the racist ideology that whites are superior to nonwhites and should maintain political, economic, and social authority.

But under that umbrella, there are a number of factions, each slightly different in its set of beliefs. Specifically, SPLC breaks down America’s white supremacists into six subgroups: the Ku Klux Klan, white nationalists, racist skinheads, neo-Nazis, neo-Confederates, and followers of Christian Identity, says Vox.

I'm not sure when the study concluded but 2015 shows a marked spike in membership among these groups, but the highest membership grown occurred in President Obama's first term, 2008-2011. The groups membership showed a sharp decline in 2014 when Obama's popularity surged and Americans began to believe that an economic recovery was occurring. 

We can surmise - with some degree of confidence - that with the so-called alt-right wing bold enough to do Nazi salutes and shouting "Sieg Heil" in the shadow of the nation's capitol, 2016 might literally be off the charts.

How America's white supremacist hate groups have fluctuated in the 21st century

Of particular concern of the SPLC authors is  the growth of the "lone wolf" racist who are impossible to track.

“There is a social stigma attached with hate groups,” says Lenz. “In recent years, people join forums online anTrumd find confirmation of their beliefs without joining a group. And now, with Trump {nd his recent appointment of Steve Bannon, the head honcho of the alt-right website Breitbart), they can find it in mainstream politics too.”

The decline in traditional hate groups here may be, in part, a result of the alt-right movement’s growth. Ignited in 2010 with the creation of Richard Spencer’s Alternative Right blog, the alt-right has offered a community that both confirms its members’ beliefs and offers full anonymity.

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Hate groups aren’t truly declining — they’re just becoming more covert and secretive, says the authors. I'm not sure I agree with that. With Bannon whispering racist sweet nothings into president-elect Donald Trump's ear and some of his Cabinet picks repeating the same complaints about what they call "socialist" government programs, that isn't exactly secretive.

The so-called alt-right, a term created by Bannon, may be the newest brand, but it's belief system borrows from its predecessors in the white-nationalist movement. Combining its racist ideas with anti-women and anti-LGBTQ platforms, the alt-right has just branded itself in more palatable, modern terms. 

The more moderate GOP members have to be wary about the very volatile formula brewing among Trumps more extreme supporters. They need to be brave enough to denounce the racist, misogynistic and homophobic rhetoric and actions. All Americans should beware of this dangerous breed of haters and at the same time, support those that expose and fight against the actions of the extremists. 

The growth of the white supremacist hate groups should concern us all -- no matter what color we are. Those upcoming battles could very well occur in the streets, the Internet, the courts, the halls of Congress ... and even (irony upon irony) in the White House.

White supremacist groups are no longer hiding in the shadows or keeping their beliefs to themselves.

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REPORT: U.S. hate groups increase as campaign rhetoric incites anger, fear

From the cover of the the Year In Hate and Extremism report of the SPLC.

I NEVER expected the election of Barack Obama as President to bring racial harmony to our country, but I also didn't expect the vitriol of hate that has arisen by putting an African/American in the White House.

Seven years after Obama's election, hate appears to more intense than ever. In its annual Year In Hate and Extremism report, the Southern Poverty Law Center said the number of U.S. hate groups increased to 892 last year, up from 784 in 2014. SPLC officials said so-called “Patriot” groups that are antigovernment grew like the group who took over a bird refuge in Oregon grew from 874 in 2014 to 998.

Of the 892 incidents of hate, 38 of them were directed at Asians and/or Asian/Americans: from racist epithets to racist graffiti to beatings. Fifty incidents occurred against Muslims, which could include any number of racial groups, including Asian Muslims.

“While the number of extremist groups grew in 2015 after several years of declines, the real story was the deadly violence committed by extremists in city after city,” said Mark Potok, senior fellow at the SPLC and editor of the Intelligence Report. “Whether it was Charleston, San Bernardino or Colorado Springs, 2015 was clearly a year of deadly action for extremists.”

This growth came amid a series of lethal terrorist attacks by extremists. In June, a white supremacist murdered nine black parishioners at a church in Charleston, South Carolina. In December, Islamist radicals killed 14 people at a work party in San Bernardino, California – just days after an anti-abortion extremist killed three people at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, Colorado. These were just the worst of numerous other attacks and foiled extremist plots reviewed in this issue.

“After seeing the bloodshed that defined 2015, our politicians should have worked to defuse this anger and bring us together as a nation,” Potok said. “Unfortunately, the carnage did little to dissuade some political figures from spouting incendiary rhetoric about minorities. In fact, they frequently exploited the anger and polarization across the country for political gain.”

The nonprofit also noted an uptick in anti-Muslim behavior, which it linked to terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, and the hateful speech from Republican presidential candidates.  

Vanita Gupta, who heads the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice, also noted during a White House address said:

"Similar to what we saw after 9/11, in recent weeks following the terrible and tragic attacks in San Bernardino and Paris — and amidst a ratcheting up of divisive rhetoric around religious intolerance —community members and advocates have reported an uptick in hate-related incidents targeting Muslim/Americans, as well as those perceived, rightly or wrongly, as being Muslim," he said.

GOP frontrunner Donald Trump opened his campaign described the Mexicans coming to America as criminals and rapists. He also called restrictions for allowing Syrian refugees and the temporary halt of any Muslim immigraition. 

Standard talking points from all the remaining GOP Presidential candidates on immigration include the deportation of over 11 million undocumented immigrants and overturning the executive actions of President Obama that would allow the children of undocumented immigrants to remain in the U.S. and a long path to citizenship for their parents.

SPLC President Richard Cohen notes that "[o]ver 60 percent of the people who support Trump believe that President Obama is a secret Muslim and wasn’t born in this country." The report points to the presidential election cycle as one of the primary reasons for the rising number of hate groups across the U.S., saying last year was marked by a level of hate speech in mainstream politics not seen in decades.

The report states that "Donald Trump’s demonizing statements about Latinos and Muslims have electrified the radical right, leading to glowing endorsements from white nationalist leaders such as Jared Taylor and former Klansman David Duke. White supremacist forums are awash with electoral joy, having dubbed Trump their 'Glorious Leader.'"

The report also noted that the number of black separatist groups, which it categorizes as hate groups, has risen from 113 in 2014 to 180 in 2015.

"We think that the growth of these groups is due almost entirely to the very dramatic attention that has been paid over the past year to police violence against black men," said SPLC Senior Fellow Mark Potok. The group simultaneously notes the number of active Ku Klux Klan groups increased to 190 in 2015 after falling between 2013 and 2014.

In general, Potok said, he would describe 2015 "as a year that very nearly approaches the political upheavals of 1968 — a time of real trial for this country."

SPLC officials deny allegations hurled at it by critics that the center's real targets is the viewpoints expressed by conservatives.

"The Southern Poverty Law Center was born, and still lives today, to essentially defend the 14th Amendment," Potok said, referring to the amendment that guarantees citizens of all races equal protection under the law.