New York City elects its first Asian American mayor

 

SCREEN CAPTURE

With his mother, film director Mira Nair, at his side, New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani
waved to his supporters after his victory speech Tuesday night

Zohran Mamdani, who was elected as the 111th mayor on Tuesday, will make history in several other ways, including being the city's first Muslim mayor, first Indian American mayor, and the first mayor born in Africa (specifically, in Kampala, Uganda). At age 35, he will also be the youngest mayor in over a century.

"New York will remain a city of immigrants, a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants, and as of tonight -- led by immigrants," said Mamdani at his stirring victory party in Brooklyn

"So, hear tme Donald Trump when I say: To get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us," challenged the New York state Assemblymember.

A large reason Mamdani won was the support he received from the Asian American communities. Mamdani received 61% of the Asian electorate, according to MSNBC.ynDuring his campaign, Mamdani actively reached out to South Asian communities, releasing videos in Urdu and Bengali, and visiting temples and mosques across New York. He also received the majority of East Asian votes in Manhattan, the Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn.

Mamdani's victory stunned the city's political establishment which backed Andrew Cuomo, fwho served 11 years as New York's governor. With 50.4% of the votes, the Democrats' candidate bested Republican Curtis Sliwa, 7.1% and independant Andrew Cuomo, 41.6%

It was a strange campaign that saw Repubilcan Donald Trump end Democrat former President Barack Obama endorsing the establishment candidate, former NY Governor Andrew Cuomo. who was running as an independent after losing to Mamdani in the primary. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) endorsed Mamdani at the week before the election. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) never did.

A self-described Democratic socialist, Mamdani was accused as being a communist by  his foes, Trump and Cuomo. His rivals tried to stir up Islamaphobia by linking him to 9/11, the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers.

Mamdani appealed to voters' main concerns of affordability by campaigning on his populist promises of rent freezes for stabilized housing units, free city buses, pilot programs for city-run grocery stores and higher taxes on corporations and the ultra rich individuals.

And throughout the campaign, Donald Trump was always in the background as immigrant communities became more fearful of going out in public, attending school,  and attending religious services. Trump even threatened to withhold federal funds if Mamdani won.

“If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him,” Mamdani said.

“This is not only how we stop Trump. It’s how we stop the next one,” Mamdani added.

“So Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you: ‘Turn the volume up’.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news, views and chismis from an AANHPI perspective, follow me on Threads, on X, BlueSky or at the blog Views From the Edge. 

Famed writer Salman Rushdie hospitalized after stabbing attack

Author Salman Rushdie remains in the hospital after being attacked during a lecture.

Novelist Salman Rushdie in the hospital breathing after being stabbed multiple times during a lecture. His agent says that the Indian American author was breathing through a ventilator and probably will lose sight in one eye.

Rushdie, 75, was being introduced at New York's Chautauqua Institution Riday for a lecture on the importance of freedom of creative expression when he was attacked by a man with a knife.

“The news is not good,” said Rushdie's agent Andrew Wylie later Friday. “Salman will likely lose one eye; the nerves in his arm were severed; and his liver was stabbed and damaged.”

The assailant was detained by audience members during the attack while a doctor in the audience tended to Rushdie's wounds. The suspected assailant was identified as Hadi Matar, 24, from Fairview, New Jersey. No motive or charges have yet been confirmed by police, who are in the process of obtaining search warrants to examine a backpack and electronic devices found at the centre.

Rushdie has faced death threats for more than 30 years since the publication of The Satanic Verses. which offended some Muslims by the way the Prophet Muhammad was portrayed. 

The Satanic Verses was banned first in the author's country of birth, India, and then several other countries before Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini issued his infamous fatwa, a decree issued by a religious leader. It called for the death for anyone involved in the publication of the book and offered rewards to those who took part in the slayings. That fatwa has never formally been rescinded. Rushdie has been in hiding since the fatwa was issued.

In 1991 a Japanese translator of the book was stabbed to death, while a few months later, an Italian translator was also stabbed and the book's Norwegian publisher, William Nygaard, was shot - but both survived.

The Mumbai-born Rushdie, who holds dual citizenships in Great Britain and the United States, was knighted in 2007 by the Queen. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted: "Appalled that Sir Salman Rushdie has been stabbed while exercising a right we should never cease to defend."

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter. 

Muslim woman settles lawsuit after being forced to remove her hijab

SCREEN CAPTURE /KTSP

Aida Shyef Al-Kadi 

ASAM NEWS

Aida Shyef Al-Kadi received $120,000 to settle her lawsuit after deputies allegedly forced her to strip and remove her hijab in front of male officers, the Guardian reported.
The Minnesota Muslim woman missed a court hearing for a traffic offense because she took her daughter to the hospital, according to the Star Tribune.

After she turned herself in, she said deputies ordered her to remove her hijab and abaya — a long, loose garment — in front of male jailers. Upon her refusal, Al-Kadi, 57, claimed officers yanked her into a holding cell and forced her to remove her clothing.

She said she only initially agreed to remove her headscarf after officers told her the booking photo wouldn’t be released to the public. But the Huffington Post reported that the photo became public record and available upon request, and Al-Kadi saw her photo on a third-party website months later.

Al-Kadi called the August 2013 incident at the Ramsey County jail “one of the most humiliating and harmful experiences of her life.”

She alleged the event violated her constitutional and religious rights, and approached the Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) for help. CAIR attorneys filed discrimination charges through the Minnesota Department of Human Rights, which were deemed unfounded, according to the Star Tribune. But Al-Kadi took matters into her own hands, studying at the Ramsey County Law Library to file a federal lawsuit pro se — on her own behalf.

Al-Kadi made it clear that her case was about “looking forward and standing up not only for herself, but for the broader Muslim community,” Caitlinrose Fisher, one of the attorneys who represented Al-Kadi, said. “Standing up for the broader Muslim community is precisely what Ms. Al-Kadi did.”

Fisher noted that the case “had the potential to strengthen the protections for detained women that are Muslim across Ramsey County, Minnesota and the United States.“

Alongside the $120,000, the settlement also requires the jail to have specific rules in treating inmates with religious headwear when taking booking photos, and the Sheriff’s Office to train its corrections officers on policies concerning inmates’ religious accommodations. The county further agreed to destroy all hard copies and electronic versions of Al-Kadi’s booking photo.

County Board Chairman Jim McDonough told the Star Tribune that the terms were “fair and in the best interests of our citizens.”

Jaylani Hussein, executive director of CAIR in Minnesota, applauded Al-Kadi’s six years of courage and determination.

“[She] has fought not only for herself, but for Muslim women to be dignified and treated with respect when they encounter law enforcement,” he said.

The sweeping changes for how female Muslim inmates are treated in Minnesota are exactly what Al-Kadi had hoped for.

“I knew that I did not want any other Muslim woman to experience what I did,” she said.

Sunday Read: California Muslim students more likely to be bullied in school

Muslim students in California continue to report being bullied or harassed at a higher rate than other students in the state and the country, according to a new report by the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

The CAIR report, "Singled Out: Islamophobia in the Classroom and the Impact of Discrimination on Muslim Students,"  released Wednesday (Oct. 16) reveals that Muslim students are bullied at twice the rate of the national statistic.

While the report shows some hope that there is a decline in bullying, CAIR-Greater Los Angeles' Senior Civil Rights Attorney Patricia Shnell, Esq., the lead editor of the report., said, "Muslim students still report bullying at alarmingly high rates, and there is a need to continue to advocate for students at the federal, state and district levels, so that everyone has uninterrupted access to their education, regardless of their religion or background."

“I was in second grade when I first decided to wear a headscarf (hijab). Three days after my decision, a classmate attacked my new appearance by implying that I was connected to Osama Bin Laden," said Anoosh Ali, 18, a first-year student at Sierra College. She was so traumatized she never wore a hijab again until last year. "It took me 10 years to get over the shattering effects that bullying had. Ten years!"

SCREEN CAPTURE

At a press conferencee, Anoosh Ali relates how traumatic bullying can be for a young Muslim student.

The report, is based on findings from a statewide survey of approximately 1,500 Muslim students between the ages of 11 and 18. This report is the fourth in CAIR-CA's series of biennial reports documenting the rates of bullying of Muslim students in California.

Each report is based on a survey which asks Muslim students across the state about how they perceive their school environment and the type of bullying and/or discrimination they have experienced at school, as either a target or bystander.

According to the responses received for the new report, 40% of respondents reported being bullied for being Muslim, which is double the national statistic for students being targets of school bullying.

Key findings illustrate minimal improvement in school environments for Muslim students.

While 72% of Muslim students reported feeling comfortable letting others know they were Muslims, that percentage is down from the 2016 survey, when 77% of respondents felt the same.

Seventy percent of respondents felt safe, welcomed and respected in their schools, just 1% higher than as reported in 2016. However, looking at the wider trend among CAIR-CA surveys, the number of Muslim students who report feeling safe, welcome and respected at their schools has declined 13 percentage points since 2014.

The survey also considered gender-based differences in survey responses. More female students reported experiencing bullying, with 44% of female respondents reporting being bullied compared to 37% of male respondents.

In addition to analyzing gender-based differences, CAIR-CA also focused on age-based differences. The data revealed that high school-age student respondents were bullied at a higher rate than lower grades, with 48% of 12th-grade respondents reporting being bullied, the highest rate based on age/grade.

To comply with that law, Assembly Bill 2291, the California Department of Education posted online an anti-bullying training module that schools must offer to teachers and other employees who have regular interaction with students.

“In the era of Trump and abhorrent attacks on our immigrant communities, the fact that 40% of Muslim students have faced bullying is extremely troubling, but not surprising," Chiu said in a statement. "Moving forward, we will be monitoring this issue and working with advocates to see what steps can be taken to make sure all students feel safe and welcome at school.”

_____________________________________________________________

Sunday Read: Faith, Friendship and Tragedy at Sana Fe High

This Sunday, I'm referring you, dear readers, to a well-written, absolutely heartbreaking story written for the Texas Monthly upon the one-year anniversary of the tragic mass shooting at Santa Fe High School near Houston. 

Sabika Sheikh, a Muslim exchange student from Pakistan with dreams of changing the world, struck up an unlikely friendship with Jaelyn Cogburn,  an evangelical Christian girl. The two became inseparable—until the day a fellow student opened fire.

Here:s an excerpt:

Sabika went upstairs for her evening prayer, and as she unfurled her prayer mat, the bedroom door opened behind her. There stood Jaelyn, holding her own prayer rug. She placed it beside Sabika’s and said she wanted to pray with her. Sabika nodded, dropped to her knees, and prayed to Allah. 

“Ashhadu an la ilaha illa Allah,” Sabika recited

“Dear precious Lord and Savior, thank you for this day,” Jaelyn began.

Read the entire story at the Texas Monthly. 

______________________________________________________________________

Post office named after fallen son of Khzr Khan

A Virginia post office will be named after the late Captain Humayun Khan .

ASAM NEWS

DONALD TRUMP signed a bill Friday (Dec. 21) honoring late Army Capt. Humayun Khan who died in the Iraq War in 2004. reports Bloomberg.

The bill renames Virginia's Barracks Road Shopping Center post office, at 2150 Wise St., as the "Captain Humayun Khan Post Office."

Khan’s Pakistani American immigrant parents criticized then-candidate Trump and his proposed Muslim travel ban during a highly-publicized speech at the Democratic National Convention in 2016.

Trump accused Khan’s father, Khizr Khan, of not allowing his wife to speak during the convention and suggested that Hillary Clinton’s campaign wrote the speech for the Khans. Captain Khan’s mother would later explain she chose to stand by her husband at the convention, but not speak, out of fear she would lose her composure.

SCREEN CPTUR / CNN

Khizr Khan held up his copy of the Constitution during the Democratic National Convention.

During the speech, Khizr Khan offered to loan his copy of the Constitution to Donald Trump, one of the dramatic moments of the convention.

“Donald Trump, you’re asking Americans to trust you with their future," said Khan in his powerful speech. "Let me ask you, have you even read the United States constitution? I will gladly lend you my copy," that's the moment when Khizr Khan took the copy of the Constitution out of his jacket pocket and held it up high. "In this document, look for the words ‘liberty’ and ‘equal protection of law’,” he continued.

The Daily Progress reports the couple’s son died when a vehicle with explosives was driven into the gate of a compound in Baqubah, Iraq . He would be later honored  posthumously with the Purple Heart and Bronze Star.

Virginia Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner sponsored the bill to honor Khan.

“Captain Khan is revered not only in Charlottesville, but across the nation,” the senators said. “With the dedication of this post office, we’re showing the Khan family that we’re forever grateful for his service and sacrifice for our country.”

_________________________________________________________________________________

Rule change sought for Congress' first hijab-wearing members

MPR

Ilhan Omar is breaking new ground in Congress.

ASAM NEWS

ILHAN OMAR of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan are the first two Muslim women to ever be elected to Congress. When congresswoman-elect Ilhan Omar, who wears a hijab — a traditional headwear worn by some Muslim women — is sworn in, she will be the first federal legislator who wears a religious headscarf reports Roll Call.
Due to a 181-year-old ruling that bans hats of any kind from Congress, Democrats are working to accommodate Omar and propose a rule change that will allow religious headwear on the House floor.

The Washington Post reports that the proposal, by Omar, Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and Incoming Rules Chairman Jim McGovern, is part of the House Democrats rules package entitled “New Congress, New Rules” to emphasize diversity and inclusion. In a summary draft list published by The Post, the document says: 

“Public servants working for the People’s House should reflect the faces of America. The Democratic rules package will provide an opportunity for all Americans to be included in this great institution”.

The Democrats working to alter this headwear ban serves as an explicit announcement that Muslim Americans, and other individuals who may wear a yarmulk, a dastaar, or other religious garbs, will always be allowed in Congress. Omar, tweeted last weekend, “No one puts a scarf on my head but me. It’s my choice—one protected by the first amendment.” She adds, “And this is not the last ban I’m going to work to lift,” reports CBS News.

The man behind the Los Angeles Dodgers' success

General Manager Farhad Zaidi introduced Dave Roberts as the Dodger's manager in 2014.

ARE YOU, like me, not a fan of the Boston Red Sox or the Los Angeles Dodgers and looking for someone to root for in the World Series?

As a fan of the San Francisco Giants, I'm loathed to say, I'm reluctantly, kind of rooting for the Boys in Blue even though, as of this writing, they are down two games to zero.

For the last five years, the Dodgers have had a record any team would be proud of: Five divisions championships and for the last two years, playing in the world series.

The Dodgers manager is Dave Roberts, a Japanese American former ballplayer. He's successfully managed a team of egos and talented ballplayers to baseball's pinnacle of success.

However, the reason for Dodgers' rise might lay at the feet of another Asian American. It is no coincidence that their record coincides with the hiring of Farhan Zaidi, the first Asian American general manager of any U.S. professional sports team. It would not be far fetched to say he is behind the man behind the phenomenal success of the L.A. team.

Following is a column I wrote in 2014 when the Dodgers announced the hiring of Zaidi. I updated it with additional material

* * *

IT'S OFFICIAL. The Dodgers announced this morning (Nov. 7) that Farhan Zaidi, one of the A's two assistant managers, will be the new general manager of the Los Angeles baseball  team, making him the first Asian American GM of any of U.S. professional sports team.

Zaidi is a Canadian with Pakistani parentage but get this - he was raised in the Philippines. His father moved to Manila for his job with the Asian Development Bank. 

According to the Los Angeles Times, Zaidi experienced the 1986 revolt against President Ferdinand Marcos. The family was living in a gated community in Manila, although Sadiq’s colleagues suggested they live at a hotel outside the city. When Zaidi was nine years old, the family finally moved outside Manila.

“At one point, there was gunfire, and it really sounded like it was coming from right outside my bedroom,” Zaidi told the Times. “I was so terrified.” Thankfully, the revolt was short and Marcos fled the country.

Not only is the the first Asian American GM, he is the first Muslim GM in the United States.

“I’m a big proponent of diversity in our game,” Zaidi said during his first Dodgers press conference, notes The National. “So from that standpoint, I’m proud of it.”The Dodgers, who won the National League West five years in a row, were ousted from the playoffs in 2013 and 2014 despite having one of the highest payrolls in Major League Baseball. 

What may irk the Dodgers ownership even more, despite all the money they put out and which - on paper - is the most talented team in the National League, they had to watch from the sidelines as their arch rivals, the San Francisco Giants, went on to win the World Series in 2014.

With almost an entirely new front office, the Dodgers are showing that they are serious about shoring up the administrative side of the organization to match what they put on the field. But they may also be saying, playing talent is not enough to win the whole shebam.

They started by hiring Andrew Friedman, former GM of the Tampa Bay Rays. Friedman's first action was to hire to young baseball administrators who will probably bring a whole new way of operating to the organization, owned by the Guggenheim Baseball Management, that's Guggenheim - as in bankrolls of money. 

Besides Zaidi, Friedman brought in Josh Byrnes, former GM of the San Diego Padres, as senior vice president of baseball operations. The two hires will bring a new outlook and operations the Dodgers.

Zaidi's primary focus will be on the major league team and player acquisitions, while Byrnes will overs scouting and player development, said Friedman.

Zaidi, has been with the A's for 10 years, most recently as assistant general manager/director of baseball operations, after five years as director of baseball operations.

Zaidi, 42, earned his bachelor of science degree in economics from Massachusetts Instittue of Technology and a Ph.D in economics from UC, Berkeley. Although totally versed  in sabremetrics, that the A's used to combine winning teams with the lowest payrolls, Zaidi is reported to advocate blending old-school scouting methods with the the advanced analytics to combine the best of both diametrically opposed worlds.

"He's absolutely brilliant," A's GM Billy Beane told a San Francisco Chronicle reporter. "He has a great qualitative mind, but also a creative mind. The ability to look at things both micro and macro is unique and Farhan could do whatever he wants to do, not just in this game, but in any sport or business. I'm more worried about losing him to Apple or Google than I am to another team."
_____________________________________________________________________________

RIP: John McCain 1936-2018. Recalling an apology for ethnic slur; defending a Muslim American

UPDATED August 27, 2018 to include farewell letter, Hanoi tributes and his apology for using an ethnic slur.

"AND THERE'S the monument to one of your senators, John McCain," said the tour guide on a bus tour of Hanoi. By the time I got out my camera, we were way past the monument. Too late for a proper picture. Sitting in the back of the bus, I did glimpse a sculpture of man hanging by his arms.

I guess, the tour I was on didn't want to dwell on the torture of the man who would become a U.S. senator and an American icon. His 5 and one-half years in Hanoi led to his 36 years representing Arizona in the House of Representatives and U.S. Senate.

Today, flowers and other tributes lay at the base of the sculpture in Hanoi placed there by the Vietnamese and other admirers.

It tells you the measure of the man that after being tortured by the North Vietnamese guards for all those years, so much so that both his arms had been broken so that after his captivity and release, he could no longer raise his arms above his shoulders to simply comb his hair. he led the effort in the Congress to repair relations between the U.S. and Vietnam. 

In his first campaign for the presidency in 2000, it came to light that McCain freely used the racial slur "gooks" to refer to his Vietnamese captors, but then doubled-down on his use of the racist term by stating that he thought it was an appropriate term for those who had tortured him. He tried to clarify that he used the term in reference to his prison guards, not an entire race.

Needless to say, his use of the term caused a minor uproar among Asian Americans. “I hated the gooks, and I will hate them for as long as I live,” McCain told reporters as his campaign bus, the Straight Talk Express, rolled through South Carolina. “Every single one of my POW friends, that’s what we called them.”

In the face of mounting criticism, primarily from leaders of Asian American organizations because mostly white mainstream media didn't think the slur merited their attention, the candidate on Feb. 21 issued a statement declaring that, “I will no longer use the term that has caused such discomfort. I deeply regret any pain I may have caused by my choice of words.”

"There is no reason for me to hold a grudge or anger," McCain told C-Span about visiting Hanoi. "There's certainly some individual guards who were very cruel and inflicted a lot of pain on me and others but there's certainly no sense in me hating the Vietnamese ... I hold no ill will toward them."
At the news of McCain's death last night, my thoughts turned a blog posting, "Profiles in Disappointment," I put up a couple of years ago,. In that posting, I wondered what had happened to the "maverick" senator who voted for what he thought was best for the country, politics be damned. His reputation was that he always put country first, but in recent years, he seemed to talk a good game but when the vote came, he eventually sided with the Republican leadership.

McCain showed his independence from the GOP loyalists numerous times. Three stick out in my mind.

One of McCain's shining moments occurred during his 2008 campaign against Sen. Barack Obama, McCain was speaking at one of his rallies when one of his supporters tells him that she doesn't trust Sen Obama and insists that the Illinois Democrat is an Arab.


Before she could finish her sentence, McCain shook his head and took the microphone away from her and politely defended his Democratic rival.

“No, ma’am," said McCain. "He’s a decent family man, citizen, that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues, and that’s what this campaign issue is all about,” he said, prompting applause from some other audience members at the gathering in Minnesota.

SCREEN CAPTURE C-SPAN

Senator John McCain defended Huma Abedin, a Muslim American  aide to Hillary Clinton. 

The second instance occurred in 2012, McCain on took to the Senate floor to defend Huma Abedin, a top aide to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. He blasted five fellow Republicans who have questioned Abedin's loyalty to the U.S. and alleged she has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.


The allegations against Abedin, a Muslim American, are an “unwarranted and unfounded attack on an honorable woman, a dedicated American, and a loyal public servant,” said McCain.

“I know Huma to be an intelligent, upstanding, hard-working, and loyal servant of our country and our government, who has devoted countless days of her life to advancing the ideals of the nation she loves and looking after its most precious interests,” said McCain,in his floor speech.

“Put simply, Huma represents what is best about America: the daughter of immigrants, who has risen to the highest levels of our government on the basis of her substantial personal merit and her abiding commitment to the American ideals that she embodies so fully,” McCain added.

Those two instances raised my opinion of the Arizona senator so that feeling dopped drastically after Trump appeared to win the election. That's when McCain began his futile campaign to change the GOP from within. That's why I was crestfallen when I thought McCain was all talk and when crunchtime came, he would vote with Trump supporters.
 in McCain prompted that post expressing my disappointment

I disagreed with McCain on many issues, but I never doubted that he always put our country first. I wanted the "maverick" back to stand up for what's right and good for the country. The third instance happened in dramatic fashion when he voted thumb down against Trumpcare and for the continuation of Obamacare in that late night vote caught on camera.  

Since he was diagnosed with brain cancer a little more than a year ago, McCain has been more outspoken about the Trump administration. Perhaps he knew that his time was limited and there was no longer a need to think long-term or the next election. The return of the maverick was welcomed. In today's political climate, we need more

Even when the end was near, McCain was still working to unite our country against the current White House occupant. He left specific instructions that for his eulogy, former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

He left behind a final letter to the American letter, perhaps to help us get through our current malaise fostered by the administration. He wrote, in part:

To be connected to America’s causes — liberty, equal justice, respect for the dignity of all people — brings happiness more sublime than life’s fleeting pleasures. Our identities and sense of worth are not circumscribed but enlarged by serving good causes bigger than ourselves.

'Fellow Americans' — that association has meant more to me than any other. I lived and died a proud American. We are citizens of the world’s greatest republic, a nation of ideals, not blood and soil. We are blessed and are a blessing to humanity when we uphold and advance those ideals at home and in the world. We have helped liberate more people from tyranny and poverty than ever before in history. We have acquired great wealth and great power in the process.

We weaken our greatness when we confuse our patriotism with tribal rivalries that have sown resentment and hatred and violence in all the corners of the globe. We weaken it when we hide behind walls rather than tear them down, when we doubt the power of our ideals, rather than trust them to be the great force for change they’ve always been.

McCain concluded:

Do not despair of our present difficulties but believe always in the promise and greatness of America, because nothing is inevitable here. Americans never quit. We never surrender. We never hide from history. We make history.

_______________________________________________________________________________ 

Campaign for Michigan governor turns ugly with anti-Muslim message

ABDUL EL-SAYED CAMPAIGN

Dr. Abdul El-Sayed speaks to his supporters

ASAM NEWS

AN ATTEMPT in Michigan by a Republican candidate for governor to tie his Democratic opponent to the Muslim Brotherhood is drawing outrage, reports Click on Detroit.
State Sen. Patrick Colbeck is accusing Dr. Abdul El-Sayed of belonging to the Muslim Student Association during his years at the University of Michigan. The student group is a sanctioned club on campus, and according to El-Sayed, has no ties to terrorism.

According to Buzzfeed, state and local Republican candidates have attacked Islam in 49 states since 2015. The article accused Colbeck of pushing “false conspiracy theories.”

“Of course, I knew that in choosing to run for governor as an unapologetic, proud Muslim and American, I was going to contend with the ugly face of White supremacy that Donald Trump and his friends have sanctioned,” El-Sayed said. “But I know that every day I serve this state and this country, beholding us to our ideals and our constitution, which empower and inspire me to serve every single person in our state, regardless of my ethnicity, color or faith.”

Colbeck denied the allegations saying he is merely raising concerns specific to El-Sayed and not all Muslim/Americans.

El-Sayed was born and raised in Michigan. His parents immigrated from Egypt. He is considered the most serious challenger to Democratic frontrunner Gretchen Whitmer. His politics lean towards the so-called "progressive" wing of the party, which explains why Bernie Sanders supporters have flocked to his campaign.

After graduating from the University of Michigan, he went on as a Rhoades scholar and got his doctorate from Oxford University. He earned his medical degree at Columbia University.

He returned to Michigan to head up Detroit's Health Department after it was decimated and demoralized by privatization in the previous administration. Uunder his leadership, the Detroit Health Department has become a state and national leader in public health innovation and environmental justice, in one of the fastest municipal public health turnarounds in American history.

He is one of three candidates seeking the Democratic nomination for governor. The primary election is Aug. 7. The winner of that contest will represent the party in the November elections against some independents and the Republican nominee.  Besides Colbeck, there are three other Republicans seeking the GOP nomination for governor.

Colbeck isn't subtle with his bigotry. according to a report from Buzzfeed, in almost every speech Colby says in nearly every speech that people tell him that El-Sayed is probably “a little too young, a little too brown and a little too Muslim” to be a viable candidate for governor.

PATRICK COLBECK

Sarah Anderson, spokeswoman for the Michigan Republican Party, said Colbeck’s pronouncements have no place in the GOP.

“The party isn’t interested in peddling any conspiracy theories and anything he said was not on behalf of the party,” she told the Detroit Free Press. “We categorically condemn any sort of hate speech, regardless of the source.”

Muslims make up only about 2.75 percent of Michigan's population. However, their small size doesn't match the huge impact they have on the state. According to a report by the  Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, more than 15 percent of Michigan's medical doctors are Muslim, as are more than 10 percent of all pharmacists, more than 7 percent of all dentists, 6.9 percent of podiatrists, and 6.1 percent of osteopaths. These Muslim medical professionals provide 1.6 million appointments to patients per year and indirectly support 39,987 jobs.

In fact, the city of Hamtramck, surrounded by the city of Detroit, received international attention in 2016 when it elected a majority-Muslim city council. The city also became the first to have a majority-Muslim population in 2013),

(Views From the Edge contributed to this report)

_________________________________________________________________________________

Professor awaiting deportation hearing released from detention

SCREEN CAPTURE

Kansas professor Syed Ahmed Jamal was greeted by his wife outside the Pleatte County Jail Tuesday.

THE COURTROOM broke out into applause when a judge freed the Kansas professor being detained by ICE as a prelude to his deportation.
U.S. District Judge Roseann Ketchmark said Tuesday (March 20) that though the government was entitled to detain Syed Ahmed Jamal for a reasonable period of time, his lack of a criminal history and his strong ties to Lawrence favored his release.

Jamal, who has lived in the area for more than 30 years and taught chemistry at the college level, had overstayed his visa and was detained by federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in front of his home on Jan. 24 as he was preparing to take his daughter to school.

Although he is out of jail, that doesn't end the deportation proceedings against Jamal. The father of three is still waiting to hear whether he'll be deported.

The judge's ruling is a major legal victory for Jamal, 55, whose plight drew national attention after he was arrested on Jan. 24 by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on the front lawn of his Lawrence, Kansas, home as he was about to take his daughter to school.

ICE tried to deport Jamal Feb. 13 when, without notifying his attorneys, put him on a plane back to his home country. His legal team scrambled and was able to get a court to issue a stay of the deportation order until his hearings are over. Jamal was taken off the plane in Honolulu, HI, and returned to the Platte County Jail where he has been since.

The Kansas City community, neighbors and friends have rallied around Jamal''s plight.

A bill has been introduced in Congress that would override the deportation order and allow Jamal to remain in the U.S.

As he left the Platte County Jail, his wife and children were there to greet him. His 7-year old son said, "Dad, I haven't seen you in forever!"
_______________________________________________________________________________

Man drives truck into a Sikh-owned convenience store

Chad Horsley

A FORMER reserve sheriff’s deputy in Louisiana's Livingston Parish is facing hate crime charges after telling authorities that he plowed his pickup truck into a convenience store because he thought its Sikh owners were Muslim.

Chad Horsley, 27, is accused of several recent offenses all involving a convenience store on La. 1019, according to a news release last week from the Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office.

Deputies identified Horsley as the suspect and questioned him about his actions. Ard said Horsley's account did not match surveillance footage and witness statements. Horsley admitted to investigators that he purposefully caused damage to the store because he thought the owners were Muslim.

Sikhs are often mistaken as Muslims, according to the several surveys done by teh Department of Justice and confirmed by the South Asian American Leading Together (SAALT).

Harjot Singh, a nephew of the store owner who works as a cashier there, told the Advocate that attacking anyone for their religious identity isn’t acceptable.

“Even if it was Muslims, he shouldn’t have done that thing,” said Singh, who immigrated to the U.S. from India two years ago. “We’re just trying to make a living out of here, that’s all we’re doing.”

Horsley joined the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve in 2014, but was honorably discharged in December because of liver disease, according to the New York Daily News.

Before that, starting in 2010, he served for six years as a deputy in nearby East Baton Rouge Parish in both a full-time and reserve capacity.

Stephen Horsley said his son was honorably discharged from the military in December 2017 after he was diagnosed with liver disease and needed to receive treatment. He started working for a crane operating company most recently.

Family members had noticed that Chad Horsely was more distant than usual the past few months. But his dad said they never could have predicted anything close to the recent allegations. He also noted that his son has no history of mental health diagnoses or treatment.

"I'm in shock because that's not my son," Samuel Horsley said, his voice choking up over the phone. "He's about as far from a racist as they come. I did not raise my kids that way (but) taught them to always look at people in their heart. … He wasn't in his right mind. He must've just snapped."

______________________________________________________________________________

Tampa man pleads guilty, threatened to burn home bought by Muslim family

A Muslim family decided not to move into this Tampa house after being threatened by a neighbor.

A MAN, who threatened to burn down a home a Muslim family was about to buy, pleaded guilty to the hate crime.

David H. Howard, 59, of Tampa, Florida, intimidated and interfered with the victims, who sought to purchase a home in the Davis Islands neighborhood of Tampa, Florida, by threatening to burn down the home, simply because it was being bought by a Muslim family. 

Howard pleaded guilty Feb. 28 in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Tampa Division, to one count of threatening, intimidating, and interfering with a Muslim family’s enjoyment of their housing rights, in violation of Title 42 U.S.C. § 3631. 

A sentencing date has not yet been set. Howard faces a maximum punishment of 10 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release, and a fine up to $250,000.

Kaderbhai and Sehera Ali Asgar and the wife’s elderly parents arrived the morning of Nov. 3, 2016, for a final walk-through at the property located in the pricey neighborhood, according to court documents.

Howard, who lives in the neighborhood, approached Kaderbhal Asgar and the seller, Herb Donica, according the plea agreement and the accompanying realtors, and yelled, “This sale will not take place!” 

He declared, "This sale will not take place. I will break all of your f------ windows and I will burn your f------ house down."

the Asgars hurried away from the house and cancelled the closing of the home purchase that was scheduled to take place the next day. 

“Individuals and families should have the right to live wherever they choose, without intimidation or fear,” said U.S. Attorney Maria Chapa Lopez for the Middle District of Florida. “Crimes perpetrated against people because of their race, ethnicity, color, or religious beliefs simply cannot be tolerated. And, we will prosecute those who commit these crimes to the fullest extent possible.”

“Hate motivated crimes are not only an attack on the victim, but are meant to threaten and intimidate an entire community," said FBI Tampa Division Special Agent in Charge Eric W. Sporre.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Muslim iashion blogger told, 'You don't sound American'

SCREEN CAPTURE / WGN

Honda Katebi, right, was taken by surprise by the political turn of an interview on fashion.

ASAM NEWS

A FEATURE INTERVIEW with a fashion blogger took a sudden turn to a more controversial topic on WGN in Chicago Feb. 14.

News anchors Robin Baumgarten and Larry Potash were interviewing fashion blogger Hoda Katebi, who is an Iranian/American, about the intersection of fashion and politics.

Potosh then made the transition from Katebi’s upbringing in Oklahoma to her views on the Middle East political situation.

“Let’s talk about nuclear weapons,” Potash said. “Some of our viewers might say we cannot trust Iran. What are your thoughts?”

Katebi chuckled nervously and appeared stunned by the question.

At first Hoda Katebi appeared surprised by the question,
but she recovered nicely and turned the interview into
a learning moment.

Nonetheless she answered it, moving seamlessly into issues saying many might questions whether the U.S. can be trusted, making references to American imperialism and colonization in the Middle East.

To that, Baumgarten responded “A lot of Americans might take offense to that. You’re an American, you don’t sound like an American.”

“That’s because I've read,” Katebi responded, not missing a beat. She brought up the slavery of Blacks to the United States to the genocide of the indigenous people of the U.S.-Native Americans.

Katebi expanded on her thoughts about the interview in her blog, JooJoo Azad.

“The double standards is mind-blowing,” she said. “Not to mention that what, then, must an American 'sound like'? Are they saying that Americans must not question their government, must see the world in black & white, and chose simplicity over nuanced understandings? But furthermore, what an incredibly loaded statement to say to a visibly Muslim woman on live TV, pushing every stereotype of 'other,' 'foreign,' and 'incompatible with America' that Muslims are so systematically characterized as–and therefore used as justification to commit violence against, both here and abroad. If a white person said the same things as I did I guarantee you their 'American-ness' would not have been questioned.”

Baumgarten has since apologized for her question after callers and tweeters brought the faux pas to the station's attention.

Watch the entire interview, which has gone viral:

In an interview in Glamour magazine, Katebi says she shouldn't have been surprised by the questions, because in hindsight, the interview exposed assumptions about Muslim women she's faced for years. "It was a very powerful moment because you’re telling someone who’s visibly Muslim on live TV, for a large audience, [that she] doesn’t sound American? That of course perpetuates all sorts of biases: Always being foreign, always being other, always being incompatible with the West."

Katebi added that the TV interview should be a learning opportunity, in more ways than one. "Something I learned first and foremost is that we really should not let ourselves normalize micro-aggressions in any form or sense," she says. ... I really just want people to understand that this happens all the time. I want people to think about the larger issue."

(Views From the Edge contributed to this article.)

_______________________________________________________________________________