Racial Profiling Doesn't Keep Us Safe From Terrorists (Letter to Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Letters to the editor: 08/24/06

August 24, 2006 12:00 AM

Racial profiling doesn't keep us safe from terrorists

The writer of the Aug. 21 letter "Go for It" assumes that racial profiling has been "proven successful in stopping terror threats," is necessary for keeping the writer's family and neighbors safe, and that anyone against it has something to hide or is selfish.

Tell that to Getu Tewolde, one neighbor who was arrested as a terrorist here in 2002 without any evidence. After a yearlong campaign by more of our neighbors, who have nothing to hide in their unselfish outcry against racism, Getu was released and cleared of the terrorism charges.

In the last year newspapers have been full of stories of more of our neighbors of color who have been released after being held since 9/11 without charges because the government admits they were not criminals but victims of roundups. Taking away your neighbors' rights based on race has nothing to do with making anyone safer and everything to do with racist anxieties whipped up by sensational rhetoric and headlines.

Racism hasn't worked in the "war on crime" and the "war on drugs," and it's not working in the "war on terror." Profiling and shakedowns feed into racism and demagoguery; they have nothing to do with protecting anyone from crime, drugs or terrorism, and definitely have nothing to do with spreading freedom and democracy.

If you don't speak out when they come after your neighbors, there will be no one left to speak out when they come after you.

S. SALEH WAZIRUDDIN
Wilkinsburg

The writer is chair of the Anti- Discrimination Committee
of the Islamic Council of Greater Pittsburgh.

FBI Mosque Raid Sparks United Outcry (People's Weekly World)

(People's Weekly World was renamed to People's World and became online only, the article is now at https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/fbi-mosque-raid-sparks-united-outcry/)

FBI Mosque Raid Sparks United Outcry

by: Asad Ali

July 21 2006

People's Weekly World

PITTSBURGH — As the mostly African American and Latino congregation was preparing for weekly Friday prayers at Light of the Age mosque here on June 30, a dozen FBI agents raided the building and lined up worshippers outside at gunpoint. Agents ransacked the building and asked individuals detailed personal questions, demonstrating intimate knowledge of their private lives.

The agents had a warrant for a mosque member over a parole violation, but he and his vehicle were already seized outside hours before. Later a federal judge declared the man was no threat and released him without bail. The formerly incarcerated member had been pulled over in Utah for tinted windows. Because he was “nervous” his van was searched, turning up pieces of his wife’s permitted handgun. He was allowed to leave Utah and spent the night at the mosque. The FBI also tried to charge a parole violation in the State of Washington but the state wasn’t interested.

The real target of the raid may have been the unity of the local Muslim community and its allies. Over the past years, foreign-born Muslims who were voluntarily interviewed by the FBI noticed that African American mosques and personalities were central to the FBI’s questions. The day after the raid, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette published erroneously that the mosque is not part of the Islamic Council of Greater Pittsburgh, an umbrella group. The prosecutor cited the article in court to justify the raid, and sensationalized the alleged parole violations.

The raid and media coverage galvanized the multiracial, multi-class Muslim community to respond. An emergency outdoor leadership meeting was convened in a city park with members of African American and foreign-born mosques.

A prescheduled cookout and piñata game for the mosque’s working-class neighborhood was held with a high turnout of support. A documentary crew making “The New Muslim Cool” for PBS, about African American and Latino Muslim hip hop, was on site.

It would take two weeks for the Islamic Council to reach consensus, but the raided mosque and African-American Muslim leaders organized an immediate response press conference July 7.

A vacant lot next to the mosque was packed with diverse supporters. Luqman Abdus-Salaam, the mosque director who is also a hip-hop performer known as “B-Tree,” read a statement asking why the FBI disrupted a community-service-oriented multiracial mosque.

Tahir Abdullah, assistant director, read a statement citing the FBI’s history of harassing African Americans from the Muslim Alliance of North America (MANA), the mosque’s national organization which is predominantly African American in its makeup. Speakers from the foreign-born community and the Nation of Islam also read solidarity statements. Leaders of civil rights, economic justice and labor organizations were also present.

Khari Mosley, local Democratic Party ward chair and League of Young Voters regional director, told reporters the mosque is a community asset and asked why “we have a war going on overseas, and poverty is escalating, yet we’re using our resources to be Big Brother and to raid mosques in a police state, Gestapo fashion?”

Mosque Members Still Questioning FBI Raid (from ThePittsburghChannel.com)

 http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/9485337/detail.html

 

Mosque Members Still Questioning FBI Raid

POSTED: 5:00 pm EDT July 7, 2006

PITTSBURGH -- FBI agents caused quite a stir when they swarmed a house of worship on the North Side last week.

So far, the bureau has refused to address the disruption at the Light of the Age mosque -- and its members are not happy.

"Why did the FBI raid our place of worship last Friday, preventing us from having our congregational prayer?" mosque director Luqman Abdus-Salaam asked on Friday.

On the outside, there are no obvious signs that the building at 1320 Boyle St. is a place of worship.

But inside, there are signs of faith -- and broken doors that mosque members said are the result of the FBI raid.

"We can be proud that Muslims of several different mosques have come forward in the hopes of preventing the FBI from doing any more injustice," said Saleh Waziruddin, of the activist group Jamaat For Justice.

The U.S. Attorney's office said FBI agents conducted a legal search of the mosque.

Investigators said they learned that Larry M. Williams, a wanted criminal, was staying there.

Prosecutors told Channel 4 Action News that Williams is a convicted rapist wanted in Utah for illegally possessing a firearm. He has also failed to register as a sex offender since moving to Pennsylvania, they said.

FBI agents arrested Williams outside the mosque last week, and they said they had a warrant to search the building.

"The FBI is charged with safeguarding the security of the nation, not the violation of civil and human rights of its citizenry," said Tahir Abdullah, the mosque's assistant director.

Members of the mosque did not take questions on Friday, even though they organized a press conference.

 

Jamaat for Justice Press Statement at Press Conference Condemning FBI Raid on Light of the Age Mosque (Pittsburgh, PA)

Jamaat for Justice Press Statement at Press Conference Condemning FBI Raid on Light of the Age Mosque

Pittsburgh PA

By Saleh Waziruddin, co-founder Jamaat for Justice

    Our organization’s name, Jamaat for Justice, means congregating together for justice. In the face of the indefensible FBI armed raid on a place of coming together for peace we urge all Pittsburghers to stand by the Light of the Age Mosque in this test of our solidarity. We can be proud of our city and our people to see that the non-Muslim neighbors of the North Side have kept your bonds strong with the Light of the Age Mosque, and we can also be proud that Muslims from several different mosques have come forward in the hope of preventing the FBI from doing any more injustice. We know that there is no excuse for terrorizing a community the way the FBI did here last week, and we know that if we don’t want any more of our sanctuaries and neighborhoods to be invaded we have to stand strong together now and loudly denounce the FBI’s intrusion into the peace we are creating at home.

Letter to the Editor of Political Affairs (CPUSA Magazine)

Dear Political Affairs,

While I appreciate the "Made In China" article very much I want to comment on the author's  characterization of the insurgency in Kashmir. India has played a leading role in the international movement to oppose US hegemony but its ruling class's limitations with nationality policies have lead to insurgencies not just in the state of Jammu &  Kashmir but also Punjab (mostly Sikhs), Assam (mostly Hindus), Nagaland (mostly Christians), and others.  It's too convenient to blame the problem on externally-supported reactionaries.  In Jammu & Kashmir one of the dominant and oldest organizations  is the JKLF (Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front), a secular, progressive liberation movement that is home-grown from the local conditions.  It could be self-defeating to dismiss these forces as reactionary so quickly when the ultra-right wants to portray all politicized Muslims as destructive.

Asad A.,
Pittsburgh

(the original article is titled "Made in China? The Crisis of US Imperialism" http://politicalaffairs.net/made-in-china-the-crisis-of-us-imperialism/ )

Midwest gears up for YCL Convention

https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/midwest-gears-up-for-ycl-convention/

ST. LOUIS — On March 25-26 the Young Communist League hosted its first Midwest Regional Conference at Teamsters Hall here. YCL members and friends, old and new, came from all over the Midwest to discuss a draft action plan to be voted on at the group’s national convention on May 27-29 in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Quincy Boyd, president of AFSCME Local 2730, greeted the audience. “This is a revolution we are all in,” he said. “If there is anything I can do, just let me know.”

The conference heard panel presentations on the three main points of the action plan: peace, jobs and education. Presenters included a number of the YCL’s friends and allies, such as a member of Veterans for Peace.

Discussion revolved around how these issues affect youth, the different ways their voices can be heard, and how to take action on specific struggles. Student-labor solidarity was an important theme.

Skill-building sessions focused on how to counter military recruitment, build coalitions, raise funds and conduct orientation programs for new members. On the first evening, conference-goers attended a fundraising concert for the People’s Weekly World.

Another important theme of the conference was the 2006 elections and how the YCL can mobilize the youth vote and otherwise participate in electoral politics. At the meeting’s conclusion, many were eager to put their words into practice and help canvass for progressive candidates, like state Rep. John Bowman, who closed the meeting. The YCL helped Bowman get elected in 2004 during its Midwest elections project.

This directly related back to discussions on how to build the YCL and bring a strong delegation from the Midwest to the May convention.

One participant, Kristen Gann, 19, is a student at the University of Missouri–Columbia studying film and journalism. “I think you learn the most by meeting people, different clubs, and sharing ideas and experiences that people bring to it,” she told the World.

Asad Ali, 28, came all the way from western Pennsylvania and was excited to take part in the conference. “I look forward to taking this all back to my club,” he said. “It’s great to meet national staff, PWW writers and people to help build strong relationships.”

About the draft action plan, Ali said, “You can’t really disagree with it.” He said he is interested in how “different groups will utilize the action plan in their communities, to make changes in their part of the country.”

Konrad Cukla is a high school student and a leader of the Milwaukee YCL club.

Pepe Lozano contributed to this story. For more information, visit www.yclusa.org/convention.

Why and How to Work With the Muslim Community: YCLUSA Midwest Conference Workshop Proposal

(Workshop proposal for 2006 YCLUSA Midwest Conference in St. Louis, Missouri)

A. why work with the Muslim community

1. show how targetted domestically and internationally by the ultra-right and so are a reliable ally because of their national and class interests

2. show rise in working class resistance among Muslim communities in the US (e.g. factory protests by Muslims for religious rights)

3. show how current participation within coalitions is severely limited (e.g. short of turnout potential, working class and rank-and-file being excluded)

B. who is the Muslim community: nations, classes, history in the US

1. national composition: South Asian, African American, Arab

2. converts: majority African-American, female

3. multi-class composition, significant low-income/working class segment

4. surveys of geographic destribution

5. history in the US

- Muslims in US before independence, participation in revolutionary war and civil war

- 14% African-Americans from slave trade were Muslim including Muslim ruling class, continuity to today

- South Asian revolutionaries established communist

organization in West Coast in early 1900s, targetted by Palmer raids, working-class leadership

- formative role in 60s civil rights movement

- closet Arab-Americans, closet American Muslims

C. approaching national and local organizations for coalition work

1. description of major national organizations and international affiliations

2. implications for decison-making structure of local mosques

3. using a national mosque directory to figure out pros and cons of coalition partners

4. key committees and staff/officers to approach without violating process

5. mosque as a mass institution: rank and file relationship to staff/leadership, composition, working with mass events: friday prayers, holidays, community festivals

6. approaches of non-Muslim national organizations in the environment: ACLU, NLG, Gamileal Foundation

D. practical issues of sensitivity

1. male/female interpersonal relations, implications for organizing meetings

2. norms of mosque behavior: dress, shoe removal, prayer time behavior, month-of-fasting behavior

3. addressing GLBTQI equality, women's equality, coalition work outside Muslim community

4. community policies on media relations

E. practical examples from Pittsburgh

1. Free Getu Coalition (www.freegetu.org)

2. immigration cases: special registration, deportation, documentation problems, freeing people secretely detained by the federal government

3. housing discrimination

4. labor rights: women workers' right to wear hijab, on-the-job discrimination

5. ensuring a rank-and-file, working-class, oppressed nationalities approach to community organizing