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

No Sale - In East Liberty, an African-American Muslim alleges discrimination over her faith (Pittsburgh City Paper)

https://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/no-sale/Content?oid=1338209

No Sale

In East Liberty, an African-American Muslim alleges discrimination over her faith.

By Brentin Mock

Dana Harris won't quit.

Ever since she began working at the East Liberty Shop N' Save grocery store, she believes she's been discriminated against by store management because of her religion. As a Sunni Muslim, she must pray at certain hours of the day, she can't be touched by a man other than her husband and she must dress so as not to draw attention to her body's dimensions.

However, since working at Shop N' Save, Harris says she's not been allowed to take breaks to pray, has been touched disrespectfully by male employees and has been forced to tuck her shirt into her pants, which would accentuate her body in a way that violates her religious code.

As one of the first persons hired at the grocery store when it opened in March, Harris says problems began at her interview, when she was asked if she were Muslim and would have to wear her head garb while working. Harris had worked as a cashier for several weeks when she began training to become a front-end manager. When she asked her training supervisor if she could break during one day to prepare for her prayer, she says the supervisor declined and made a scene by raising her voice in front of customers.

After reporting the incident to the store's human-resources office, Harris says, the male security guards began touching her disrespectfully - "rubbing my shoulder and arm," she claims.

Her manager training was not resumed, although she has been allowed to wear her head garb. When she asked human-resource personnel about the training, Harris says, she was told it had been stopped because they didn't want her religion or prayers to interfere with her work.

Harris has filed complaints with Shop N' Save's in-store and corporate human-resources departments as well as the local Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Filed on Aug. 10, the complaint says the manager was "screaming" at Harris in front of the store's customer-service office about her desire to take a break to pray. "I was pulled from training because of my religion," Harris also wrote.

Shop N' Save staff approached for comment or eyewitness testimony about the alleged incidents say they are not allowed to talk to the press. More than half a dozen requests for comment from Shop N' Save's local corporate offices, made over most of a week, were not returned. The final request was forwarded by the company to Lynn High in Minnesota, a spokesperson for the regional headquarters of Supervalu, the grocery chain's parent company, on Sept. 26. High did not return calls to CP before press time.

The Islamic Council of Greater Pittsburgh Anti-Discrimination Committee (IPAD), on whose executive committee Harris serves, has collected almost 300 signatures for a petition decrying alleged discrimination and harassment on the part of the grocery store. It asks for "a written assurance that Dana Harris or any other employees associated with her will not be harassed or retaliated against for bringing her complaint to the management." The petition was delivered on Sept. 17 to the store's manager.

Harris has never stopped working as a cashier there. "You can't be in the fight if you're not in the fight," she says. Her lawyers and IPAD staff also advised her to remain on the job.

Quitting her job wouldn't allow her to address the root of the problem, says Harris. Her continued presence "shows people that she's still going to keep struggling every day and stand up for her rights," says Saleh Waziruddin, IPAD chair. "People at Shop N' Save and people in the community need to see that."

Proper resolution of the incident, says Harris, would mean a written and public apology. Meanwhile, Harris says she still has not been given break time to pray and is scheduled to work on days her religion would prevent her from working, even though she says she has informed the store of this stricture.

Harris performs as a spoken-word artist under the name Souljourner Truth. Her 17-year-old daughter, Bianca, and her mother, Rose Luster, also work at the store. Following Dana Harris' complaint, Bianca was fired after being accused of having a register short of cash. That action has since been reversed, Harris says, and the accusation withdrawn. Bianca filed a complaint with EEOC on Aug. 10, the same day as her mother's complaint, alleging that she was discriminated against in part "after management was informed I was related to Dana Harris, who is a Muslim." The Shop N' Save corporate manager alleged by Harris to have led the investigation into her daughter's case did not return calls to CP.

These allegations come as Supervalu announced, on Sept. 6, that it would be selling the East Liberty grocery store, along with 19 other Pittsburgh-area Shop N' Saves, due to sales slumps.

Waziruddin and Harris say they have had meetings with Shop N' Save executives in which store personnel reportedly promised to address the Muslims' concerns. In May, they say, the pair met with Nicole March, the human-resources manager for Shop N' Save, after which Harris says she was led to expect an apology and the resumption of her manager training. Four months later, she says, the only apology she's gotten was from a manager on behalf of the security guards.

Waziruddin says IPAD has been unable to meet again with Shop N' Save or Supervalu.

"We haven't been able to get anything in writing from them, not even to acknowledge that they met with us," he says.

Waziruddin and IPAD first came to prominence defending Getu Berhanu Tewolde, an Ethiopian Christian who was arrested in 2002, during a period of post-9/11 paranoia, when Tewolde's fellow passengers on a Greyhound bus boarding Downtown couldn't understand his accented speech and apparently mistook him for a Muslim worthy of suspicion.

Concludes Waziruddin: "The feedback we've [had] from people, especially in the African-American Muslim community, is that they've been through this kind of discrimination before and didn't know that they could do anything about it, and now they're thinking they should come out about this as well."