27 September 2001
U.S. Mobilizes Forces to Combat Post-Terrorism Discrimination
(Civil rights, outreach programs getting special focus) (1370)
By Jane A. Morse
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington -- The intense effort of the U.S. Government to hunt down
the terrorists responsible for the September 11 attacks on the World
Trade Center and the Pentagon is being matched by a vigorous program
to combat discrimination against Muslims or people of Middle Eastern
descent, and people perceived to be members of these groups.
The Department of Justice has instructed the National Origin Working
Group within its Civil Rights Division to collect reports of civil
rights violations since the September 11 terrorist attacks and refer
them to appropriate federal authorities. The National Origin Working
Group will also conduct outreach programs to vulnerable communities to
educate them about their rights and connect them with government
agencies that can assist them.
The U.S. Justice Department, under the leadership of the Attorney
General, is tasked with enforcing U.S. laws and ensuring fair and
impartial administration of justice for all Americans. It provides
federal leadership in preventing and controlling crime, seeks just
punishment for those guilty of unlawful behavior, and administers and
enforces the nation's immigration laws.
U.S. federal laws prohibit discrimination based on a person's national
origin, race, color, religion, disability, sex, or familial status.
U.S. laws prohibiting national origin discrimination make it illegal
to discriminate because of a person's birthplace, ancestry, culture or
language. This means people cannot be denied equal opportunity because
they or their family are from another country, because they have a
name or accent associated with a national group, because they
participate in certain customs associated with a national group, or
because they are married to or associate with people of a certain
national origin.
A booklet describing these U.S. laws -- "Federal Protections Against
National Origin Discrimination" -- is available in Arabic, English and
11 other languages on the Department of Justice's web site
(http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/nordwg.html).
Soon after the terrorist attacks of September 11, President George W.
Bush acknowledged the important role of Muslims in the United States.
With 6 million practitioners, Islam is the fastest-growing religion in
the United States and is expected to be the second-largest faith after
Christianity by the year 2010.
Speaking at the Islamic Center of Washington, D.C., Bush said that
"Muslims make an incredibly valuable contribution to our country," and
noted that the United States is "a great country because we share the
same values of respect and dignity and human worth."
The president emphasized that Islam is about peace, not terror, and
urged that all Americans treat each other with respect.
Nonetheless, the Justice Department has noted that, since September
11, there has been a rise in incidents of bias -- including assaults
and vandalism against individuals perceived to be of Middle Eastern
origin. These incidents, according to the Justice Department, are
targeted primarily at Arab Americans, South Asian Americans, Sikhs,
and Muslims.
Attorney General John Ashcroft publicly condemned such acts September
17. At a press briefing he gave at the Washington headquarters of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Ashcroft said: "I want to make
it very clear: Vigilante attacks and threats against Arab-Americans
will not be tolerated."
He added that all Americans "are all saddened by the recent acts of
terrorism against our nation," but acts of retaliation "violate
federal law and, more particularly, run counter to the very principles
of equality and freedom upon which our nation is founded."
FBI Director Robert Mueller, at the same press conference, noted that
the FBI and the Department of Justice are committed to "aggressively
investigating and prosecuting violations of the federal hate crime
laws."
FBI regional offices have established phone "hot lines" so that
citizens can report suspected "hate crimes."
A hate crime is defined by the Hate Crimes Statistics Act as "a
criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in
part by the offender's bias against a race, religion, disability,
ethnic/national origin, or sexual orientation."
In 1999, the latest year for which statistics are available, there
were 1411 incidents in the United States that were motivated by some
sort of religious bias, according to the FBI. Of that number, only 32
were considered "anti-Islamic."
Since September 11, however, the FBI has already initiated more than
40 hate crime investigations and is working with other elements of the
Department of Justice to review all incidents, according to Mueller.
He added that the FBI "is reaching out to the leaders of the Arab
American community in each of our 56 field offices across the
country."
The U.S. Congress was quick to stress the need to protect the civil
rights and liberties of all Americans.
On September 15, the House of Representatives passed House Concurrent
Resolution 227, which declares "in the quest to identify, bring to
justice, and punish the perpetrators and sponsors of the terrorist
attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, that the civil
rights and civil liberties of all Americans, including Arab-Americans,
American Muslims, and Americans from South Asia, should be protected."
The Senate passed the measure on September 26.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a non-profit
organization based in Washington, D.C., has collected 625 reports of
anti-Muslim incidents nationwide since September 24.
But CAIR also reports that expressions of support nationwide have
surprised many Muslims. It noted a Los Angeles Times article published
September 26 that says: "Reports of ethnic profiling and sporadic
attacks on perceived Middle Easterners persist, but Muslims in
Southern California say they have been astounded by more numerous
reports of restraint and kindness. They see it in the woman who brings
roses to her Persian American colleague. They hear it in the
reassurance of the auto mechanic who tell his Pakistani customer,
'It's OK' to be named Mohammed...."
Calm persists in Prince George's County, located near Washington, D.C.
in Maryland, where police say that there have been no reported
incidents of hate crimes against the many Muslims and people of Middle
Eastern descent who live there.
Adil Khan, principal for a Muslim school in Lanham in Prince George's
County, told The Washington File in an interview that their mosque has
about 1,000 members, but no one has reported any sort of harassment so
far. He added that the FBI and the Prince George's County Police
Department have maintained close contact with the leadership of the
Prince George's Muslim Association.
The Prince George's County Police Department, along with some 64
percent of all U.S. law enforcement agencies in United States,
practices Community Oriented Policing (COPS). Under this approach to
policing, officers are expected to develop a broad knowledge and
understanding of the community they serve, as well as close personal
contacts with citizens. In American policing, COPS goes considerably
beyond simply responding to a steady stream of requests for police
service.
In an interview with The Washington File, Gilbert Moore, a spokesman
for the national COPS program at the Justice Department, said COPS has
not developed any concrete initiatives to deal with the fallout from
the September 11 tragedy.
"However, the general principle behind community-oriented policing
lends itself well to the issues that law enforcement are dealing with
now when it comes to (racial and ethnic) profiling and relations with
Muslim Americans," Moore said. Under COPS, he said, trust is built
between the citizens and police because "the community has access to
the officer and also gets to know the officer.... There's really a
working partnership there."
President Bush has worked tirelessly to reassure American Muslims and
show American respect for Islam. On September 26 he welcomed American
Muslim leaders to the White House and expressed his appreciation for
their contributions following the terrorist attacks in New York and
Washington. President Bush also met with leaders of the American Sikh
community at a separate meeting.
The same day, in remarks delivered at the Central Intelligence Agency,
Bush said the terrorists who attacked the United States
"underestimated America."
"They underestimated our resolve, our determination, our love for
freedom," the President said. "They underestimated the compassion of
our country."
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
|
NEWSLETTER
|
|
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
|
|
|
