Monday May 14, 2012
The most effective way to dispel misconceptions, break down barriers and expose injustices facing any community or group of people is to tell individual, real life stories - stories of sacrifice, hardship and triumph. And that is precisely what a young group of filmmakers are trying to do with their new and inspiring film, “Adeela.” Read More »
Monday May 14, 2012
In an amendment to an appropriations bill being considered last week, Rep. Rush Holt’s (D-NJ) [pictured left] attempted to strip federal funding from police departments that use ethnic or religious profiling, as the NYPD has done against American Muslims and Arab Americans in and around New York City. Read More »
Friday May 11, 2012
On the one hand, Obeidallah and Manna are absolutely correct, the movie (and Sasha Baron Cohen’s earlier work, for that matter) does contain crude stereotypes, and it is also true that there is a double standard at work which would have excluded other (but not all) non-Arab stereotypes from being the topic of humor in a major Hollywood movie. On the other hand, subtle racism and sexism are rampant in pop culture, and comedy is an area where the boundaries of appropriateness tend to be more flexible. Read More »
Thursday May 10, 2012
Rep. Holt has also introduced H.RES 651, a resolution which would express the House of Representatives’ disapproval of the NYPD’s use of ethnic and religious profiling. Though the resolution is nonbinding, its passage would be a strong signal to Mayor Bloomberg and NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly that the Congress disapproves of their surveillance program. Read More »
Thursday May 10, 2012
by Omar Baddar and Omar Tewfik
Today, Spencer Ackerman and his colleague at Wired Noah Shachtman released the contents of a recently-terminated DoD training course for senior military officers. The course, entitled “Perspectives on Islam and Islamic Radicalism,” was terminated late last month by General Martin Dempsey, Chief of the U.S. Armed Forces. As expected, the outrageous materials released today show exactly why the course was shut down. Read More »
Tuesday May 08, 2012
Anti-immigrant fervor has been building for years in France and throughout Europe, where a significant portion of immigrants come from North and West Africa and parts of the Middle East. We have seen the shadows of a similar trend here in the United States, where a post-9/11 world has brought Islamophobia into the spotlight of election politics, and a troubled economy has done the same with anti-immigration policies. Read More »
Thursday May 03, 2012
Texas Republican Congressman Louie Gohmert has yet again displayed his creative ability to completely flip an issue to reflect a viewpoint directly counter to conventional wisdom or reason. Yesterday, an article in The Washington Examiner gave us a glimpse of what Congressman Gohmert is likely to focus on when the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security – Gohmert is Vice Chair –hears testimony from FBI director Robert Mueller. As the article alluded, Gohmert will likely express concern that criticism in the wake of the months-long controversy involving the FBI’s use of bigoted anti-Muslim and anti-Arab training materials may be leading the FBI to overcompensate and appease critics , which Gohmert believes will compromise the FBI’s ability to effectively fight terrorism. Read More »
Thursday May 03, 2012
I already know that I share the planet with many people whose values enable them to embrace torture, but I can’t help but be shocked every time one of them openly shares their views. Read More »
Thursday May 03, 2012
Not only were we barred from entering, but we also watched as virtually all Arab American women (the people this conference was supposed to be about) were turned away. And to top things off, we caught Pamela Geller telling a few lies. The following video tells the amusing and eye-opening story of our visit to their conference: Read More »
Monday April 30, 2012
Despite repeated attempts to incite a media frenzy surrounding their “Jessica Mokdad Human Rights Conference” in Dearborn, Michigan this Sunday, the Islamophobes did not succeed this weekend in garnering the press attention they wanted, and now they are crying about it. On her website, Pamela Geller, the conference’s main organizer, vents about her event’s lack of media coverage: “There is something fundamentally broken in our culture. Imagine a society that extols the supremacist tyranny of the sharia while smearing and defaming human rights activists fighting for freedom and individual rights over gencdercide [sic] and gender apartheid.” Read More »
Monday April 30, 2012
Yesterday, more than a hundred people gathered at a town hall at the Doubletree Hotel in Dearborn, Michigan to stand in solidarity with the Arab American and American Muslim communities against Islamophobia. The town hall, organized by AAI and local community groups, was held in response to an anti-Muslim conference at the Hyatt in Dearborn, organized by Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer, and other leading Islamophobes. Read More »
Monday April 30, 2012
By Jeffrey Wright
Brennan’s speech today will be touted as an example of the Obama Administration’s transparent approach to the drone war, but given its shortcomings, Americans should demand a much more thorough accounting of President Obama’s understanding of his powers and their limits - if any remain. Read More »
Sunday April 29, 2012
This week, we’re faced with the latest challenge when Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer bring their so-called “Jessica Mokdad Human Rights Conference” to Dearborn on Sunday. Along with a tremendous group of local organizations, AAI has organized a community town hall on Islamophobia on the same day as their conference this Sunday, April 29 at 1pm at the Doubletree Hotel in Dearborn (5801 Southfield Road). AAI President Jim Zogby will be there, along with Eli Clifton, the co-author of a groundbreaking report on Geller and friends called Fear Inc., and prominent journalist and blogger Sarah Posner. Read More »
Thursday April 26, 2012
By Danielle Malaty
In the midst of the controversy circling Arizona’s SB 1070 and the fight over the power to regulate immigration, the prevalence of racial profiling is certainly not limited to Arizona. Read More »
Thursday April 26, 2012
As Congress attempts to address (or evade) the issue of indefinite detention, it is crucial to read the fine print and only support legislation what would represent a complete and aggressive stand against the executive branch’s ability to indefinitely detain in the United States allowed by the NDAA. Read More »
Wednesday April 25, 2012
By Jeffrey Wright
Spencer Ackerman, Wired’s intrepid national security correspondent, broke yet another important story yesterday evening, revealing that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, has ordered a top-to-bottom review of military training materials to ensure that they do not contain Islamophobic content. Dempsey’s order came after military brass learned that a class intended for senior military officers had used Islamophobic course materials. The class, entitled “Perspectives on Islam and Islamic Radicalism,” was offered as an elective at the military’s Joint Forces Staff College (JFSC) in Norfolk, Virginia. JFSC was founded after the Second World War with the goal of training military officers to work cooperatively, and it educates mid-level officers, many of whom will spend their careers in the military and eventually rise to the highest ranks of their branches. Read More »
Tuesday April 24, 2012
Last Friday, several New York news outlets reported that John Brennan, President Obama’s top National Security Advisor, praised NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly for striking an appropriate balance “between our security and our freedoms and our rights as citizens.” These comments engendered a storm of criticism from American Muslim and Arab American groups who contend that such remarks put the White House “seal of approval” on the NYPD's controversial policing and surveillance program. Pulitzer Prize-winning AP reports have revealed that the NYPD has been spying on American Muslims and Arab Americans without criminal predicate. Read More »
Thursday April 12, 2012
By Danielle Malaty
When The Spiritual Life Center, a Sacramento Christian church, found itself without a venue to hold its Easter Sunday services this past weekend, the church's Reverend Michael Moran came up with what many may call an unconventional solution. He sought the help of a local mosque. Read More »
Wednesday April 11, 2012
The Arab American Institute Foundation (AAIF) will present the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) with the Award for Institutional Excellence at the 2012 Kahlil Gibran Spirit of Humanity Awards Gala in Washington, DC. AAIF is bestowing the award on SPLC for its tireless efforts and accomplishments in building a society where mutual respect and understanding exists across racial, ethnic, political, and religious lines. Read More »
Monday April 09, 2012
For as long as they have been around, the Muslims are Coming! Comedy Tour has been trying to supplant our traditional Gibran Awards ceremony with a Sharia-compliant program. This year they have finally infiltrated the Gala. But seriously, the comedy tour will receive a Special Recognition Award at this year’s Kahlil Gibran Spirit of Humanity Awards Gala for their use of comedy to break down cultural barriers and for their efforts to dispel misconceptions about Muslims and Arabs throughout the country. Read More »
#NC lawmaker equates Islamic prayer w/ terror http://t.co/G9sp1NeLC1 @mostrolenk @aaiusa h/t @ozzyformayor
about 6 hours, 1 minute ago.
Latest poll to be released Friday finds Americans are divided on continuing aid to #Egypt: http://t.co/1spZM1m9d2
about 8 hours, 41 minutes ago.
RT @MaiE_89: In the 1990’s, #Egypt had a 60% favorable rating among Americans, while today only 36% of US views the country positively via @AAIUSA
about 8 hours, 45 minutes ago.
Looking at Iran by James Zogby
Kahlil Gibran Awards Gala - April 16, 2013President Obama got it just about perfect in his Jerusalem speech when he urged Israelis to see the world through the eyes of Palestinians. That portion of his remarks was so compelling it deserves to be quoted in full: Read More »
Air Date: 5/31/2012
Fellows from Syracuse University’s “Leaders for Democracy Fellowship Program (LDF); Bill Press, Host of the “Bill Press Show” and author of the new book, The Obama Hate Machine: The Lies, Distortions, and Personal Attacks on the President---and Who Is Behind Them. Read More »
The story of Arab Americans coming of age as an organized community is a classic American tale of immigrants seeking opportunity, benefiting from America’s freedoms, but also experiencing, at times, the dark side of exclusion and discrimination that has so often been a part of our nation’s history. Read More »
Apr 16 2013
Apr 27 2013
Jul 19 2013
