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Blog — Profiling
Wednesday July 13, 2011
Today, the United States Senate hosted a hearing on “Preventing Terrorist Travel” in United States. Sitting in the hearing room of the Homeland Security Committee in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, ranking member Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) read aloud her statement. Halfway through the Senator remarked, “... It troubles many Americans to see the TSA putting the very young and the very elderly through intrusive and most cases unnecessary screenings.” Read More »
Posted by John Olivieri at 4:02 pm / / Leave a comment
Friday June 24, 2011
The new edition of the FBI manual called the Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide is raising concerns about safeguarding privacy. Under the auspices of the guidelines, agents will be able to pick targets, commence and execute investigations without ever documenting their activity. They will also not be required to provide any factual evidence of current or future wrongdoing. Allowing agents to operate without any supervision, advocates argue, is inviting abuse of power. Former FBI agent Michael German, now Policy Counsel for the ACLU, has been the go-to expert on this. German joined AAI President, Jim Zogby on last night's edition of Viewpoint to talk about the new guidelines. We encourage you to take a look at this: Read More »
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Wednesday June 15, 2011
Rep. Peter King (R-NY), Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, continued his baseless examination of the “radicalization” of the American Muslim community today, hosting his second hearing on the subject entitled “The Threat of Muslim-American Radicalization in U.S. Prisons.” King’s first hearings back in March garnered considerably more attention from the media than today’s. The relative lack of attention (even from Rep. Keith Ellison, who was in and out of the room half the time) demonstrates how ineffective King’s first hearing was. Read More »
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Friday June 10, 2011
Things are not looking good for comprehensive immigration reform, not to mention the DREAM Act. Yesterday, Alabama Governor Robert Bentley signed into law a new - and probably unconstitutional - immigration law. HB 56, which will take effect on September 1st contains many provisions that surpass even those of Arizona's controversial SB 1070 in its racist undertones and its draconian enforcement measures. Just to refresh your memory, SB 1070 grants law enforcement officials the right to pursue people they suspect might be in the country illegally. If the individual in question is unable to produce documentation, they are arrested and possibly deported. Sound bad? Alabama’s law is far worse. Read More »
Posted by Omar Tewfik at 1:00 pm / / Leave a comment
Wednesday June 08, 2011
In a troubling story in today's Washington Post, Jeffrey Smith examines the Department of Homeland Security's emphasis on the threat of home-grown terror related to Islam while downplaying the risks posed by right-wing extremists. After issuing a report on the subject in 2009 entitled "Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment," the story reports the unit that created it has been "effectively eviscerated." Read More »
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Friday June 03, 2011
U.S. Representative Paul C. Broun (R-GA), a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, has repeatedly and publicly urged the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to profile "Arabian looking" people and individuals wearing "Arabian dress" at airport security checkpoints. Yes, the "Arabian" is not a typo. Read More »
Posted by Omar Tewfik at 9:20 am / / Leave a comment
Monday May 02, 2011
Representative Kavanagh apologized for his “poorly conceived” bill during a meeting with the Sodhi family and the Sikh American community. Read More »
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Friday April 15, 2011
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has published a map online which highlights regions and states in the U.S. where both planned or existing mosques and Islamic centers have met opposition in one form or another. The red dots shed light on a disturbing trend that has taken root across the country since the Park 51 controversy in Lower Manhattan. Read More »
Posted by Omar Baddar at 12:21 pm / / Leave a comment
Tuesday April 12, 2011
Today from 12pm to 1:30 pm, the Center For American Progress (CAP) will convene a panel of experts entitled: Choosing our words Carefully: The Consequences of Heated Rhetoric to address the rise in xenophobic and bigoted rhetoric in politics and its affect on various ethnic and religious communities throughout the country. Citing the assassination attempt on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona, the panel will also assess how heated political discourse has the potential to encourage irascible and discontent individuals to violence. This event will be live-streamed and we encourage you to tune in. AAI president Jim Zogby is among the featured panelists. Read More »
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Friday April 01, 2011
On Tuesday, Democratic Party Whip Senator Dick Durbin (IL) convened a hearing on the civil rights of American Muslims. Viewed widely as a counterweight to Representative Peter King's (R-NY) hearings on "radicalization" in the American Muslim community, Durbin's hearing did not garner nearly as much attention from the media. Despite the relative lack of coverage, the message Senator Durbin's hearings sent to the American Muslim community and to the general American public at large was an extremely important and positive one. Read More »
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Tuesday March 29, 2011
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) convened a hearing today on Capitol Hill entitled: “Protecting the Civil Rights of American Muslims.” Though the hearings did not garner nearly as much media attention Rep. Peter King's (R-NY) March 10th hearings on "radicalization" within the American Muslim Community, AAI President Jim Zogby today in Politico's "The Arena" makes the case for how important Durbin's hearing is stating: "If unresolved (anti-Muslim bigotry) will tear at the very fabric of our nation's self-definition." Read More »
Posted by AAI at 11:38 am / / Leave a comment
Thursday March 10, 2011
Today marked the kickoff for the Peter King Hearings on so-called radicalization of the American Muslim community. Well, that’s what the hearing was supposed to be about. But amid the controversy over King’s singling out the American Muslim community, today’s show trial ended up involving a thorough discussion about its own legitimacy: a King hearing on the King Hearings. It was political theatre at its best. Read More »
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Tuesday February 01, 2011
Today, AAI joined 50 other community, religious, civil and human rights organizations in signing a letter calling on congressional leaders to object to House Homeland Security Committee Chair Peter King's (R-NY) hearings on the 'radicalization of the Muslim American community.' Read More »
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Thursday January 20, 2011
It is difficult to find humor in Chairman Peter King’s planned congressional hearings targeting the Muslim community in the US, particularly in light of King’s history of making sweeping statements about American Muslims and extremism. Read More »
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Tuesday January 11, 2011
Jeff Stein, the highly acclaimed intelligence and defense specialist, wrote a powerful piece in the Washington Post yesterday, suggesting that the shooting in Arizona may offer Congressman Peter King an opportunity to reconsider his ill-conceived plan to target the Muslim American community with hearings about “radicalization.”
Read More »
Posted by AAI at 3:13 pm / / Leave a comment
Wednesday November 10, 2010
In late October 2010, officials from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) informed representatives from three Sikh organizations (SALDEF, United Sikhs, and The Sikh Coalition) that turbans will now always be searched at American airports. Read More »
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Tuesday October 05, 2010
Yesterday, a fringe organization known as the West Virginia Conservative Foundation, launched a bigoted attack ad on Congressman Nick Rahall. Congressman Rahall has served West Virginia's 3rd District with distinction for 34 years and is the longest serving Arab American in Congress. The ad is a disgraceful effort at "Arab-baiting" a great elected official and we must not let it work. Read More »
Posted by Jim Zogby at 12:00 pm / / Leave a comment
Looking at Iran by James Zogby
Kahlil Gibran Awards Gala - April 16, 2013
