Tag Archives: CAIR

After ‘Travel Ban’, Citizens Gather, Support Texas Muslim Capitol Day

If Americans are learning anything in the wake of January 20th, it is this:  the controversy just doesn’t stop when your President is Donald Trump.  As if the proposed Border Wall plans weren’t enough for week one, the nation was left reeling late Friday from the President’s hastily announced (and apparently hastily conceived) ‘Travel Ban’ targeting persons from seven Muslim-majority countries.  The Executive Order erupted, causing mass confusion among affected travelers and barring people from entering the country.

Here’s the full text of the  President’s Executive Order:  Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States, directly from the White House.  Many Trump supporters are quick to point out that the Executive Order does not explicitly ban any person of a particular religion, so it is unfair for protesters and others to label it as a “Muslim Ban”.  But like many of the actions Trump has taken thus far, his true motives were revealed in a recent interview where he doubles down saying the Ban is “meant to prioritize Christians”.  So yeah… it’s a Muslim Ban.

 It’s in this fractured and uncertain environment that the Muslim community held its advocacy event in Austin.. Texas Muslim Capitol Day.  The biennial advocacy day was organized by the Texas area chapters of CAIR– the Council on American-Islamic Relations.  Here’s more on the event from Alexa Ura and Alex Samuels of the Texas Tribune…

Participants in Tuesday’s Texas Muslim Capitol Day traveled to Austin for a day of education about the state government. But they walked away with a significant lesson in civil demonstrations.

Two years ago, the Muslim participants who visited the Texas Capitol were met with two dozen protesters who repeatedly interrupted their event. But when participants walked up to the south steps of the Capitol on Tuesday morning, they were surrounded by a massive human circle made up of at least 1,000 supporters looking to ensure the event went off without a hitch.

“Civic engagement … it is not just a privilege. It is God-given privilege, and it’s also a blessing and our duty to participate,” Sarwat Hussain, president of the San Antonio chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told the crowd gathered for the biennial advocacy day. “Lately, we have seen some demonstrations against us. That is not going to stop us at all.”

 

[…]

Outside the Capitol, more than 20 Democratic lawmakers attending the event made their support known. “We are with you … this is your country, this is your state,” state Rep. Celia Israel of Austin told the crowd. “Texas needs you, and you belong here.”

It was a sentiment made clear by supporters who had joined arms in front of the Capitol. And it was echoed earlier that morning when the first few students who arrived for the advocacy event were met with cheers and applause from the circle of supporters.

As positive as today’s events may have been outside the capitol, the usual business of exclusion and division was alive and well among leaders of the Texas Legislature.  In Governor Greg Abbott’s State of the State Address, chief among his agenda for lawmakers was to pass a ban on ‘Sanctuary Cities’.  What this means for immigrant communities remains to be seen.

But come what may, Texas Muslim communities and those that support them and our collective freedom of religion are here to stay, here to live, here to work and here to be visible.

Ted Cruz Spews Islamophobic Comments in Michigan

Last month, there was a glimmer of hope for Texas Senator Ted Cruz, as he rebuked salacious comments (well, sort of) by another GOP rival Ben Carson, whom said that a Muslim could never be President of the United States.

But those that have watched Cruz closely know that what he says today will likely be very different than the comments of tomorrow. On the campaign trail in Michigan, the Senator’s Islamophobic pandering was back on full display.

Here’s the story from Jonathan Oosting at Michigan Live

KALAMAZOO, MI — Presidential candidate Ted Cruz said Monday morning in Michigan that it would be “absolutely crazy” to bring more Syrian refugees to the United States, despite a humanitarian crisis that has captured the attention of the world.

The U.S. Senator from Texas spoke to a crowd of roughly 800 guests at the Wings Event Center in Kalamazoo, criticizing President Barack Obama on a number of fronts, including his plans to allow more Syrian refugees into the country.

“What President Obama is proposing to do, bring tens of thousands of Syrian Muslims to America, is nothing short of crazy,” Cruz told the crowd during a question and answer period.

[…]

“It would be the height of foolishness to bring in tens of thousands of people, including jihadists who are coming here to murder innocent Americans,” Cruz said. “…With respect to the refugees, it is a humanitarian crisis, but they ought to be settled in the middle east, in majority Muslim countries.”

Is it even possible to defend the constitution’s freedom religion, and then make comments like these??  In the world of Ted Cruz, apparently so.

In a time where Muslim communities across this country suffer constant discrimination, unfair scrutiny and unspeakable indignation, it’s a real disappointment to hear such irresponsible comments from a statewide elected official.  Nevermind the fact that half a million Texas residents whom happen to be Muslim should expect better of their Senator.

Sadly, Cruz’s carelessness comes the same week that Anti-Islamic rallies  are planned across the United States.  The rallies have are planned to be staged in front of American mosques in places like Kentucky, and possibly even Houston.

The threat is so serious that CAIRThe Council on American- Islamic Relations, released a statement of alert to American Muslim communities.

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 10/4/15) – The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today urged Muslim community leaders to consider instituting additional safety measures in response to hate rallies by possibly armed anti-Muslim extremists targeting mosques nationwide on October 10.

[NOTE: October 9 has also been mentioned online as a date for the hate rallies.]

CAIR also called on all Presidential candidates and other elected officials to not only repudiate Anti-Muslim hate rallies, but also to show support for the community by visiting a mosque this weekend.

No doubt that many of the Senator’s constituents will be looking for a more sensible response.  At this point, no one can be quite sure what they’ll get from Ted Cruz.

Ted Cruz