Post 9/11, Muslims experienced backlash

[sabra]

<<SNIP>>
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/11624064.htm

Post 9/11, Muslims experienced backlash

Violations of Muslims' civil rights in Florida have climbed since Sept. 11, a Council on American-Islamic Relations report shows.

Pakistani native Arshad Mahmood has been pulled aside and grilled so often by federal officials on flights out of Fort Lauderdale and Miami that he prepares for the drill.

''The first two times I was not expecting that kind of treatment,'' said Mahmood, 34, a Muslim living in North Miami. ``The third or fourth time, I was expecting that. That's why I went to the airport four to five hours before the flight.''

Allegations of discrimination against Mahmood and other Muslims, who sometimes have been referred to as ''bin Ladens,'' show how anti-Muslim incidents in Florida are at a high point since Sept. 11, according to the Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Muslims reported 103 anti-Muslim incidents in 2004 in Florida, an increase of 18 percent from 2003, according to the group's annual report on Muslim civil rights released Wednesday.
That figure is the largest number of reported incidents in Florida since 2001.

<</SNIP>>

[MountainLaurel]

1. Today's entry in the "no shit, Sherlock!" research findings

Once again, the U.S. is making enemies faster than we can kill them.

[dissent1977]

2. The corporate media shows it's racism again

In order to experience a "backlash" you have to do something wrong. There have only been a tiny number of Muslims who have ever engaged in terrorism, yet the corporate media pins those people's actions on the entire race. I wish there would be a backlash against the corporate media.

[TahitiNut]

3. It's NOT 'backlash' -- it's SCAPEGOATING!

The editorial staff again shows it's corruption in the (so-called) M$M. Would they call church-bombings a 'backlash' for Oklahoma City? The word 'backlash' implies a quid pro quo - retaliation. Those who're suffering scapegoating have NEVER been responsible for the events of 9/11. The ascription of terrorism to a faith tradition is reprehensible. Sociopaths and tyrants have always claimed the cover of religion - and act in manners showing anything but the faith they espouse. That's NOT religion; that's fraud and hypocrisy.

[rainbow4321]

4. TX ranks 5th on list

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/crime/stories/MYSA051205.5A.hate_crimes.265ca43f1.html

Titled "Unequal Protection," the report by the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Washington shows Texas ranked fifth among the 10 states where the majority of civil rights cases were reported.

"Texas has been one of the hotbeds for hate-crime violence," said Arsalan T. Iftikhar, the national legal director of CAIR and the author of the report.

The report documented 141 instances of violence last year — including the case of a San Antonio man who set fires at three local convenience stores owned by Muslims — compared to 93 cases in 2003 and 42 in 2002.

CAIR commended the prosecution of Thomas C. Carroll, a resident of a North Side subdivision who was sentenced by Judge Philip Kazen Jr. to three concurrent 30-year sentences for the arson fires.