Muslims protest House hearing

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http://www.detnews.com/article/20110307/METRO/103070335/1409/metro/Muslims-protest-House-hearing

Muslims protest House hearing

They denounce Homeland Security’s talk on radicalization

George Hunter / The Detroit News

Dearborn— Local Arab-Americans on Sunday said a planned hearing by the head of the House Homeland Security Committee to discuss the radicalization of Muslims will only perpetuate stereotypes and demonize them.

Committee Chairman Peter King, R-NY, said Sunday that America’s Muslims aren’t cooperating enough with law enforcement to counter the radicalization of young followers by al-Qaida-linked groups. King plans to hold a hearing Thursday in Washington about religion’s role in motivating extremists.

“The overwhelming majority of Muslims are outstanding Americans, but at this stage in our history, there’s an effort … to radicalize elements within the Muslim community,” he said in an interview broadcast Sunday. “It’s there and that’s where the threat is coming from at this time.

“I don’t believe there is sufficient cooperation” by American Muslims with law enforcement, King said.

Dawud Walid, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations — Michigan, said the hearing “smacks of McCarthyism.”

“We don’t have a fundamental issue with a hearing discussing radicalization or domestic terrorism, but it should be approached in a holistic manner, and not just focus on one group,” said Walid, who was in Washington, D.C., Sunday to coordinate efforts to speak out against the hearing. “The vast majority of domestic terrorism in America is perpetrated by people who aren’t Arab or of the Islamic faith.”

Imad Hamad, head of the Dearborn-based American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, said King is sending the wrong message.

“This brings back the shadow of suspicion and furthers the stereotype that Arab-Americans and Muslims are terrorists,” Hamad said. “This kind of dialogue does nothing but divide us — and the worst part is, this is our government. It isn’t a private person saying these things. It’s the head of Homeland Security.”

Mohamed Okdie of Detroit, former head of the Detroit Board of Police Commissioners, said he isn’t surprised by the latest developments.

“We’ve been fighting this fight all my adult life,” he said. “This is just more of the same.”

 

DawudWalid

Dawud Walid is currently the Executive Director of the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI), which is a chapter of America's largest advocacy and civil liberties organization for American Muslims and is a member of the Michigan Muslim Community Council (MMCC) Imams Committee. Walid has been interviewed and quoted in approximately 150 media outlets ranging from the New York Times, Wall St Journal, National Public Radio, CNN, BBC, FOX News and Al-Jazeera. Furthermore, Walid was a political blogger for the Detroit News from January 2014 to January 2016, has had essays published in the 2012 book All-American: 45 American Men on Being Muslim, the 2014 book Qur'an in Conversation and was quoted as an expert in 13 additional books and academic dissertations. He was also a featured character in the 2013 HBO documentary "The Education of Mohammad Hussein." Walid has lectured at over 50 institutions of higher learning about Islam, interfaith dialogue and social justice including at Harvard University, DePaul University and the University of the Virgin Islands - St. Thomas and St. Croix campuses as well as spoken at the 2008 and 2011 Congressional Black Caucus Conventions alongside prominent speakers such as the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Congressman Keith Ellison. In 2008, Walid delivered the closing benediction at the historic 52nd Michigan Electoral College in the Michigan State Senate chambers and gave the Baccalaureate speech for graduates of the prestigious Cranbrook-Kingswood Academy located in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Walid was also a featured speaker at the 2009 and 2010 Malian Peace and Tolerance Conferences at the University of Bamako in Mali, West Africa. He has also given testimony at hearings and briefings in front of Michigan state legislators and U.S. congressional representatives, including speaking before members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in Washington, D.C. Walid has studied under qualified scholars the disciplines of Arabic grammar and morphology, foundations of Islamic jurisprudence, sciences of the exegesis of the Qur’an, and Islamic history during the era of Prophet Muhammad through the governments of the first 5 caliphs. He previously served as an imam at Masjid Wali Muhammad in Detroit and the Bosnian American Islamic Center in Hamtramck, Michigan, and continues to deliver sermons and lectures at Islamic centers across the United States and Canada. Walid was a 2011 - 2012 fellow of the University of Southern California (USC) American Muslim Civil Leadership Institute (AMCLI) and a 2014 - 2015 fellow of the Wayne State Law School Detroit Action Equity Lab (DEAL). Walid served in the United States Navy under honorable conditions earning two United States Navy & Marine Corp Achievement medals while deployed abroad. He has also received awards of recognition from the city councils of Detroit and Hamtramck and from the Mayor of Lansing as well as a number of other religious and community organizations.

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