MI State Rep Agema sanctioning of bigots

CAIR-MI Decries Official Platform Given to Hate Group Speakers

(SOUTHFIELD, MI, 9/13/2011) ­- The Michigan
chapter of the Council on American-Islamic
Relations (CAIR-MI) today expressed concern over
Michigan State Representative Dave Agema’s
(R-Grandville) endorsement of speakers who
expressed xenophobic and anti-Muslim views at a
hearing and rally at the Michigan State Capital Building today in Lansing.

Agema, who sponsored Michigan House Bill No. 4026
Occupational Code Bill, promoted views and
statistics on immigration by the Federation of
American Immigration Reform (FAIR), which the
Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has designated
a “hate group” for its ties to White Supremacists.

FAIR: Crossing the Rubicon of Hate (SPLC)
http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2007/12/11/fair-crossing-the-rubicon-of-hate&splcnewsletter=panewsgen-121107/

Also testifying at the hearing and later speaking
at the rally was controversial, self-proclaimed
ex-terrorist Kamal Saleem, who has been connected
to “ex-terrorist” Walid Shoebat.

CNN recently aired a two-part series exposing Shoebat as an anti-Islam fraud.

Video: CNN Exposes Walid Shoebat’s Terror Training Scam (CAIR)
Part 1 –- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJN00dBhZVk
Part 2 — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74Tzz51VYXg

SEE ALSO: USAF Pays Fake ‘Terrorism Experts” Speakers to Bash Islam?
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/02/08/452610/-USAF-Pays-Fake-Terrorism-Experts-Speakers-To-Bash-Islam-
Fake ‘Ex-Terrorist’ Wants Sharia Banned in Missouri (Loonwatch)
http://www.loonwatch.com/2011/03/kamal-saleem-fake-ex-terrorist-wants-sharia-banned-in-missouri/

Saleem today asserted without empirical evidence
that undocumented immigrants are a threat to
national security and that sleeper cells are in
Michigan, an Islamophobic claim similarly made by
Agema in the context of immigration enforcement.

SEE: Is Farmworkers’ Challenge For Legislators
Supporting Strict Immigration Reform to ‘Take Our
Jobs’ Bogus? (Grand Rapids Press)
http://www.mlive.com/business/west-michigan/index.ssf/2010/07/is_farmworkers_challenge_for_l.html

Also speaking at the rally was Oakland County
Commissioner Jim Runestad (R-Waterford).

Supporters during the hearing made racist
statements that immigrants bring diseases such as
“tuberculosis” and “bed bugs” into Michigan,
reflecting past statements of Agema relating to immigrants and disease.

CAIR-MI Executive Director Dawud Walid offered
testimony at today’s hearing regarding the need
for comprehensive immigration reform at the
federal level as well as pointing out to
committee members the bias motives behind Agema’s FAIR-driven legislation.

“Instead of introducing bills that will unite us
as a state and attract investments, Agema is
introducing controversial and xenophobic
legislation,” said CAIR-MI Executive Director
Dawud Walid. “We call on Agema’s colleagues
within the state house to disassociate themselves
from bias-driven legislation and from those who promote such bizarre bills.”

Walid also noted that Agema is the sponsor of
Michigan House Bill Ho. 4679 also called an
“anti-Sharia bill,” which has been resolutely
condemned by civil rights organizations such as the ACLU and NAACP.

SEE: Detroit Legislators, Civil Rights Groups
Speak Out Against ‘anti-Sharia’ Bill (Mlive.com)
http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2011/08/detroit_legislators_civil_righ.html

CAIR is America’s largest Muslim civil liberties
and advocacy organization. Its mission is to
enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage
dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower
American Muslims, and build coalitions that
promote justice and mutual understanding.

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CONTACT: CAIR-MI Executive Director Dawud Walid,
248-842-1418, E-Mail: dwalid@cair.com, CAIR-MI
Outreach Coordinator Raheem Hanifa, 248-559-2247, E-Mail: rhanifa@cair.com

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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