Tpt Special Edition: Islam In Minnesota; SD-Base

Oh. Thankful to this broadcast as part of the TT's making the global local initiative funded by the court function. Good evening and welcome to the Islamic Institute of Minnesota here in Maplewood. This special broadcast is a project of this torture bureau and several community based media and citizen organizations. Estimates of the number of Muslims in Minnesota range anywhere from a hundred to one hundred twenty five thousand and many more of them are Asian or African and they are Arab in background. On October 2nd we gathered leaders from Minnesota's diverse Islamic community to talk about life after September 11th. For them and for members of other minority groups during a pressing national emergency where do we draw the line between the need for security and the need to protect civil liberties especially those of citizens or non-citizens of Middle Eastern appearance. We asked representatives from the op ed pages from politics

law enforcement and the immigration service people actually draw that line to weigh in. I'd like to begin by thanking the Islamic Institute of Minnesota for hosting this today. But before we get started we have a short tape to show you aired on the PBS religion and ethics newsweekly program last weekend. They knew if their mission succeeded when they hijacked the planes their lives like those of their victims would be reduced to ashes. But they did it anyway. Why were they motivated by their interpretation of passages in the Koran. Or were they following a misguided form of Islam born out of poverty and desperation in Islamic law. There has been absolutely no justification for this kind of DOS to Dr. Fareed S. Sak a Muslim scholar at Auburn Theological Seminary in New York says Muslims are God fearing law abiding citizens ordinary believe is quietly go about trying to find the presence of God in their lives through the appraise

through the ethical conduct through their things with other people. But what of the 19 Muslims who shattered our sense of well-being and of their helpers and the others said to be in waiting and those in other countries celebrating. Professor Holland calls himself a patriotic American and he is a leading authority on Islamic law. In my view I battle it out for the soul of Islam for who gets to define what Islam is going to stand for. TRANSLATED FROM ARABIC the word Islam means peace and there is nothing in the teachings of Islam that justifies terrorism. The Jihad the so-called holy war we have been threatened with on so many occasions loosely translated means an inner struggle for self-improvement and social struggle for human rights. I believe that Islam is a is a perfect faith. And Muslims are imperfect. Salaam Mariotti is with the Muslim Public Affairs Council speaking here in a class at USC.

He says the extremists are using religion to spread fear and gain sympathy even when the mistake we have made in the West is that we have allowed the extremists to exploit the term jihad because any time that term is raised in the media then everybody reacts to it. And probably over reacts to it as if this is something of serious religious nature some Muslim scholars argue that now is the time when Muslims should take a closer look at their theology and their culture. What is looted is to go to the Islamic tradition in an honest and solve political perspective. And what is this tradition. Do you eradicate a lot discourse Professor I mean because you're president of the Islamic Institute of Minnesota. Give us some insight into what wife has been like for your very diverse

community over the last few weeks is there a lot of fretting about your role up to this date. Well because as the piece indicated simply means peace. I guess one of the things that we were not very successful in doing and perhaps that's one of the things that we should be concentrating on is getting that word out until people including Muslims as well what Islam actually means. We have been lucky. At this center we have received a wave of telephone calls all friendship and support. We have a lot of cards and letters of support that we actually try. We'll try to put a wall of friendship so to speak right here where those cards will cover. State Senator each other you've been outspoken on this issue. What do you think counts for the relative calm in Minnesota.

I think it has paid off. We've been fortunate to have. State leaders step up to the plate to carry the message that this is a response that we have must be focused and responsible and focused that terrorism not people of a particular ethnicity because terrorists exist in all parts of the world. Al McFarlane you host the insite news came which a Public Policy Forum each Tuesday and you've dealt with this issue of profiling for quite some time but it seems as though most of the American public thinks that some degree of profiling quote unquote is OK in the context of Middle Eastern looking people in certain situations. Do you think accounts for that. Well there's a history of racial profiling in this country against people who are different people who are new. Certainly against the Americans who have come up through this nation

as the descendants of slave free slavery slaves. We are experiencing sort of witnessing other people newer arrivals begin to experience what we've grown accustomed to. The question of terrorism also comes into play. And just to in discussing the incidents in New York and our community I believe each and every person is grieving as we should be for the loss of life in New York and at the audacity and the inappropriateness of this kind of militaristic and hateful action. We also are keeping in mind the history of our presence here this morning at the Public Policy Forum. A woman who was around 60 talked about the Tara she experienced in Louisiana at the hands of Ku Klux Klan. She talked about the terror she experienced in Indiana growing up at the hands of citizens rights or white rights organizations. The point is we've got a history of

being victimized or being surrounded by being terrorized in this country. And so we are sympathetic and empathetic when other people now experience what we feel we have experienced for three centuries here. The American community. Become any more empathetic toward the imperative that law enforcement in some circles seems to feel. To profile people at least and you do understand the law enforcement people better now. There is no simple answer I think there is no complete agreement. I think on the one hand we understand the need for personal and collective and community safety and we are here and we value and we think we have a moral obligation to defend the principle of personal and human and civil liberty. Bruce Corey who runs the Policy Roundtable which represents the many cultures of the Asian-American or the Asian Minnesotan community share some of your thoughts with us. Before I say that

I am honored to be here and there are a number of members from the Asian community who are here with me. Joining our friends at the Islamic Institute in solidarity at this time for coming back to your statement Friday. My name is Bruce. This exotic face of mine comes from India but I'm an American citizen. I am Catholic I see my Irish accent comes from my many years at the University of Notre Dame where the fighting Irish and I have for many years have worked in a looter institution so as little said Minnesotan as anybody else. And at this point in our lives I think the nation has two images two forces at work. One is this monstrous terror that comes into our dreams and haunts us and we want to let the turtle get into the shell and shot all those. The other is the Statue of Liberty out there out in the open was vulnerable but proclaiming freedom.

And it's these forces of openness that the members of the Roundtable and the other ethnic groups are gathered here today to urge the nation and the state to follow this larger visions and I think that's what we want to bring to the table whether it's a discussion of profiling how could we get forward in this 21st century. Professor do you do you sense that the Muslim community is being tapped as a resource to try and crack down the bad guys here. Or is there a feeling of being under a microscope being under suspicion. Well I think I know a lot of Muslims that already are corporate in higher nor that the masculine Americans feel that this is their country. What hurts this country will hurt them and not Cordingley if this is something that might be seen as hurting this country I'm sure they're going to do their duty and contact the appropriate authorities.

As to being targets I guess they are. I think the profiling in terms of those people who might come from that part of the world and accordingly maybe scrutinizing those people would help in curbing the violence. First of all we are going to do away with our own laws. This is a land of justice and law. And when we give up something like this we're not only taking away the rights of those people were taken away the rights of every American. And even if we can't profile and we think the profiling will help those terrorists are resourceful and resourceful they're going to send us different kinds of profiling. I think this is going to really it's a lose lose situation. The main reason against racially profiling people for any reason is that you're going to end up hurting the law enforcement effort

because people such as these terrorists are extremely caught clever and they will find a way around it. If they if they are given the opportunity to use our prejudice against us the terrorists would like nothing more than to see chaos in our country. Americans attacking each other as a result of their attack like to bring into the discussion people who've been thinking and writing a lot about this and among them is Doug is D.J. Tice from the St. Paul Pioneer Press who wrote a piece a couple of days ago on profiling which Doug as you wrote it is not something that's been particularly new in periods of stress in our history. Yes I tried to take a look at the record of upheaval and profiling if you will they didn't use the word then in previous wars in the United States goes back way to the 18th century but of course and during the Civil War Lincoln suspended habeas corpus and jailed many many people

on nothing but suspicion closed newspapers jailed editors. In World War One German Americans suffered you know quite wounding crackdowns on dissent and were investigated and harassed here in Minnesota. The legislature established something called the commission of Public Safety which was given virtually unlimited authority to combat dissent. It expelled people from office a German-American office holders in new ALM and generally investigated and harassed people all over the state shut down strikes and and union activity. World War 2 of course brought the better remembered the internment of Japanese-Americans. Yes it is troubling I think we need to be careful. I do think on the other hand we have to be realistic and I would wonder about how the panelists would respond to the airline question and searches on airlines. You know is under all the circumstances and what has happened. Considering

ethnicity as one factor in whether you take an extra look in somebody's baggage or pat them down or whatever it might be is is that. You know impossible to see that that might be necessary. It would seem to me that that would certainly. Might fit the supreme court's definition of a narrowly tailored action to serve a compelling governmental interest which is is what is required to infringe basic constitutional rights. So it may be in your mind in some cases an appropriate security measure for example to sub subject to certain people's due to an additional law I think. I think it's legitimate to submit to subject everybody to a search getting on an airplane which we have done for decades. But but I'm talking about people who fit a particular ethnic profile you know silo you know how a person standing at such a checkpoint and looking at people and they have to exercise some discretion. You know who am I going to take the time to check a little more. How do they eliminate from their from their mind any

consideration of an ethnicity. I think it will be practically impossible even if if we thought it was it was necessary. I think the hard hard question for all of us and it's not just as Albert Farley was mentioning it's not just people of a Middle Eastern or Islamic background now but Germans in one situation African-Americans and others. Young black boys in downtown Minneapolis young mom kids in downtown St. Paul. How do we respond to what we might consider just basic human common sense that puts two and two together in an ordinary mind and gets a concern about four I think people do tend to for whatever reason created by history say that if you come from a certain background there's a higher odds higher odds that you may be motivated to do some act of violence. And therefore I as a normal human being how do I react then is very very disturbing to to Americans given our effort to create a

society based on individual ism and equal treatment of everybody. But the tug on the other side is some sort of you know almost. Animal instinct human feeling I was I was just getting my I was coming back from it I was in England when the attacks occurred and I said sort of sitting in the bus arriving early at the at Gatwick Airport It just occurred to me what was what should be my reaction. What would be my reaction if I end up sitting next to somebody who I really think comes from Afghanistan. I mean you know they tell me or they dress or language or something like that I mean do I assume this is a wonderful fine person in the great conversation about Shakespeare or do I have to sort of say oh my goodness people of this man's background have just killed 6000 Americans. And I felt very I was very disturbed I don't know what. What should I do how should I. Should I even should even allow myself to think about that. Should I ask him where he's from. It was it was very disconcerting to believe Sikhs are going to feel

caught up in a very unusual situation that on Tuesday we were all talking about the horrific act kind of as a response with citizens organizing fundraising arranging for prayer meetings and then suddenly stuff starts appearing on CNN and on other kind of news in the news media that the Sikhs are being targeted because they've been something that's was kind of part of our religion for years now and. And the hope is really that we don't hide at this point I think what to what we have found at least in the Twin Cities thankfully and fortunately but the effort of the people and the people of Minnesota I would say not if they did that that they incidents have been very few I mean just a handful. I think when you're talking profiling you're you're really have to be careful. There is legitimate criminal profiling that goes on and it is advancing as a science the kind of thing that was focused on the Unabomber and the kind of information that was developed about

who that could be or what type of person he could be and where to begin looking. But I think also it's important that at the local level we've been concerned about equal protection. That the equal protection aspect of the Constitution guarantees at what point does a woman for some an officer decide that they're going to use the authority granted to them to preserve peace and freedom are in order. And I think that's that's we're. Biased based policing as as an extension of the simple racial profiling. Fourth Amendment why. Why is this vehicle being stopped. I'm going to play and I think that's what we need to be careful about and I think that's what we need to marshal our communities against so that the legitimate power to stop somebody for speeding is exercised to prevent the speeding and that is an excuse to otherwise harass people merely because of their race color or creed. What we did do and became one of our other responsibilities really the very first day attack by the

end of the day that you know addition to you know identifying our public utilities and providing more presence of public buildings and more visibility in the neighborhood was a definite find. Those elements of the Islamic community that are really integrated in the city of Minneapolis not quite certain the city of St. Paul as well. You know our Islamic our mosques are diri stores or restaurants or cab drivers. And by the you know the in addition the other duties we've made outreach to all of those so that folks who have normal if they have some threats if they're the recipient of hate threats that type of thing that they'd be in touch with us what things you should call me one for what things they should just pass on the information the federal authorities etc. so that hasn't really been an issue for us I like to think on this one we're ahead of the curve and expected a potential biased reaction and have headed that off to some degree. I'm in agreement with many of the thoughts that have a been expressed here. You can identify

someone that is a terrorist based on their religion or their national origin or their race. I try to get that word out to the community I would feel very upset if someone tried to group me with Timothy McVeigh because he participated in a terroristic act and yet I probably share a lot of characteristics with him. We don't use those means by which to profile someone we look for suspicious acts we look for evidence of some type of criminal activity and not to a person's origin or their appearance in stopping people. And even our commissioner has come out and said that he was very upset by the news or news accounts of people being discriminated against attacked because of their appearance. It's nothing that the Immigration Service condones. If people see this and know this we're just as interested as anybody else that that gets

reported to the proper officials so that it can be addressed. About Muslims who got killed in the World Trade Center disaster. My brother in law got killed he was a Muslim. But it is not a question of Muslims on non-Muslims Koran emphatically say there cannot be any killing of innocent people. Yes there are a lot of Muslims who are coming from not a Muslim countries not Muslim but who are doing this that draw cities and we are not as I consider them not Muslims and according to Islam they are doing heinous things. The stance of this country lies in its people and how much or they have been I mean I can imagine this was a tragic incident of unparalleled magnitude and we can feel that everyone is him and everyone nationalistic feelings will arise in this kind of situation it's expected and compare to ours in many parts of the world I think the response has been really positive and all in all

it's really gratifying to be in this country and to be this didn't particle really feel fortunate. I think incidents of this racial profiling incident is not unique. If you look at again as was laid out historically a couple years ago you have the win holy case of the Chinese Americans were targeted. I was in Washington DC and in a restaurant and somebody approaches me and say Are you here to spy on the Americans. And so I think that this is not very unique and I think what we need to do is take this opportunity to really educate and also to advocate for institutionalizing the education of various countries in the various cultures integrate that into the curriculum and make that part of of learning as well. One other question for members particularly in the Islamic community locally I mean historically one of the issues that has been very prominent in

Islam has been. The Palestinian situation the situation in the Middle East it's an it's a bone of contention that many in the Islamic world including in America have with US foreign policy. Has this become difficult to articulate. You know your views now in the normal discourse. Do you feel in some way muzzled as a result of having to portray yourself as patriotic Americans. If we have people who understand. The foreign policy are going to reflect on the foreign policy and see if our foreign policy had anything to contribute to that tragedy or not. There is no reason whatsoever that our foreign policy or any other would cause somebody to do what those terrorists did. But in the meantime I'm sure that along with other things a foreign policy issue will

come up. Frankly speaking after September 11th I do not feel free to be too dark about any mistakes that the American government may be making or any foreign policy. If I disagree with any of the foreign policy of the United States I do not feel very comfortable speaking out I feel very good when my non-Muslim American friends speak for me or when I know that they agree with what I agree with. I feel very good about it and I hope that a majority of the people soon there will be more expression of that opinion. I think the fundamental issue we are facing today is the question of trust. It's the trust in the breakdown of trust that causes us to be suspicious of my neighbor and so forums like this help to build a trust is the breakdown of trust in the airport security that makes us be suspicious of the neighbor next to me who is a sick who may be a terrorist when the actual focus of attention should

be what is the security of Paradise and once I go to the security of Paris I should be let free. If that's the system that is place so I think it's the time to rebuild that trust in our institutions and in the meantime develop some principles for for scientific profiling of that's the case baby and we have circulating some some principles in mind that we'd like to get more approval by the policymakers. None of us is just criticizing increased security. All of us want to be safe on every flight and every moment of our life. We don't want the presumption that these people are OK and these people who are not white have to be checked more thoroughly. That is where institutional racism and discrimination take place. I think one of the most poignant parts of this discussion was actually from Steve Young here in the front who talked about what he knew in his mind but. I couldn't help feeling in terms of emotions and I've heard that from more

than one Minnesotan. And so but I lend kudos to the people who are willing to openly voice that conflict because it's a part of starting to work through these conflicts are Japanese-American community experience racial profiling following the bombing of Pearl Harbor and our constitutional and civil rights were suspended leading to the forced internment of over one hundred twenty thousand individuals of Japanese ancestry two thirds of whom were American citizens. We would like to express our support to the Arab American Muslim and other South Asian communities to let you know that we will do whatever we can to insure your rights and safety. What happened to our community during World War 2 should not happen again. Thank you. Thanks very much. Thanks very much for joining us this evening. We want to issue a special thanks to the Islamic Institute of

Minnesota for the use of their facilities. And I'd like to offer a special thanks to Hector Garcia who is the coordinator of our cultural voices program a tepee to you for bringing this form together. Thanks very much. I'm Fred.