Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, March 2009, pages 38-39
Northern California Chronicle
CAIR-SV Honors Muslim Youth, Community Leaders at 6th Annual Banquet
By Elaine Pasquini
THE SACRAMENTO Valley chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-SV) kicked off its sixth annual banquet Nov. 15 with opening remarks by emcees Athar Siddiqee, CAIR-SFBA vice president, and California Senate consultant Aidan Ali-Sullivan. More than 500 guests gathered at Sacramento’s Radisson Hotel for an evening of fine dining, fund-raising, and to honor community members for outstanding service during the past year.
Following comments by CAIR-SV president Yousef Marmosh, newly elected Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson made a brief appearance at the gala. Taking to the stage amid cheers and applause, the former Phoenix Suns basketball star vowed to “make Sacramento a model city when it comes to expressing the diversity of our community” and to ensure that the Muslim community has input and access to the mayor’s office.
Executive director Basim Elkarra, who also serves on Johnson’s transition team, highlighted CAIR’s numerous challenges and accomplishments during the past year, including the Muslim Youth Leadership Program (see following item).
Prior to the evening’s speeches and a rousing fund-raising session by the dynamic Imam Siraj Wahhaj of New York’s Masjid Al-Taqwa, awards were presented to individuals for their extraordinary contributions to the community. C.C. Yin of the Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs Association received the Outstanding Community Service Award. Distinguished Service Awards went to Rohimah Moly and Mufaddal Ezzy, while sister and brother Fereesa and Omer Khan received Outstanding Youth Service Awards.
Raid Abed, who has monitored hate speech on the radio since 9/11, was awarded the Courage and Inspiration Award. After hearing a hate-filled segment of Michael Savage’s “Savage Nation” on Oct. 27, 2007, Abed called CAIR and requested action be taken. In concert with Brave New Films, CAIR began a national grass-roots campaign that resulted in advertisers, such as Office Max, AT&T, Wal-Mart and Geico, pulling their sponsorship from the daily radio program.
Hussam Ayloush, executive director of CAIR-LA (see Jan./Feb. 2009 Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, p. 47), praised the Sacramento chapter for being “in the forefront of defending the civil rights of every American.”
Muslim Youth Leadership Program
To the banquet audience’s delight, graduates of the Muslim Youth Leadership Program (MYLP) from the past four years joined CAIR-SV executive director Elkarra on stage to accept well-deserved recognition of their accomplishments. From Aug. 14 to 17, 2008, CAIR’s California chapters held their fourth annual MYLP at the state capitol. Some 35 high school and college age students participated in workshops on public speaking, media relations and governmental activism. They also learned about internships and job opportunities in the state legislature. A mock legislative debate was the highlight of the conference. “This was so amazing. We had the opportunity to debate legislators on the Senate floor,” enthused Sadia Saifuddin, a senior at Stockton’s Lincoln High School. “We are the future of Islamic America and it is our job to carry the torch of Islam to the best of our ability.”
Assemblyman Dave Jones on Opportunities for Change
In his keynote address to the CAIR banquet audience, California Assemblyman Dave Jones blasted the U.S. Justice Department’s actions over the past eight years. “I am extremely saddened that the department that is supposed to be the bulwark of civil rights has become an instrument of violating civil rights,” the former counsel to Attorney General Janet Reno said. “We’ve seen high level officials in the department using political litmus tests to hire people, wiretapping without complying with federal law and obstruction of Congress’ oversight role.”
Jones lambasted Attorney General Michael Mukasey for changing federal guidelines that were issued in 1976 by Attorney General Edward Levi to prevent the FBI from engaging in the destruction of First Amendment rights. “On Aug. 21, [2008] I introduced Assembly Joint Resolution 72 in the California State Assembly calling on the attorney general to refrain from issuing these new guidelines which would allow racial, ethnic and religious profiling,” said the representative of California’s 9th assembly district. Jones and others were unsuccessful in preventing the Bush administration from issuing the prejudicial directives which would undermine protection to ordinary Americans. “The new administration needs to rescind those guidelines and return to the earlier ones that ensure the protection of civil liberties and civil rights, and make sure that racial, ethnic and religious profiling is not permitted in the United States,” he said.
Turning to the subject of how Muslim Americans can support the new administration, Jones urged his audience to “get involved, not only in civil rights organizations, but also neighborhood associations.” He praised community-based projects like the Shifa Clinic, the health facility run by Muslim American students which is a leading example of providing free health care for low-income families in the South Sacramento area.
Encouraging audience members to run for public office, Jones said he looked for “the day when we have more Muslim Americans running for local, state, and federal office in Sacramento and across the country.”
“Truth Is the First Casualty of War,” Iraq Veterans Remind Shoppers
Street theater reached a new high on “Black Friday” as Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) and The World Can’t Wait staged “Operation First Casualty” at various sites in San Francisco’s downtown shopping area to highlight the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. While tourists and holiday shoppers crammed the streets and sidewalks on the day after Thanksgiving, veterans of U.S.-led wars and occupation, wearing camouflage military fatigues, re-enacted military procedures by detaining, handcuffing and hooding volunteer “civilians” dressed in white shirts with orange armbands. In the granite fountain of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial at the city’s Yerba Buena Gardens, in front of back-lit photos from the civil rights movement and glass panels inscribed with Dr. King’s inspiring words, several of the volunteers endured a frighteningly realistic mock waterboarding as horrified tourists and the media looked on.
The drama continued in the shadow of the city’s popular cable car turnaround, where a fake checkpoint was established and “civilians” were searched, identified and “shot,” leaving many dead and bleeding on the pavement.
“I’d forgotten about the war,” one passerby admitted. “This is a great protest—it reminded me there’s still a war going on.”
Vet’s Advice to Future Enlistees: “Don’t Do It!”
Following his participation in “Operation First Casualty,” Eddie Falcon spoke to reporters about his military service and the IVAW. “Right now there are a lot of returning veterans who are joining our ranks,” Falcon said. “We have more than 1,400 members, with chapters in every major U.S. city.”
Before being honorably discharged from the Air Force four years ago, Falcon was twice deployed to Iraq and to Afghanistan. The son of Mexican immigrants who enlisted when he was 18 explained, “I saw the military as a way out of poverty.”
While in Iraq, Falcon said, he moved captives from Baghdad to Basra. Being the loadmaster involved removing seats from an airplane, blindfolding prisoners, getting them in the plane, and strapping them down with cargo equipment on the floor. “We were really rough with them, told them to shut up, put bags over their heads, pointed rifles in their faces,” he recalled. “It’s really a dehumanizing process. In hindsight, I realize this was torture.”
Asked what he would tell young people thinking of enlisting in the military, Falcon emphatically replied, “Don’t do it!”
Elaine Pasquini is a free-lance journalist based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
