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ADC Press Release - January 25, 2008
ADC Objects to Islamohpbic Remarks by Huckabee Aide
Washington, DC | January 25, 2008 - Today the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) sent a letter to Republican presidential candidate and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. ADC, the nation’s largest civil rights organization working on behalf of the Arab-American community, relayed its deep concern over the recent appointment of James Pinkerton as a senior advisor to the Huckabee campaign. As a contributor to Fox News and a columnist for Newsday, Pinkerton had made several troubling statements concerning Muslim Americans, immigrants, the use of torture, and what Pinkerton terms as, “Muslimization.”
In the letter to Huckabee, ADC National Executive Director Kareem Shora asked the republican presidential candidate to immediately and publicly disassociate himself from Mr. Pinkerton and his comments.
Here is the text of the ADC’s letter to Huckabee:
The Honorable Mike Huckabee
Huckabee for President, Inc.
P.O. Box 2008
Little Rock, Arkansas 72203
Dear Governor Huckabee:
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) is the nation’s largest civil rights organization working, since 1980, on behalf of the Arab-American community.
Our headquarters is in Washington, DC, with offices in Massachusetts, New Jersey, Michigan, and California in addition to 38 volunteer-based chapters around the country and members in every state of the Union. ADC is an Executive Committee member of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR).
ADC is a non-sectarian, non-partisan grassroots organization representing an American community which consists of people of a variety of faiths, including Christian, Muslim, Coptic, Jewish and others who don't identify as religious. As such, we are gravely disappointed with your recent decision to include James Pinkerton as a senior advisor to your presidential campaign.
As a contributor to Fox News and a columnist for Newsday, Mr. Pinkerton has made several troubling statements concerning Muslim Americans, immigrants, the use of torture, and what he terms as, “Muslimization.” These racist and divisive statements on Muslims and immigrants are reminiscent of the ignorance of a by-gone era when people questioned the loyalty and patriotism of other American communities such as Japanese and German Americans. Mr. Pinkerton’s statements are detrimental to your campaign, your personal integrity, and the image of our nation around the world.
While disagreements over policy matters are expected in such a hotly contested election,using racism, Islamophobia, or anti-Semitism is unacceptable and un-American.Therefore, ADC requests that you immediately and publicly disassociate yourself fromMr. Pinkerton and, more importantly, his statements.
Should you need any additional information about this matter or the work of ADC, pleasecontact me at kshora@adc.org or (202) 244-2990. Thank you for your time and consideration and I hope to hear back from you soon on this matter.
Sincerely,
Kareem W. Shora, JD, LL.M.
National Executive Director
Kansas City InfoZine – January 30
Anti-Islam rhetoric aims to manipulate voters
By Anel Ramazanova
Americans have a more negative attitude toward Islam now than they did immediately after Sept. 11, a history professor who studies the Middle East and religion told an audience in Michigan last week.
Juan R.I. Cole, a professor of history at the University of Michigan, said that immediately after Sept. 11, 30 percent of Americans had a negative view of Islam. But reports published in the Washington Post and USA Today in December 2006 found that 45 percent of Americans held negative views of Islam.
He said such a change "is not natural." He blamed "the American right wing" and the media for creating this negative view to help win elections.
Cole and Corey P. Saylor, legislative director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, discussed "Exploitation of Islamophobia in Elections," or how they said politicians are creating and exploiting new threatening terms to manipulate public opinion and get their votes. CAIR sponsored the event.
Saylor urged American Muslims to claim their constitutional rights. He said more should seek careers in journalism and government so they could be part of making decisions that affect the country.
Cole praised CAIR for collecting data about civil rights violations. He said about 2,500 incidents were reported in 2006, up 25 percent from 2005, which also had a 25 percent increase from the previous year. In addition, he said CAIR reported about 200 hate crimes in each year.
Cole said President Bush and other Republicans, including some of the current presidential candidates, have used the term "Islamofacism." He compared it to an old political tactic. "They used to make them afraid of the Communists, now they are making them afraid Muslims," he said.
Most people would find such a term applied to other religions to be "highly objectionable," Cole said. "Nobody talks about Christofascism, and they should not."
While fascism is an old, hierarchical, elite system that is based on discrimination, he said, "Islam is none of these things."
Noting that Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., who briefly ran for president, suggested blowing up the Islamic holy sites of Mecca and Medina if there were another attack on the U.S., Cole asked what the U.S. response would be if Iranian leaders suggested blowing up the Vatican. He called ideas such as Tancredo's "crackpotism of the highest order."
Both Cole and Saylor said Muslims in the U.S. today face similar problems of other minorities, including Japanese-Americans during World War II and African Americans.
http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesView/sid/26732/
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