Tea Party Favorite, Republican Peter King Wrongfully Targeting Muslim Americans in Senate Hearings

The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Republican Peter King (R-NY), is targeting Muslim-Americans in hearings this week. King says he sees an international movement with elements in the United States of Muslims (Muslim-Americans) becoming more "radical" and identifying with terrorists.

Minnesota congressman Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to the House, says that while it's proper to investigate "radicalization", he thinks it is wrong for these hearings to single out a religious minority. "I worry about it," he said. "Everybody I talk to worries about it, and we're concerned about the breadth of this. It's absolutely the right thing to do for the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee to investigate radicalization, but to say we're going to investigate a religious minority, and a particular one, I think is the wrong course of action to take."

These McCarthy-esque hearings are appalling to many Freedom-Loving Americans, especially to mothers like Talat Hamdani, whose Muslim-American Firefighter son died rescuing people during the 9/11 attacks. She said, "the American Muslim community has been singled out for scrutiny by Rep. King on the flimsy theory that American Muslims do not cooperate with law enforcement. This perspective is disputed by law enforcement and counter-terrorism experts ranging from the sheriff of Los Angeles County to the former director of transnational threats at the National Security Council."

As Congressman Ellison and Mrs. Hamdani said, these "radicalization" hearings should be investigating ALL Domestic Terror groups and not racially profile ONE Group. This "radicalization" is coming from a variety of groups. Prior to 9/11, the largest domestic terrorist attack was in Oklahoma City, perpetrated by Timothy McVeigh and his partners in his local Militia group. Since 9/11, we've seen significant numbers of attacks from people like White Supremist Richard Poplawski, the Hutaree Militia (Detroit) and Andrew Stack who flew into the IRS building in Austin.

Let's be absolutely clear on what Tea-Party Favorite, Republican Rep. King is doing here. These hearings are part and parcel of the overall demonization of non-Northern European minorities and should NOT be tolerated. They are racial/ethnicity/religion profiling. They are McCarthy-esque. They remind me of Peter King's friend, Tom Tancredo's recent quotes:
- "Latinos and Muslims are members of 'problem' cultures."
- "Throughout history, people who are NOT WHITE Anglo-Saxon (Northern European) have become American by adopting a WHITE Anglo-Saxon (Northern European) culture."

Rep. King admits to this racial/ethnic profiling himself when he said:
"at this stage in our history there's an effort to radicalize elements within the Muslim community. And I've said, when we were going after the Mafia, we looked at the Italian community; the Westies, the Irish community. In New York, they go after the Russian mob, they go into the Russian community in Brighton Beach and Coney Island."

These hearings can only proceed if they are CHANGED to investigate ALL Radicalization by ALL groups and not single out ONE American group simply due to their religious beliefs. This would violate everything our country stands for. Our country was founded on Religious Freedoms. There are many religions that have practices I do not believe in and I do not adhere to including the Amish, the Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses and the Church of Latter Day Saints. Many people say these religions violate Women's Rights. If we target Muslim Americans for their religion, are they next?


For those of us who LOVE America and believe in the words of our Founding Fathers, it is imperative we stand strong for the rights of ALL of our people:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men/women, of all ethnicities, religions, are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed!"

Republican Extremists are Forgetting why/how our Country was Founded and are targetting Muslim Americans at Ground Zero!

Many Muslim-Americans died in the World Trade Center when it was attacked by extremist Muslims on 9-11-01. They were loyal Americans, living, working, breathing in America. Then some Muslim extremists flew a plane into their workplace, and they died.

Many Christian-Americans died in Oklahoma City when it was attacked by extremist Christians on 4-19-95. They were loyal Americans, living, working, breathing in America. Then some Christian American extremists, Timothy McVeigh and his partners, planted a bomb into their workplace, and they died.

Today, Republicans are targetting ALL Muslim-Americans and OPPOSING their absolute "Freedom of Religion" right to re-build a community center a few blocks away from "ground zero." (see the video of a non-Muslim, American worker walking near the ANTI-Muslim protesters)

Rational Americans are saying, "Republicans, ARE YOU CRAZY? ARE YOU FORGETTING WHY/HOW OUR COUNTRY WAS FOUNDED? FREEDOM OF RELIGION? AND HOW CAN YOU DEMONIZE AN ENTIRE GROUP OF AMERICANS FOR THE VIEWS OF A FEW EXTREMISTS FROM THE MIDDLE EAST?"

Republican pundits are a Blight on the very Foundation of America!

Muslim Americans are opposed to al qaeda. Many Muslim Americans lost their lives in 911. For Republicans to paint, with a broad brush, that Muslim Americans are guilty of being terrorists is a bold faced LIE. Their claim is racist. Their claim is racial profiling. Their claim goes against the will of our founding fathers.
Our country was based on religious freedom. Muslim Americans have the same “freedom of religion” rights as any other American.
They have every right to re-build their existing mosque a few blocks away from the Twin Towers location.
For Republican pundits like Newt Gingrich, Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin to use this as a political issue to demonize and chastise ALL Muslim Americans is WRONG! They are allowing the terrorists and al qaeda to WIN. The terrorists’ wish was to change America, to change our freedoms, to change Freedom of Religion, and instead use divisive rhetoric to control and instill fear in every day Americans and to demonize our very own foundations of Freedom of Religion, Freedom of Speech and Equality of ALL regardless of race, ethnicity or religion.
Republican pundits are a blight on the very foundation of America!
Newt Gingrich compares 'Ground Zero mosque' backers to Nazis
Newt Gingrich went with a slightly different Holocaust metaphor when he compared the people behind the proposed mosque, whom he referred to as "radical Islamists," to "Nazis" during an appearance on Fox News.
"Nazis don't have the right to put up a sign next to the holocaust museum in Washington," Gingrich insisted, speaking of the museum where just a year ago a guard was killed by a white supremacist trying to enter the building with a gun. Gingrich then went on to claim that "we would never accept the Japanese putting up a site next to Pearl Harbor."