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!"
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