Below you will find summaries of some of the cases that CAIR-WA has received from Muslims across the Northwest. Both Human Rights First and the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights note that hate crimes are underreported in the United States. This matches CAIR’s experience as does our observation that other acts of anti-discrimination, in addition to hate crimes, are also under-reported. We understand that reporting an incident is often the last thing a person wants to do, but it is the best thing for ensuring justice and protecting others from experiencing similar incidents. Perpetrators of discrimination cannot be allowed to think their actions or crime carries no consequences for them. The public must see and share the natural revulsion that accompanies hearing and seeing the results of bigotry.
Additionally, the more cases CAIR-WA receives, the more strongly we can advocate changes in systems such as laws and policies, in order to decrease the likelihood that the same issue will be faced by another Muslim. All of our civil rights services are provided at zero cost to our clients.
Documentation is important. Take pictures of vandalism; record bigoted speech when you see it. To report discrimination, call CAIR-WA at (206) 367-4081, e-mail us at civilrights@wa.cair.com or visit: cairwa.org/report-discrimination.
Case Digest for November, 2012
Though a relatively lower number of cases were reported to CAIR-WA in the month of November, 2012 (16 cases, as opposed to 48 cases in October, 2012), our Civil Rights Department remained busy between intake and following up on the large number of cases already in our care.
The only discernible pattern in these reported cases is the continued abuse of government agencies toward members of the local American Muslim community. Five of the cases reported in November were complaints against government agencies—this constitutes nearly one third and indicates an ongoing trend of heightened difficulties with government agencies that CAIR has seen across the nation.
Of particular concern is continued targeting of members of the Muslim community by the FBI, and frequent difficulties with pending citizenship applications for relatives when individuals are contacted by FBI agents and decline to speak.
Below is a brief overview of the cases we received in November, 2012, with several stories highlighted in detail.
Overview of cases – 16 total complaints received in November, 2012
- 1 criminal offense case that resulted in a broken nose and eye socket for the Muslim victim.
- 1 case of public accommodation that highlighted the prolonged inability for one woman to get housing for discriminatory reasons.
- 3 cases of employment discrimination, including one man who was accused of sleeping on the job when he was in fact praying.
- 5 cases involving government agencies, including one IT professional who found out he was on a “no-fly” list when he tried to board a domestic flight for a business trip.
- 1 case linked with school misconduct in which a boy was wrongly accused of trying to steal from the locker of a girl at his school.
- 3 cases regarding hate mail, one of which seems to be condemning not just Islam but Christianity as well.
- 2 cases regarding prison inmates, including one letter which outlines specific complaints about staff misconduct at Coyote Ridge Corrections Center.
Select civil rights case studies from November, 2012:
Hassan (name changed for this story to maintain privacy), a high school student in the Seattle Public School District has been forced to change school districts because of the uncomfortable environment that was created when he was falsely accused of stealing from another student’s locker at his former school…Click here to read full story
Christina (name changed for this story to maintain privacy), a woman living in California, contacted CAIR-WA via our online “Report Discrimination” form on November 10, 2012. She reported having experienced many incidents of discrimination which have caused her a lot of problems. At that time in particular she was having difficulties with finding housing and was living in a motel…Click here to read full story
On November 23, 2012 a local Muslim – an information technology executive by profession – called CAIR-WA to report that an FBI agent had knocked on his door three days prior while he was away on business. His wife had answered the knock and spoken with the agent, who gave her his business card and asked her to have her husband call when he returns home. The agent did not give many details about the reason for his visit, and only said that he wanted to show pictures to her husband of an event that he was a potential witness to…Click here to read full story
As you will see by our case count below, the Civil Rights department has had a busy month of October, 2012. With a total of 48 reported cases during the month, the load for the month of October nearly doubled from that of September, 2012
16 out of the 48 cases reported in October, 2012 involved grievous complaints from prison inmates around the state who have been subjected to unfair treatment as a result of their beliefs. This includes actions such as confiscation of religious turbans when they are being worn in accordance with the Washington state Department of Corrections (DOC) policy on religious headwear, as well as refusal to allow individuals to eat unless they take their religious turbans off. CAIR-WA has brought these complaints, as well as an awareness of the general abuse and harassment inmates receive from corrections officers in response to their religious practices, to the attention of the DOC. We are now working with the DOC to resolve these issues.
In addition to working on cases, the CAIR-WA Civil Rights team attended various events in the community, including the Hate Crimes Forum sponsored by the Seattle Human Rights Commission, a training on working with refugees and immigrants in crisis, and follow up with the board members of the Puget Sound area mosque that received a bomb threat in September, 2012 (including a meeting with several officials from the Department of Justice).
Below is a brief overview of the cases we received this in October, 2012, with several stories highlighted in detail.
Overview of cases – 48 total complaints received in October, 2012
- 2 cases of hate mail including an Islamophobic response to an article CAIR-WA had published in the Seattle Times Op-Ed section.
- 5 cases of criminal offenses against people or property, including one woman who had a gun pointed at her by a fellow car driver while wearing hijab and driving on I-5.
- 2 cases of lack of public accommodation, including a man who was forced to move after getting a protection order against a roommate.
- 7 cases of employment discrimination, including one man who was fired for being under investigation after having been found innocent of an erroneous accusation.
- 8 cases involving government agencies, including one woman who has been unable to bring her husband over from Morocco for over two years.
- 4 cases of school misconduct, including one child who was forced to leave his school after suffering severe harassment and not receiving faculty support.
- 16 cases of prisoner letter complaints with regard to their treatment and lack of adherence to mandatory religious accommodations.
- 4 general complaints including a man who needed advice on how to deal with being issued a subpoena.
Select civil rights case studies from October, 2012:
On October 2nd, 2012, a Muslim employee of a Seattle-area medical center contacted CAIR-WA to report that he does not have access to an appropriate space for prayer in his workplace. His employer has provided a “quiet room” that is set aside for employee use; however that room is very small and often used by others for quiet conversation or other purposes which prevent its use for prayer. As a result, the man has often had to skip prayers after running out of time while waiting for the room to become available on his breaks… Click here to read full story
On October 29, 2012, a Muslim middle school student in northwestern Washington came home to report to her father that she had been taught inappropriate and inaccurate views about Muslims at school. While discussing an anti-bullying program in class that day, the student’s science teacher had brought up Hitler and the rise of the Third Reich. Then suddenly she changed topics and said that “just like Hitler,” Muslims train their children from birth to give their life to Allah and become martyrs. She further stated that Muslims are raised and taught to kill innocents. Knowing better than this, the straight-A student raised her hand to question her teacher’s statement and ask from where she had gathered her information. The teacher’s reply was: “From a video I watched on Muslims”… Click here to read full story
On Thursday, September 28, 2012 two FBI agents knocked on the door of a home located in the greater Seattle area.The resident is a US citizen of Afghan descent, who has lived in the U.S. for over 30 years.When she answered the door, the agents flashed their badges, then began asking very personal question without further explanation eventually bringing the woman to tears… Click here to read full story
Case Digest for September, 2012 (compiled by civil rights intern Thea Marriott)
While CAIR-WA had the typical back-to-school dip in cases, with only 18 reported during the month of September, 2012, there was a rise in serious offenses including hate mail and crimes against individuals.
Ten out of eighteen cases reported in September, or 56%, involved hate mail sent to CAIR, local mosques, or other Muslim organizations, physical and verbal attacks against Muslims, and one case of an actual attack on the car rented by a group of Muslim students. These attacks spiked during Ramadan (from around mid-July to mid-August), and have remained high since. Several factors may contribute to this including the increased visibility of Islam and Muslims during Ramadan, world events such as the attack on the US embassy in Libya, the anniversary of 9/11, and the continued, politicized language about Islam and Muslims in media and political circles.
CAIR-WA will soon launch a comprehensive “Safety Toolkit” for mosques and Muslim organizations across the Northwest, complete with presentations to educate community members on their rights, encourage them to report incidents, and have preparedness and response plans for anti-Muslim hate attacks specific to their location/building. The launch of this campaign is anticipated to begin in November, 2012. In the meantime, CAIR-WA has been providing Know Your Rights presentations to affected communities targeted by these attacks.
Below is a brief overview of the cases we received this month, with several stories highlighted in detail.
Overview of cases – 18 total in September, 2012
- 6 cases of hate mail including a bomb threat made to a mosque in the Puget Sound area
- 4 cases of criminal offenses against people or property including one Muslim man who was chased down the street by another man yelling “Death to you!” and another man who was egged on a street corner in Bellevue, WA while walking home from the masjid at night.
- 3 cases of public accommodation including possibly discriminatory zoning laws being used against a local mosque to prevent expansion
- 3 cases of employment discrimination including an employee of a Washington school district who was transferred to another school after filing a discrimination complaint against several coworkers and supervisors
- 1 case involving USCIS for a US citizen’s application for her husband’s visa
- 1 general complaint regarding an offensive logo on the bottom of a Fila shoe that looked like the name of Allah in Arabic
Select case studies:
1. On September 4, 2012, a group of eight Muslim men, who are all students at local colleges, rented two cars and drove to Lake Chelan, WA to jet ski on the lake. They parked their cars in the parking lot of the jet ski rental shop and left the car unattended while jet skiing, from 5:30 to 8:00 that evening. When they returned, they found one of their cars vandalized with racist slurs and pornographic images. In black ink the words “sand ni***r” and “doon coon” were written on the side of the car. Scratched into the paint were two images – one of male genitalia and one of female breasts.Shocked and offended, the men reported the incident to the local police department…Click here to read the entire case study
2. On September 24, 2012,a Muslim man living in rental housing was informed that on Sept. 27, there would be a canine bed bug inspection of all apartments in his building.Not wanting to contaminate his home with dog saliva, the man immediately called his resident manager and left several messages asking for another method of inspection to be used on his unit because of his family’s religious abstention to contact with dogs. On September 26, the housing manager finally replied and stated that in order to be excused from canine inspections the man would have to complete a form and provide a letter from a religious leader to confirm his religious beliefs. However, even then the manager would be unable to prevent a canine inspection of his home the next day because of the short notice. Feeling desperate, the man contacted CAIR-WA and spoke with a member of its Civil Rights Department…Click here to read the entire case study
3. On Wednesday, September 19, 2012 a
CLICK HERE to read case Log for August 2012(compiled by civil rights intern Thea Marriott)
CLICK HERE to read the case Log for July, 2012 (compiled by civil rights intern Thea Marriott)
CLICK HERE to read the case Log for June, 2012 (compiled by civil rights intern Thea Marriott)
CLICK HERE to read the case Log for May, 2012 (compiled by civil rights coordinator Jennifer Gist)
