Minnesota is in the Nation news again about cashiers in Target stores complaining about checking out pork meets. we also had "the flying Imams" and other cases.
But this Mj scumbag called "Jamal" who supports Abdullahi Yusuf -is dividing the Minnesota Muslims --by trying to separate Arab muslims from Somali muslims -from American Muslims --he is a Fitno within Somalia --If Mjs don't stand up against evil people like this who are against Islam and Somalinimo --Mjs are doomed! --another Ayan hirsi in the making!
Islamic Civil Liberties Org. Revives MN Chapter
Friday, March 16, 2007
St. Paul, MN (AP) - The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a national Islamic civil rights organization, has revived its Minnesota chapter after a series of high profile incidents involving Muslims in the state.
Leaders of the group said Thursday they will open a St. Paul office this weekend, partly in response to reports involving Muslim cab drivers and airline passengers and because of less publicized complaints of racial profiling.
"The community here needs somebody to stand up for them when their rights are being stomped on like that," said local spokeswoman Valerie Shirley, a Muslim convert and University of Minnesota graduate student. "So a group of us got together and decided to revive it."
He said that local chapters generally establish their own agendas and raise their own money. "Everybody is pretty independent, but they are all trying to operate on the same page," Hooper said.
The revival of the chapter dismayed Omar Jamal, executive director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center in St. Paul.
"CAIR pushes issues from the Mideast under the guise that it's an umbrella organization for all Muslims," he said. "But it does nothing for Somali Muslims."
Jamal said many Somali Muslims are new immigrants who lack advanced language skills and education "so they are vulnerable to being influenced by CAIR and MAS (the Muslim American Society), which walk hand in hand," Jamal said.
"You watch, they'll come in here and start fundraising and it'll all go toward pro-Middle East causes," he said. "The individuals involved here may be moderate and want to do good, but overall, the organization wants to push its own points of view."
The friction between the groups may have something to do with the diversity within the Muslim community in Minnesota, both in terms of outlooks and national origin.
"The Muslim community in Minnesota is very diverse," said Zafar Siddiqui of the Islamic Resource Group. "We have people ranging from indigenous Muslims to immigrants from East Africa, South Asia, the Middle East, the Far East and Europe."
"There's a veritable cottage industry of people who 24/7 are looking for things to defame and distort in the American Muslim community and its institutions," Hooper said. "Because CAIR is the most prominent organization, we're the nail that sticks up. And it's a tempting target for the hammer of bigots."
Minnesota has been the scene of a several high-profile incidents involving Muslims, including a group of Muslim taxi drivers at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport who refuse to carry alcohol and dogs.
The Metropolitan Airports Commission is considering how to deal with the situation.
Also, earlier this week six imams who were removed from a US Airways flight in Minneapolis in November sued the airline and the airports commission. They claim they were removed because of their race and religion. The airline denies that.
Source: AP, Mar 16, 2007
