CAIR-Philadelphia

Philly hoops player benched over hijab

“It’s my understanding that Ms. Thompson-King was able to compete in at least 24 games regionally and nationally prior to this game, and never once was she asked to remove her hijab,” said Timothy Welbeck, a civil rights attorney with the Philadelphia branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). “In this particular instance, she was. I don’t know why this enforcement was so sudden and so stark, but we know it happened, it was public, humiliating and discriminatory.”

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CAIR-Philadelphia, Public Officials, Activists to Call on Athletic Association to Drop Hijab Waiver Rule

On Friday, February 23, the Philadelphia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Philadelphia) will join elected officials, community leaders, and civil rights activists at a news conference to support the religious rights of a Muslim student athlete who was recently barred from playing basketball because of her Islamic head scarf, or hijab.

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Important Community Events and Updates

Dr. Ahmet Selim Tekelioglu, Education and Outreach Director at CAIR-Philadelphia and CAIR-PA Advisory Board Members were invited to join the “Equity and Inclusion Committee” at Pennsylvania Department of Education. Tekelioglu and Noor participated in a committee meeting in Harrisburg on February 8th at which Tekelioglu presented CAIR-Philadelphia’s “Anti-Bullying Workshop.” The Committee’s members include representatives from multiple NGOs and agencies that work to ensure a safe and welcoming educational environment in the State’s schools.

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Panel discussion held on immigration in Indian Valley area

Timothy Welbeck, a civil rights attorney for the Philadelphia chapter of CAIR, the Council on American Islamic Relations, spoke about the impact of current policies on American Muslim communities. “I can almost without even watching my television know when the president says something inflammatory because I’ll get a significant wave of calls within a couple days,” he said. The Muslim travel ban, he said, is “codified bigotry.”

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CAIR-Philadelphia Collage

From Jerusalem to Newark, building understanding can lead to peace

Jacob Bender of the Council on American and Islamic Relations, who is Jewish but works for a Muslim organization, was scathing in his criticism of the Israeli occupation of West Bank. He argued that the settlements project had left no land to make the two state solution a reality. He also was critical of Dr. Hoffman for arguing for a no preconditions approach to negotiations while simultaneously insisting that Jerusalem was not on the table. 

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Civil Rights Update by Timothy Welbeck, Esq.

A Less than Perfect Union: Trump’s State of the Union address does not negate the Islamophobia he inspires

Yesterday evening, President Trump addressed the 115th Congress on the State of the Union. Some, including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and others, have described the address as a departure from President Trump’s polarizing, tumultuous, and chaotic first year in office. Notwithstanding, as Greg Sargent writing for The Washington Post noted, “The real core of the speech was his effort to rhetorically recast the key elements of that approach as unifying and conciliatory, without moving past them at all.” Thus, while President Trump’s State of the Union address did not feature the sort of flagrant Islamophobic remarks he has made in the past, his rhetoric, past and present, has emboldened many who share his distorted worldview.

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Civil Rights Update by Timothy Welbeck, Esq.

What Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Means to CAIR

I was born in Memphis, and reared in the Atlanta area. Thus, I was born in the city where Rev. Dr. Martin Luther, King, Jr. was assassinated, and came of age in the city that made Dr. King the man he was. For most of my life, I found myself fascinated by the man who would become an icon for justice. As a child, I often watched his speeches in awe, as a teenager, I dutifully read biographies of him, as a college student, I walked the same halls he once did as I pursued my undergraduate education at Dr. King’s beloved alma mater—Morehouse College. His legacy is part of the reason I became a Civil Rights Attorney. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is one of my foremost influences, particularly as it relates to my desire to pursue the cause of justice.

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