Other immigrants, such as those from Germany, Italy, and Asia, often got the cold shoulder, too, but it was not as severe. The U.S. always has been a little bipolar on immigration — elated at the idea of a Land of Immigrants, but some of us not so keen when the new arrivals don’t look like us.
Muslims are the latest to arrive in numbers, and they carry the additional burden of being associated with terrorism. “Bad luck,” as with Japanese immigrants in California at the outbreak of World War II, observes Jacob Bender, executive director of the Philadelphia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. For Muslims, 9/11 created “a level of suspicion that was heretofore unknown to their community.” Bender happens to be Jewish.
The Philadelphia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Philadelphia) today condemned the murder of 17-year-old Nabra Hassanen in Fairfax, Virginia, and the carnage caused by a motorist running down Muslim worshippers in North London, England.
CAIR-Philadelphia Executive Director Jacob Bender said: "No matter the motivation of the murderers in these two heinous crimes, these attacks come in the midst of an unprecedented anti-Muslim climate in the U.S. and Europe, spurred on by Islamophobic statements by irresponsible voices in the media and the American government."
Once again, the nights and days are filled with an aura of sacredness and spirituality. We welcome both the challenge of the fast and the joy of the nightly iftar (the meal that breaks the daytime fast) with awe and wonder.
Observing Ramadan is a journey of the spirit, and fasting is the map that brings us ever closer to the presence of the Divine in our lives, as well as focusing our consciousness on our relationship and responsibility to our fellow human being.
Last week, President Trump's withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord put the United States at odds with facts, scientific consensus, moral responsibility, and nearly every country in the world implementing the Paris Accord to limit global devastation already being caused by climate change before it's too late.
Today, CAIR-Philadelphia commemorates World Environment Day, with a call to action, reaffirming the Muslim-American commitment to local solutions that protect our earth and help the community, reflecting the Islamic principle of stewardship.
On this Memorial Day, The Philadelphia Chapter of CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations) condemns in the strongest terms recent acts of horrific violence committed in Manchester and Portland.
Jacob Bender, Executive Director of CAIR-Philadelphia, said, “Whether done in the name of a warped and distorted understanding of Islam, as in England, or as a manifestation of the vile ideology of white supremacy, as in Oregon, there can never be any justification for these evil acts of extremist violence. The Qur’an is explicit in its condemnation of murder: ‘Whoever kills a person [unjustly] … it is as though he has killed all mankind.’” (Qur’an, 5:32)
CAIR-Philadelphia has endorsed the Power Local Green Jobs campaign led by our friends at Earth Quaker Action Team and Power Interfaith.
Walking through five countries throughout the Greater Philadelphia area, this direct action encourages PECO, Pennsylvania’s largest utility company, to make a major shift to locally-generated solar power that benefits low income communities and communities of color. This addresses three critical issues locally and for humanity at large: underemployment, crumbling infrastructure, and climate change.
Last week Robert Spencer spoke at Gettysburg College, at the request of the Young Americans for Freedom, an activist group with conservative views. Robert Spencer espouses extreme anti-Islamic views. According to Southern Poverty Law Center, his work was cited numerous times by the Norwegian terrorist that murdered over seventy people, and he has been deemed an extremist by the U.K. and thus barred from entering the country.
