Facebook Faces $1 Billion Lawsuit, Aids Terror

Posted on July 12, 2016July 12, 2016 by Denise Simon

Privacy is one thing, but offering encrypted platforms with no oversight for terror communications is quite another. Since at least 2014, Islamic State, al Qaeda and al Nusra have all used Facebook and other social media platforms where Twitter has been especially uncooperative with security and investigation officials fighting against terrorist exploitation. Is it really a 1st Amendment protection when communications are generated by declared enemy combatants? Then there is the New Black Panthers and Black Lives Matters. The debate continues.

Due mostly to Edward Snowden revealing abilities of the United States to capture intelligence of terror networks, global terrorists have successfully sought other platforms.

Some popular social media platforms are seeing a drop in use by terror groups, yet there are countless others replacing them including apps like Telegram and WhatsApp. Islamic State has a robust program on these apps for their sex trade.

Facebook began rolling out a new end-to-end encryption feature on Friday called “secret conversations” with the goal of making users feel more comfortable chatting about sensitive subjects in the app.

“We’ve heard from you that there are times when you want additional safeguards — perhaps when discussing private information like an illness or a health issue with trusted friends and family, or sending financial information to an accountant,” the company said in a release announcing the new feature.

With the new feature, Facebook Messenger’s 900 million users can choose to encrypt specific conversations so that the messages can only be read on one specific device. Facebook is also giving users the option to determine how long each message can be read for. More from CNN

Families of Victims of Hamas Terror Sue Facebook for $1 Billion

PJMedia: Facebook is being hit with a $1 billion lawsuit after allegedly allowing the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas use its platform to plot attacks in Israel and the West Bank that killed and wounded Americans. According to Bloomberg News: “Plaintiffs include the families of Yaakov Naftali Fraenkel, a 16-year-old abducted and murdered in June 2014 after hitching a ride in the West Bank, and 3-year-old Chaya Braun, whose stroller was struck intentionally by a Palestinian driver in October 2014 at a train station in Jerusalem.”

“Facebook has knowingly provided material support and resources to Hamas in the form of Facebook’s online social network platform and communication services,” making it liable for the violence against the five Americans, according to the lawsuit sent to Bloomberg by the office of the Israeli lawyer on the case, Nitsana Darshan-Leitner.“Simply put, Hamas uses Facebook as a tool for engaging in terrorism,” it said.

Hamas is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S., European Union and Israel. The suit said the group used Facebook to share operational and tactical information with members and followers, posting notices of upcoming demonstrations, road closures, Israeli military actions and instructions to operatives to carry out the attacks.

Mushir al-Masri, a senior Hamas leader, said by phone that “suing Facebook clearly shows the American policy of fighting freedom of the press and expression” and is evidence of U.S. prejudice against the group and “its just cause.”

It’s not at all clear that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg — an influential Obama ally — would disagree with al-Masri. It’s not clear that the president would either.

While Hamas has been designated a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. Department of State since 1997 President Obama and his national security team seem to have a far more favorable view of them. Rather than reject the Hamas and the Palestinian Authority unity government that was formed in 2014, the Obama administration continued to fund it to the tune of $500 million a year.

This alarmed American lawmakers so much, 88 senators from across party lines sent a message of “grave concern” to the White House, warning that the new PA unity effort might jeopardize direct negotiations with Israel. “Any assistance should only be provided when we have confidence that this new government is in full compliance with the restrictions contained in current law,” the letter read. More here.

Merkel of Germany Admits Terrorists Among Refugees

Posted on July 12, 2016July 12, 2016 by Denise Simon

Can she be impeached? Do they do that in Germany? Is Merkel concerned about the security of her citizens and country at all? She and Barack Obama have the same attitude…a free for all for migrants…

‘Terrorists’ smuggled into Europe with refugees, Merkel says

Reuters: Militant groups smuggled some of their members into Europe in the wave of migrants who have fled from Syria, German Chancellor Angela said on Monday.

“In part, the refugee flow was even used to smuggle terrorists,” Merkel told a rally of her Christian Democrats in eastern Germany.

More than 1 million migrants arrived in Germany last year, many of them Syrians.

***** Sure wish the study below polled the thoughts of Americans, but then the political elitist class in Washington DC would spin the results anyway….right? We are all citizens of the world now….

Europeans Fear Wave of Refugees Will Mean More Terrorism, Fewer Jobs

Sharp ideological divides across EU on views about minorities, diversity and national identity

PewResearch: The recent surge of refugees into Europe has featured prominently in the anti-immigrant rhetoric of right-wing parties across the Continent and in the heated debate over the UK’s decision to exit the European Union. At the same time, attacks in Paris and Brussels have fueled public fears about terrorism. As a new Pew Research Center survey illustrates, the refugee crisis and the threat of terrorism are very much related to one another in the minds of many Europeans. In eight of the 10 European nations surveyed, half or more believe incoming refugees increase the likelihood of terrorism in their country.

But terrorism is not the only concern people have about refugees. Many are also worried that they will be an economic burden. Half or more in five nations say refugees will take away jobs and social benefits. Hungarians, Poles, Greeks, Italians and French identify this as their greatest concern. Sweden and Germany are the only countries where at least half say refugees make their nation stronger because of their work and talents. Fears linking refugees and crime are much less pervasive, although nearly half in Italy and Sweden say refugees are more to blame for crime than other groups.

Most of the recent refugees to Europe are arriving from majority-Muslim nations, such as Syria and Iraq. Among Europeans, perceptions of refugees are influenced in part by negative attitudes toward Muslims already living in Europe. In Hungary, Italy, Poland and Greece, more than six-in-ten say they have an unfavorable opinion of the Muslims in their country – an opinion shared by at least one-in-four in each nation polled.

For some Europeans, negative attitudes toward Muslims are tied to a belief that Muslims do not wish to participate in the broader society. In every country polled, the dominant view is that Muslims want to be distinct from the rest of society rather than adopt the nation’s customs and way of life. Six-in-ten or more hold this view in Greece, Hungary, Spain, Italy and Germany. Notably, the percentage saying that Muslims want to remain distinct has actually declined since 2005 in four out of five countries where trend data are available. The biggest drop has been in Germany, where the share of the public expressing this view has declined from 88% to 61%.

While most Europeans think the recent surge of refugees could lead to more terrorism, there is less alarm that Muslims already living on the Continent might sympathize with extremists. The percentage of the public saying that most or many Muslims in their country support groups like ISIS is less than half in every nation polled. Still, 46% of Italians, 37% of Hungarians, 35% of Poles and 30% of Greeks think Muslims in their countries are favorably inclined toward such extremist groups. On these and other questions included on the poll, Greece, Hungary, Italy and Poland often stand out for expressing greater concern and more negative views about refugees and minority groups.

Across the EU nations surveyed, the refugee crisis has brought into sharp relief deep ideological divides over views of minorities and diversity. On nearly all of the questions analyzed in this report, people on the ideological right express more concerns about refugees, more negative attitudes toward minorities and less enthusiasm for a diverse society.

For example, negative opinions about Muslims are much more common among respondents who place themselves on the right of the ideological spectrum. In Greece, 81% of those on the right express an unfavorable view of Muslims, compared with 50% of those on the left. Significant right-left gaps in attitudes toward Muslims are also found in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, Spain, France and the United Kingdom.

Similarly, supporters of far-right political parties hold much more negative attitudes toward refugees and Muslims and are much more skeptical about the benefits of a diverse society. For instance, fears that the surge of refugees will lead to more terrorism and harm the economy are considerably more widespread among supporters of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) in the UK and the National Front in France.

Ideology is not the only dividing line in European attitudes, however. On many questions, education and age also matter, with older people and less-educated individuals expressing more negative opinions about refugees and minorities.

These are among the key findings from a new survey by Pew Research Center, conducted in 10 European Union nations and the United States among 11,494 respondents from April 4 to May 12, 2016, before the Brexit referendum in the UK and terrorist attacks at the Istanbul Atatürk Airport, both of which took place in late June. The survey includes countries that account for 80% of the EU-28 population and 82% of the EU’s gross domestic product.

Along with worries about refugees and minorities, the survey finds mixed views regarding the overall value of cultural diversity. When asked whether having an increasing number of people of many different races, ethnic groups and nationalities in their country makes their society a better place to live, a worse place or does not make much difference either way, over half of Greeks and Italians and about four-in-ten Hungarians and Poles say growing diversity makes things worse.

Relatively few Europeans believe diversity has a positive impact on their countries. At 36%, Sweden registers the highest percentage that believes an increasingly diverse society makes their country a better place to live. In many countries, the prevailing view is that diversity makes no difference in the quality of life.

Negative attitudes toward minorities common in many nations

Muslims are not the only minority group viewed unfavorably by substantial percentages of Europeans. In fact, overall, attitudes toward Roma are more negative than attitudes toward Muslims. Across the 10 nations polled, a median of 48% express an unfavorable opinion of Roma in their country. Fully 82% hold this view in Italy, while six-in-ten or more say the same in Greece, Hungary and France. Negative views of Roma have gone up since 2015 in Spain (+14 percentage points), the UK (+8) and Germany (+6). Greeks have also become increasingly unfavorable (+14 points) since 2014, the last time Greece was included in the survey.

Negative ratings for Muslims have also increased over the past 12 months in the UK (+9 percentage points), Spain (+8) and Italy (+8), and are up 12 points in Greece since 2014. In France – where coordinated terrorist attacks by ISIS at the Bataclan concert hall and elsewhere in Paris in November left 130 people dead – unfavorable opinions are up slightly since last year (+5 points).

Negative attitudes toward Jews are much less common. A median of only 16% have an unfavorable opinion of Jews in their country. Still, a majority of Greeks give Jews in their country a negative rating, and one-in-five or more express this view in Hungary, Poland, Italy and Spain. Unfavorable attitudes toward Jews have been relatively stable since 2015.

Language, customs and tradition seen as central to national identity

Opinions vary about the key components of national identity, but European publics clearly agree that language is fundamental. Across the 10 EU countries surveyed, a median of 97% think that being able to speak the national language is important for truly being able to identify with their nationality. A median of 77% say this is very important. Majorities believe it is very important in every nation polled.

There is also a strong cultural component to national identity. A median of 86% believe sharing national customs and traditions is important, with 48% saying this is very important. Fully 68% in Hungary say sharing national customs and traditions is very important for being truly Hungarian, and 66% express similar sentiments in Greece. In contrast, fewer than four-in-ten consider sharing these traditions and customs very important in the Netherlands (37%), Germany (29%) and Sweden (26%).

There is less agreement about the need to be born in a given country. Still, a median of 58% say it is important for someone to be born in a country to be truly considered a national of that country; a third think this is very important. Religion is generally seen as less central to national identity. However, it is an essential factor to many in Greece, where 54% say it is very important to be Christian to be truly Greek.

To further explore this topic, we constructed an index based on the four questions we asked regarding national identity (importance of speaking the national language, sharing customs, being native born and being Christian). The results highlight the extent to which exclusionary views vary across the EU. By far, restrictive views are most common in Hungary, Greece, Poland and Italy; they are least common in Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands.

More to the study here.

BlackLivesMatter Toolkit for Muslims

Posted on July 9, 2016July 9, 2016 by Denise Simon

This should answer many questions and it was crafted in 2014.

Advisors to MuslimARC

BlackLivesMatter Toolkit for Muslims

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

ACTIONS MUSLIMS SHOULD TAKE IN RESPONSE TO POLICE BRUTALITY

Toolkit on policing and police brutality calling for American Muslims leaders to join us in taking a stand, becoming more visible, and playing a more active part in addressing structural racism, and, in particular, police brutality.

Team

Author:

Margari Hill

Programming Director, Muslim Anti-Racism Collaborative

Editor:

Namira Islam

Executive Director, Muslim Anti-Racism Collaborative

Contributors

MuslimARC Programming Volunteers

www.muslimarc.org/blacklivesmatter

[email protected]

Last updated Sunday 11/1/15 9:13 am PST

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TOOLKIT

OBJECTIVES

SUGGESTED ACTIONS

LETTER TO AMERICAN MUSLIMS

TIPS FOR ORGANIZING A DIALOGUE ON BLACKLIVESMATTER IN THE MUSLIM COMMUNITY

DEFINITIONS

FACTS AND INFORMATION

STATISTICS

List of Deaths Protested by Black Lives Matter

VISUAL AIDS AND IMAGES

PROTESTER DEMANDS

Ferguson Action Demands

This Stops Today Demands

Black Lives Matter Demands

BALTIMORE DEMANDS

March 2 Justice Demands

The Young, Gifted and Black Coalition (YGB) and Freedom, Inc Demands

Campaign Zero Platform

Justice Or Else

RESOURCES

Organizations and Coalitions

Actions, Convenings, and Marches

Reports/Statements/Articles

Books

Guides, Factsheets, and Toolkits

Films

Music

Videos, Art, and Multimedia

TOOLKIT

“Ferguson is everywhere.”

Racial Prejudice + Institutional Power = Racism

OBJECTIVES

Encourage members of Muslim communities to address police brutality, lack of police accountability, structural racism in law enforcement, militarization of police force, the school to prison pipeline, and economic inequities using strategies of faith-in-action leading to actions of solidarity
Offer individuals and institutions methods for sustained action to address state sanctioned violence against Black bodies, over-policing, and over-incarceration of Black Americans
Develop a national strategy for addressing institutional racism that is embedded in legal codes and structures in our society

State sanctioned violence against Black bodies, over-policing, and over-incarceration of Black Americans are emblematic of the institutional racism that is embedded in legal codes and structures in our society. The clear racial disparities and devastating effects of the prison-industrial complex on Black/African American Muslim communities demand a response from our leaders and organizers. Systemic racism not only deprives individuals of opportunities, but undermines our dignity as a people. The Black American Muslim community is not immune, as some youth are lost to the street or all but abandon their faith.

Understanding the context of the Black Lives Matter is important. In response to the acquittal of George Zimmerman of the murder of Trayvon Martin in July 2013, queer Black women activists Patrisse Fullors, Opal Tometi, and Alicia Garza created the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter as a call to action. When Darren Wilson killed Michael Brown (#HandsUpDontShoot) in the summer of 2014, the hashtag went viral. The movement expanded exponentially when Daniel Pantaleo was not indicted for killing Eric Garner (#ICantBreath) with a choke hold (See a visualization here). Law enforcement killing of Black continues to draw national attention and the list continues. Protests have spread across the country and a recent UN report

Our goal is to draw upon our Islamic traditions and historical legacy of Black upliftment and empowerment. We intend to not only raise consciousness, but to affect change in our communities. At the turn of the 21st century, we must think about the legacy we are leaving for our youth, as well as the opportunities that we need to create in order to demonstrate that Islam is relevant in their spiritual, social, and emotional lives.

Below are a list of suggested actions that individuals, organizations, and communities can take to address racism in the justice system. The hyperlinks provide examples or serve as references. We encourage you to read them to expand your knowledge and help open more possibilities. We welcome feedback and invite you to submit more suggestions and models for anti-racism actions by emailing [email protected].

[Back to Table of Contents]

SUGGESTED ACTIONS

What You Can do as an Individual

Pray. Either deepen your prayer for the situation, or get started now. Pray for an end to racism, police brutality, and racial injustice. If you are an imam, be sure to include communities affected by police brutality and structural racism in your du’a in the Jumu’ah prayer. Anas ibn Malik reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Beware of the supplication of the oppressed, even if he is an unbeliever, for there is no screen between it and Allah” (Musnad Ahmad 12140).

Learn. Identify anti-racism classes and workshops. Set aside time to read about institutional, interpersonal, and internalized racism to become well informed about structural racism, police misconduct, police surveillance, the school-to-prison pipeline, prison-industrial complex, and Communications Management Units.
Study. Read books, watch documentaries, or take classes on Black history, the history of Black American Muslims, Black/African American culture, and/or contemporary issues.
Listen. There are people who are feeling emotional pain and trauma from the recent events. “Racism is a Chronic and/or an Acute Stressor that Causes Trauma” (Carter, 2007). Thus, listen and ask questions in order to empathize with another’s pain and trauma. Do not control the conversation or ask folks to be “less emotional” and “more logical or objective” because this can be hurtful,offensive, and dismissive (Grollman, N.D.).
Engage. You can make environments less toxic, educate the uninformed, support a victim of racism, and help win broader support by engaging with the issues. Engagement can consist of calling out racist discussions or correcting misconceptions in discussions with friends, family, and associates. Bystander anti-racism, a largely untapped policy resource, occurs when regular people address interpersonal or systemic racism (Grollman, N.D.)
Amplify. Help amplify marginalized individuals. Provide meaningful opportunities for Black, Latino, and Native American brothers and sisters to share their experiences in how institutional racism has affected their lives. Help ensure that they a platform to tell their story. Learn to use whatever privileges you may have, whether it is educational, gender, race, or class privilege, and work to be a good ally (Hill, 2014).
Avoid. Avoid actions that discourage forward movement on this cause. This includes appropriating a high profile cause simply for the appearance of giving da’awah or increasing your public profile. Check your nafs and focus on sustained action and change. Do not make the issue about your personal cause or attempt false comparisons between groups (Khan, 2014). Avoid derailing conversations about race and racial injustice, i.e. “What about Black-on-Black crime?”(Walton, 2014 ). These conversations are not relevant and undermine our efforts to tackle racism in the justice system.
Act. There are many things you can do to make your voice heard, become more visible, and manifest your will. This includes non-violent protest, supporting protesters, marching, endorsing organizations, etc. Three major categories are as follows: nonviolent protest and persuasion, noncooperation (social, economic, and political), and non violent intervention (198 methods of Nonviolent Action).

Organize Events to Address Police Brutality and Systemic Racism

Watch. Organize a film screening of a film or documentary that sheds light on the prison industrial complex and police brutality. Some examples include Prison Blues by Mustafa Davis; Fruitvale Station; selections from Do the Right Thing (1989); selections from Malcolm X (1992). Have a panel and Q&A session to discuss the issues raised in the film (Alvis, 2014).
Discuss. Organize forums, discussion groups, Peace Making Circles, or safe spaces to meet and start conversations about racism. Gather resources needed to support honest engagement about police brutality with a goal of unmasking, dismantling and eradicating racism through anti-racism development.
Speak. Encourage your leaders to teach, preach, and speak out against racism, now and on a regular basis. Organize policy-level conversations that can impact institutions and laws that affect the daily lives and opportunities of the most marginalized groups (Race Forward).

What Your Organization Can Do

Prepare. Develop an anti-bias organizational assessment to analyze the policies and practices of your organization (ChangeWork).
Establish. Ensure that your organization or community creates an environment of intolerance for racist conduct. Develop a clear policy statement about your organization’s zero-tolerance stance on racism. Develop clear policies and disciplinary actions towards racist speech and actions. (Dewey, 2013)
Develop. Develop a vision and system of accountability for anti-bias policies and practices to ensure that you are achieving your goals. Create and utilize a system to back up your community’s policies towards racism. The system should allow for reporting and documenting instances of racism and provide clear details regarding the corrective action system (Chuasiriporn, N.D.)
Form. Form partnerships with anti-racism organizations, as well as community members, families, leaders, and grassroots organizations that tackle structural racism and empower marginalized communities (NPARC).

What You Can do for Sustained Action

Link. Join efforts with organizations that have track records in anti-racism work, civil rights, or empowering urban communities. Connect with the National Urban League, NAACP, and/or the ACLU, as well as grassroots, smaller, advocacy and community organizing agencies found throughout urban America (Khalifah)
Organize. Become civically engaged to address police brutality, gun violence, education, health care, and employment access; join an organization working to end inequity in the U.S. Meet with organizations and groups or join an association that is committed to addressing inequity (Rabinowitz).
Address. Address these issues on a city, state, and federal level.
Develop. Develop a sustained civil rights agenda that confronts the most salient forms of oppression against Blacks, Latinos, and Native Americans, including the over-incarceration of Blacks and Latinos in the prison-industrial complex, economic exploitation of Blacks and Latinos, and policies that further disparities in education, health, and housing (Khalifa).

This is not an exhaustive list, but we hope they prepare us for meaningful action. We urge all Muslims to engage in today’s civil rights movement, and be on the right side of history.

If you have questions, comments, ideas or suggestions, please contact one of us. As part of our commitment to fighting racism within the Muslim community and standing for justice, we must take action. Please join us by raising your voice and standing up to say “this ends today.” ^[1]

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LETTER TO AMERICAN MUSLIMS

Muslim Engagement in #BlackLivesMatter

To: Muslim Communities and Leaders

Our Noble Prophet ﷺ said,

”Help the oppressed and guide those who have lost their way..”

(Book 41, Number 4799: Sunan Abu-Dawud)

A verified study reports that in 2012, a Black American was shot or killed by law enforcement, vigilantes, or security guards on average every 28 hours. This statistic includes women and children. It includes the killings of Black American Muslim men Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah and Amadou Diallo. Today, this reign of terror against Blacks continues, only to be met with unjust and defective response by our judicial systems. As a result, the tumultuous times we live in invoke strong emotions. As Muslims, we know that the Qur’an is clear in respect to the sanctity of life: “Whoever kills a soul except for a soul or grave corruption in the earth, it is just as him killing all of humankind” ( 5:32). This sanctity applies to every life and every people. Islamic adab (etiquette) is rooted in empathy, and as Blacks continue to be targeted unjustly, our responses should be empathetic. Muslim leadership should be visible in guiding our communities, and our youth in particular, in standing up for justice.

We call on Muslim community leaders to unite and take a stand for police accountability and racial justice. This is an important juncture in our history for freedom struggles. Protests are rippling across the country in response to the failure of grand juries to indict Darren Wilson in Ferguson for killing Michael Brown, Daniel Pantaleo in New York for killing Eric Garner, or Sean Williams in Ohio for killing John Crawford III. These extrajudicial killings are not isolated events. They reflect a systemic racism in which social, economic, educational, and political forces and policies foster discriminatory outcomes against Black people. Given that race is inextricably tied in with these events, we must unequivocally affirm the egalitarian nature of Islam in which the Qur’an and Sunnah clearly condemn racism not just in the form of individual actions, but as a structure that marginalizes people.

As Muslims, we should draw upon our strong tradition of standing for a just society as Allah instructs us to in the Qur’an:

“O you who have believed, be persistently standing firm in justice, witnesses for Allah, even if it be against yourselves or parents and relatives. Whether one is rich or poor, Allah is more worthy of both. So follow not [personal] inclination, lest you not be just. And if you distort [your testimony] or refuse [to give it], then indeed Allah is ever, with what you do, Acquainted“ (4:135)

Standing for justice in this country entails confronting the embedded racial inequalities of our society. As American Muslims, we must not fall into apathy, but instead put our faith into action and take a stand against oppression, whether by seeking to remove it with our hands, speaking against it, or hating it in our hearts.

As part of our work in calling upon our Islamic traditions to foster thriving communities, we ask that American Muslim leaders and organizations be part of the solution. The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ is introduced in the Qur’an, “And We have not sent you forth but as a mercy to mankind” (21:107). As a community, we must help create the conditions to restore the dignity and human potential to our people.

Allah tells us in the Qur’an, “Indeed, Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves” (13:11). This includes commitments for moral reform and social change. Given this moral imperative, American Muslims must take the lead in addressing the broader forces in society that disempower Black communities in general, and our communities in particular. We are calling on our brothers and sisters to stand, speak, and act.

You can endorse the #CallforJustice letter to show your support for #BlackLivesMatter. A list of suggested actions, as well as infographics, statistics, and lists of resources, for individuals, organizations, and communities to utilize in their work to address racial injustices is located at www.muslimarc.org/blacklivesmatter in the MuslimARC Toolkit.

The Undersigned:

Margari HIll, Programming Director MuslimARC

Namira Islam, Executive Director, MuslimARC

Su’ad Abdul Khabeer

[Back to Table of Contents]

TIPS FOR ORGANIZING A DIALOGUE ON BLACKLIVESMATTER IN THE MUSLIM COMMUNITY

This guide aims to provide some general tips for organizing a dialogue/discussion group on Black Lives Matter in Muslim communities. Why a dialogue? At MuslimARC, we believe in the power of storytelling and dialogue in learning. J.K. Vella (1997) writes, “The simplest definition for the word “dialogue” is a two-way communicative process, a conversation or social discourse between two or more individuals. The basic assumption is that learning occurs when two people exchange thoughts, ideas, and words through dialogue (p.3). By sharing stories, experiences, and viewpoints, participants can engage with the issues and each other in a meaningful way. Our hope is that participants utilize the knowledge they gain through dialogue to work towards bringing about racial equity in Muslim communities and our society.

We encourage Muslims to organize dialogues on college campuses, mosques, community centers, third spaces, and/or in homes. We also hope that these conversations continue over coffee, meals, and in our personal exchanges. While there are many secular and faith based organizations who have organized forums around Black Lives Matter, there is little documentation of community forums aimed at equipping Muslim community members with the tools to effectively engage with the issues of police brutality, the over policing of black communities, and the militarization of American policing. Our joint “Call for Justice letter with Muslims 4 Ferguson indicate increased support within our communities for #BlackLivesMatter. Now, is the time to turn that support into sustained action and organizing to support justice and racial equity. Please let us know if you have planned or plan to organize an event. We would love to amplify your efforts and share your event as a model for others. We welcome educators, community leaders, and general community members to share their lesson plans and discussion questions with us at info@muslimARC org.

SOME TALKING POINTS

Standing Up for Justice in Law Enforcement

Allah instructs us in the Qur’an: “O you who have believed, be persistently standing firm in justice, witnesses for Allah, even if it be against yourselves or parents and relatives. Whether one is rich or poor, Allah is more worthy of both. So follow not [personal] inclination, lest you not be just. And if you distort [your testimony] or refuse [to give it], then indeed Allah is ever, with what you do, Acquainted“ (4:135)
The Qur’an is clear in respect to the sanctity of life: “Whoever kills a soul except for a soul or grave corruption in the earth, it is just as him killing all of humankind” ( 5:32).
On the authority of Abu Saeed al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him), Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said: “Whoever of you sees a wrong must then change it with his hand. If he is not able to do so, then [he must change it] with his tongue. And if he is not able to do so, then [he must change it] with his heart. And that is the slightest [effect of] faith.” (Recorded in Muslim)

Addressing Systemic Racism

Over policing and police brutality reflect a systemic racism in which social, economic, educational, and political forces and policies foster discriminatory outcomes against Black people (see statistics in #BlackLivesMatter toolkit).
Given that race is inextricably tied in with these events, we must unequivocally affirm the egalitarian nature of Islam in which the Qur’an and Sunnah clearly condemn racism not just in the form of individual actions, but as a structure that marginalizes people.
We must stand, speak, and act to support racial justice.

Commonalities and Shared Futures

Just as many Muslims decry the use of drones and armed warfare against civilians abroad, we must take a stand against state violence against civilian populations here at home.
We must avoid drawing the false binary that makes police brutality a Black issue and surveillance a Muslim issue because a significant 25-30% of Muslim Americans are both Black and Muslim. As such, Allah reminds us in the Qur’an: “The believing men and believing women are allies of one another. They enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and establish prayer and give zakah and obey Allah and His Messenger. Those – Allah will have mercy upon them. Indeed, Allah is Exalted in Might and Wise” [Qur’an 9:71]. There are Black/African American Muslims who are affected by these issues and have been working to address them. We must support them, as well as interfaith and secular coalitions.
We must stand with the oppressed and marginalized as our liberation is intrinsically linked.

Today’s Issues Have Continuity with Civil Rights Struggle

We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality.” Martin Luther King 1963 (From the I have a dream speech).
“The police commissioner feeds the type of statistics to the white public to make them think that Harlem is a complete criminal area where everyone is prone towards violence. This gives the police the impression that they can then go and brutalize the Negroes, or suppress the Negroes, or even frighten the Negroes.” Malcolm X interview with Mike Wallace June 8, 1964

TIPS FOR A SUCCESSFUL DIALOGUE

Sometimes community dialogues can be so intense and emotionally triggering that they can generate a sense of hopelessness in members of oppressed communities or they can foster naval gazing amongst the more privileged. One way to overcome this is to look for solutions. One way to frame the dialogue is to have activities that allow participants to create action items or asks from the community/legislators/law enforcement
Encourage participants to stretch outside their comfort zone and build relationships and coalitions with others from different ethnic/religious/socio-economic backgrounds
In diverse groups, encourage participants to look for commonalities and shared histories. For example ask participants from immigrant backgrounds to reflect on the oppression their communities have historically experienced abroad and in the U.S., such as colonialism, authoritarian regimes, police states, surveillance, disrimination, and neo-colonialism.
Begin with a short introductory lecture that lays out ground rules and provides baseline information. See #BlackLivesMatter Toolkit for Muslims for resources. If you have trouble developing introductory material, email [email protected].
There are many ways to encourage participation For example have a large group break into smaller groups for small group discussion, have each participant write out their thoughts and then read them to their group, You can increase participation by asking all participants to first write out their thoughts and then read them.
Be clear about the goals for the dialogue, then develop discussion prompts and activities to foster those goals. Is it to create a safe space for healing? Is it to mobilize the community? Is it to develop a task force? Is it to develop an action plan.

SAMPLE OBJECTIVES

1. Participants will be able to summarize the issues that have led to uprisings and nation-wide protests against police brutality and list common demands by grassroots organizers

2. Participants will be able to reflect on their own privilege/oppression and how it shapes their approach to police brutality and communities affected by police brutality and racial profiling

3. Participants will be able to outline the Islamic ethos of anti-racism work and discuss ways strive towards racial equity and solidarity with oppressed communities most affected by over policing and police brutality.

SAMPLE GROUND RULES

“One Mic” (no interruptions);
Use “I” instead of “We” statements (speaking from experiences rather than generalizing);
Be conscious of how much space people are taking up;
Challenge ideas and not people;
Understanding the difference between feeling uncomfortable and feeling unsafe; this is difficult topic and for some it may be triggering. Allow people who feel overwhelmed to leave the room for a breather.
Ask participants to make a list of agreed upon ground rules the entire group feels comfortable with.

SAMPLE DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

What are your personal connections to this issue and any elements, facts or other things which you think are really important to consider?
What are some initiatives/programs that members of the Muslim community can support?
How can we be better advocates/allies/supporters for the oppressed in this society?
The Ferguson Action Team have names this the #BlackSpring. Can you draw some comparisons with global revolutions?
Are there any comparisons to the policing of Black and brown communities and surveillance of Muslim communities? Where are the overlaps?

SOURCES

Community Dialogue Guide http://www.justice.gov/archive/crs/pubs/dialogueguide.pdf

J.K. Vella Learning to list, learning to teach: The power of dialogue in educating adults. San Francisco: Jossey-bass, 1997, p.3).

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DEFINITIONS

Discrimination: the practice of unfairly treating a person or group of people differently from other people or groups of people.

Ethnicity: A group of people with common traits, background, and associations. Refers to cultural background (i.e., language, food, and style of clothing).

Institutional racism: Institutional policies and practices that creates advantages for privileged race(s) and disadvantages for others, resulting in different outcomes for different racial groups.

Race: A group of people related in a common descent or ancestry often linked to phenotype (i.e. skin color, hair texture, facial features)

Racism: The systematic unequal distribution of rights, privileges, resources, and protections along racial lines and the assignment of worth, ability, and value according to race.

Shadeism: Discrimination against individuals based on skin tone, often considered synonymous with colorism (q.v.). Shadeism can occur within communities of color and often takes the form of preference for lighter skin tones.

Systemic Racism: Discrimination built into the way organizations and governments operate. This often involves informal activities and cultures.

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FACTS AND INFORMATION

STATISTICS

“A Bureau of Justice Statistics report in 2008 found that black people were almost three times more likely than white people to be subjected to force or threatened with it by police.” (Marc Robinson, 2014)

“The 1,217 deadly police shootings from 2010 to 2012 captured in the federal data show that blacks, age 15 to 19, were killed at a rate of 31.17 per million, while just 1.47 per million white males in that age” (Gabrielson, Jones, Sagara, 2014)

“…Young black men are 21 times as likely as their white peers to be killed by police…” (Gabrielson, Jones, Sagara, 2014)

“Prison sentences of black men were nearly 20% longer than those of white men for similar crimes in recent years, an analysis by the U.S. Sentencing Commission found”(JOE PALAZZOLO, 2013).

“For Black males in their thirties, 1 in every 10 is in prison or jail on any given day” (Sentencing Project, N.D.).

“Although there are no reliable statistics, estimates suggest that 35,000-40,000 inmates convert to Islam each year, and nationwide, it is estimated that 15 percent of the U.S. prison population is Muslim, or as much as 350,000 current Muslim inmates” (SpearIt, 2013).

“The national rate of unemployment for whites is 4.7% percent, for blacks it is 10.1%” (Bill Quigly, 2015).

List of Deaths Protested by Black Lives Matter

(In Alphabetical Order- This list is largely from BlackLivesMatter Wikipedia Entry)

May 16, 2010

Aiyana Jones (7)

Detroit, Michigan

Shot by policeman Joseph Weekley during a house raid. Weekley was ultimately cleared of all charges after multiple mistrials.

November 20, 2014

Akai Gurley (28)

Brooklyn, New York

Shot by policeman Peter Liang, who drew his gun and accidentally discharged it. A round ricocheted and hit Gurley, who was elsewhere on the same stairwell as Liang. Liang was indicted by a grand jury on manslaughter, assault, and other criminal charges.[79]

December 23, 2014

Antonio Martin (18)

Berkeley, Missouri

Shot by an unidentified white police officer after Martin pulled a gun on him while the officer was responding to a shoplifting report at a convenience store.

December 15, 2014

Brandon Tate-Brown

Philadelphia, PA

Two officers stopped Brandon Tate-Brown for driving without headlights. Officers claim they saw a gun in the car’s middle console. A struggle ensued where Tate-Brown was shot in the head. Police originally said that Tate-Brown was reaching into the car for the loaded weapon then conceded, with video evidence to support that he was running around the back of the car when the officer fired.

April 30, 2014

Dontre Hamilton (31)

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Shot by policeman Christopher Manney, when a fight broke out when Manney attempted to frisk Hamilton. Although he did not face criminal charges, Manney was fired from the police.

June 17, 2015

Emanuel Nine (multiple)

Charleston, South Carolina

A mass shooting, allegedly by Dylann Roof, at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church resulted in nine dead and one injured.

July 17, 2014

Eric Garner (43)

New York City, New York

Died from a chokehold by policeman Daniel Pantaleo as well as the police’s compression of Garner’s chest. Garner was being arrested on the suspicion of selling untaxed cigarettes.

August 11, 2014

Ezell Ford (25)

Florence, Los Angeles

Shot by policemen Sharlton Wampler and Antonio Villegas, who confronted Ford as part of an “investigative stop”.

April 12, 2015

Freddie Gray (25)

Baltimore, Maryland

Fell into a coma while being transported by police after they arrested him. Gray died a week later of injuries to his spinal cord. Charges have been filed against six policemen after a medical examiner’s report that ruled Gray’s death a homicide.

Resulted in the 2015 Baltimore protests.

September, 23, 2015

Jeremy McDole, 28

Wilmington, Delaware,

Mcdole was a 28 year old paraplegic who was shot and killed by police officers. Local bystanders have insisted that he was unarmed, and the NAACP has called for an more an investigation into the shooting.

August 5, 2014

John Crawford III (22)

Dayton, Ohio

Shot by policeman Sean Williams when police answered a 911 call alleging a man waving a gun in a Walmart store. Crawford was holding a pellet/BB gun being sold in the store itself. A grand jury declined to indict any policemen, but the United States Department of Justice is investigating.

November 23, 2012

Jordan Davis (17)

Jacksonville, Florida

Shot by software developer Michael David Dunn over an argument over loud music. Dunn was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

November 19, 2011

Kenneth Chamberlain, Sr. (68)

White Plains, New York

Shot by policeman Anthony Carelli in Chamberlain’s home. No criminal charges filed. Emergency services were drawn to Chamberlain’s home after his medical alert device activated. Chamberlain refused to let them in, with police breaking down the door to enter.

August 19, 2015

Mansur Ball-Bey (19)

St. Louis, Missouri

Mansur Ball-Bey was shot and killed while fleeing officers who were executing a warrant.

March 28, 2015

Meagan Hockaday (26)

Oxnard, California

Shot by policeman Roger Garcia after Hockaday ran at Garcia and his partner with a knife while they were responding to a domestic dispute report. Garcia has been placed on administrative leave and the case is currently being investigated.

August 9, 2014

Michael Brown (18)

Ferguson, Missouri

Shot by policeman Darren Wilson on a street. After Brown robbed a convenience store, he was confronted by Officer Wilson. The two struggled through the window of Wilson’s police vehicle, where Wilson shot Brown, who fled with Wilson pursuing. When Brown turned around and advanced on Wilson, Wilson shot Brown multiple times in the front. Both a St. Louis County grand jury and the United States Department of Justice decided not to charge Wilson.

Resulted in several waves of the Ferguson unrest, as well as the “Hands up, don’t shoot” saying.

November 29, 2012

Multiple:

Timothy Russell (43)

Malissa Williams (30)

Cleveland, Ohio

Both were shot during a car chase, each being hit more than 20 times. 13 policemen fired 137 shots into the car; the car chase stemmed from police thinking they were being shot at by the car’s occupants, but no gun was found in the car and the sound was later determined to be due to the back-fire of the Chevrolet Malibu. Policeman Michael Brelo was charged with voluntary manslaughter, but was cleared in 2014. The judge found that because other policemen had also fired, it was not beyond reasonable doubt Brelo was responsible for killing the duo.

March 2012

Rekia Boyd (22)

Chicago, Illinois

Shot by policeman Dante Servin after Servin confronted a group of people in a local park. A directed verdict found Servin not guilty of involuntary manslaughter.

November 2, 2013

Renisha McBride (19)

Dearborn Heights, Michigan

Shot by airport maintenance worker Theodore Wafer, after McBride had approached Wafer’s home on a rainy early morning after a car accident, seeking help. Wafer was sentenced to at least 17 years in jail for second-degree murder, manslaughter and felony firearm usage.

July 19, 2015

Samuel DuBose (43)

Cincinnati, Ohio

Shot by University of Cincinnati police officer Ray Tensing during a traffic stop when DuBose failed to step out of his vehicle and may have attempted to drive off.Tensing has been charged with murder.

July 13, 2015

Sandra Bland (28)

Waller County, Texas

Pulled over by police, arrested, and found dead in her jail cell. Her death was ruled a suicide by the county medical examiner, with no evidence of foul play.

November 22, 2014

Tamir Rice (12)

Cleveland, Ohio

Shot in a city park by policeman Timothy Loehmann. Rice had been allegedly pointing his air-soft pellet gun replica at passersby prior to getting shot. A grand jury will decide whether either Loehmann or his partner Garmback will be indicted.

March 6, 2015

Tony Robinson (19)

Madison, Wisconsin

Shot by policeman Matt Kenny during an altercation as Kenny was responding to reports of a man jumping in front of cars and attempting to strangle someone. The Wisconsin Department of Justice will investigate the Robinson shooting.

February 26, 2012

Trayvon Martin (17)

Sanford, Florida

Trayvon Martin was shot outdoors by neighborhood watch coordinator George Zimmerman, who was later charged and acquitted of second-degree murder and manslaughter.

Resulted in the speech “Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago” by President Barack Obama.

Directly inspired the beginning of the Black Lives Matter movement.

April 4, 2015

Walter Scott (50)

North Charleston, South Carolina

Shot by police officer Michael Slager during a traffic stop. Slager was charged with murder after a video surfaced showing him shooting Scott multiple times from behind while Scott was fleeing.

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VISUAL AIDS AND IMAGES

Taqwa Rutgers Protest.jpg

[Taqwa Brookins leading Rutgers Protest]

[Yasmin Qaddoumi, shortly before her arrest during Ferguson protests 11/25/14 Image source AFP]

[Image Source: Dawud Walid]

[Kameelah Mu’min Rashad King of Prussia Die In 12/20/14]

[Image source: Manila Today]

[Image source: Mother Jones]

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[Image Source: The Sentencing Project]

[Image Source: Allied Media]

[Image Source: Tavis Smiley]

[Image source: Ferguson Action]

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[image source: National Journal]

[Rutgers Die In, Image source: Ed Murray | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com]

[Image source: Islamic Monthly]

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[Image source: Pics with a Story]

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[image source: March 2 Justice]

[Image source www.jsalbert.photography]

[Image source Muslims make it Plain]

[Image Source: ACLU]

Mansur Ball-Bey

Image source: www.thegatewaypundit.com

Image source: CAIR-Philly]

150811-oath-keepers-ferguson-jpo-503a_5d2d4f5f83b686d149ccbef923f9db74.nbcnews-ux-2880-1000.jpg

[Image source: NBC News]

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CIOGC large.jpg

Image source: CIOGC

Up with Jesus.png

IMam Sultan and Sybrina Fulton.png

Sybrina Fulton, Travyton Martin’s mother with Imam Sultan Muhammad, national Imam of the Nation of Islam

Black Unity .png

Justice Veras.png

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PROTESTER DEMANDS

Ferguson Action Demands

(http://fergusonaction.com/demands/)

OUR VISION FOR A NEW AMERICA

WE WANT JUSTICE FOR MICHAEL BROWN.

WE WANT FREEDOM FOR OUR COMMUNITIES.

We Want an End to all Forms of Discrimination and the Full Recognition of our Human Rights

The United States Government must acknowledge and address the structural violence and institutional discrimination that continues to imprison our communities either in a life of poverty and/or one behind bars. We want the United States Government to recognize the full spectrum of our human rights and its obligations under international law.

We Want An Immediate End To Police Brutality And the Murder Of Black, Brown & All Oppressed People

Every 28 hours a black person in the United States is killed by someone employed or protected by the government of the United States. Other communities are also criminalized, targeted, attacked and brutalized. We want an immediate end to state sanctioned violence against our communities.

We Want Full Employment For Our People

Every individual has the human right to employment and a living wage. Inability to access employment and fair pay continues to marginalize our communities, ready us for imprisonment, and deny us of our right to a life with dignity.

We Want Decent Housing Fit For The Shelter Of Human Beings

Our communities have a human right to access quality housing that protects our families and allows for our children to be free from harm.

We Want an End to the School to Prison Pipeline & Quality Education for All

We want an end to policies that criminalize our young people as well as discriminatory discipline practices that bar access to quality education. Furthermore, we want all children to be able to access free, quality education. Including free or affordable public university.

We Want Freedom from Mass Incarceration and an End to the Prison Industrial Complex

We want an end to the over policing and surveillance of our communities. This will hasten an end to the criminalization of black and brown people and hyper incarceration everywhere. Policing in the United States has historically helped to enforce racist laws, policies and norms. The result is a massive prison industrial complex built on the warehousing of black people. We call for the cessation of mass incarceration and the eradication of the prison industrial complex all together. In its place we will address harm and conflict in our communities through community based, restorative solutions.

National Demands

The De-militarization of Local Law Enforcement across the country

Strict limits on the transfer and use of military equipment to local law enforcement and the adoption of the Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act of 2014. The federal government should discontinue the supply of military weaponry and equipment to local law enforcement and immediately demilitarize local law enforcement, including eliminating the use of military technology and equipment.

A Comprehensive Review of systemic abuses by local police departments, including the publication of data relating to racially biased policing, and the development of best practices.

A comprehensive review by the Department of Justice into systematic abuses by police departments and the development of specific use of force standards and accompanying recommendations for police training, community involvement and oversight strategies and standards for independent investigatory/disciplinary mechanisms when excessive force is used. These standards must include a Department of Justice review trigger when continued excessive use of force occurs.

A comprehensive federal review of police departments’ data collection practices and the development of a new comprehensive data collection system that allows for annual reporting of data on the rates of stops, frisks, searches, summonses and arrests by race, age, and gender.

These standards must also include a DOJ review trigger when departments continue discriminatory policing practices.

Repurposing of law enforcement funds to support community based alternatives to incarceration and the conditioning of DOJ funding on the ending of discriminatory policing and the adoption of DOJ best practices

The repurposing of Department of Justice funds to create grants that support and implement community oversight mechanisms and community based alternatives to law enforcement and incarceration—including community boards/commissions, restorative justice practices, amnesty programs to clear open warrants, and know-your-rights-education conducted by community members.

The development of a DOJ policy to withhold funds from local police departments who engage in discriminatory policing practices and condition federal grant funds on the adoption of recommended DOJ trainings, community involvement and oversight strategies, use of force standards and standards for independent investigatory/disciplinary mechanisms.

A Congressional Hearing investigating the criminalization of communities of color, racial profiling, police abuses and torture by law enforcement

Congressional hearings investigating the criminalization of communities of color and systemic law enforcement discriminatory profiling and other abuses especially at the local level—including an examination of systemic structures and institutional practices and the elevation of the experiences and voices of those most impacted. Congressional hearings will allow for a continuation of the national discussion about police abuse and it’s underlying causes.

Support the Passage of the End Racial Profiling Act

Support for the passage of the End Racial Profiling Act (ERPA) which in law would prohibit the use of profiling on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin or religion by law enforcement agencies.

The Obama Administration develops, legislates and enacts a National Plan of Action for Racial Justice

The development and enactment of a National Plan of Action for Racial Justice by the Obama Administration. The National Plan of Action for Racial Justice should be a comprehensive plan that address persistent and ongoing forms of racial discrimination and disparities that exist in nearly every sphere of life including: criminal justice, employment, housing, education, health, land/property, voting, poverty and immigration. The Plan would set concrete targets for achieving racial equality and reducing racial disparities and create new tools for holding government accountable to meeting targets.

This Stops Today Demands

(http://www.thisstopstoday.org/demands/)

ACCOUNTABILITY FOR NYPD USE OF EXCESSIVE & DEADLY FORCE, AS WELL AS ABUSE

1) Full accountability through NYPD disciplinary procedures and the criminal justice system for all NYPD officers responsible for killing Eric Garner, Akai Gurley and all officers who brutalize New Yorkers.

2) Department of Justice should convene grand juries to federally indict officers responsible for the killing of Eric Garner, as well as in other NYC cases such as Ramarley Graham. (We are in solidarity with calls for federal charges in the killings of Michael Brown, John Crawford and others).

3) Governor Cuomo should issue an executive order directing the Office of the Attorney General to serve as special prosecutor in cases involving civilians killed by police officers.

4) Governor Cuomo should veto legislation (S7801/A9853) that would allow police unions to make police disciplinary policies subject to contract negotiations. The legislation would undermine the ability of local government officials across New York State to discipline officers engaged in misconduct and brutality.

5) End the NYPD Commissioner’s exclusive authority over disciplinary decisions for officers in cases of abuse, misconduct towards civilians, and excessive or deadly force.

END DISCRIMINATORY AND ABUSIVE NYPD POLICIES & PRACTICES

6) Mayor de Blasio should end broken windows, and other discriminatory and abusive policing practices. This includes hyper-aggressive selective enforcement of low-level offenses, NYPD’s discriminatory arrests for violations (non-criminal offenses), enforcement of possession of small amounts of marijuana; blanket surveillance of Muslim communities and political activists.

7) Mayor de Blasio should work with the City Council to pass the Right to Know Act to protect New Yorkers’ rights and improve daily interactions between NYPD officers and New Yorkers.

8) The Floyd federal stop-and-frisk trial court-appointed monitor Peter Zimroth, the facilitator Judge Ariel Belen, and Mayor Bill de Blasio should ensure that organizations led by and for communities impacted by discriminatory and abusive policing have a formal and structured role in NYPD reform. The Court-appointed Monitor, Facilitator and Mayor’s office should work with Communities United for Police Reform (CPR) to ensure that community organizations help determine what reforms are to be implemented, how they should be implemented, and how they are evaluated.

TRANSPARENCY OF NYPD DISCRIMINATORY ENFORCEMENT AND USE OF EXCESSIVE & DEADLY FORCE

9) The Department of Justice should launch an investigation into broken windows policing and the use-of-force policies and practices of the NYPD.

10) NYPD Inspector General Philip Eure should issue a report on the use of deadly force and other excessive force, to include accounting of the disciplinary outcomes in these incidents over the past two decades.

11) The NYPD should publish quarterly and annual reports of summons and misdemeanor arrests, as well as use of force, to include demographic data such as race, gender, age, precinct, etc. (We are also in solidarity with national calls for a federal database on use of force and police killings).

Black Lives Matter Demands

We will seek justice for Brown’s family by petitioning for the immediate arrest of officer Darren Wilson and the dismissal of county prosecutor Robert McCullough. Groups that are part of the local Hands Up Don’t Shoot Coalition have already called for Wilson’s swift arrest, and some BLM riders also canvassed McCullough’s neighborhood as a way of raising the public’s awareness of the case.

We will help develop a network of organizations and advocates to form a national policy specifically aimed at redressing the systemic pattern of anti-black law enforcement violence in the US. The Justice Department’s new investigation into St Louis-area police departments is a good start, but it’s not enough. Our ride was endorsed by a few dozen local, regional and national organizations across the country – like the National Organization for Women (Now) and Race Forward: The Center for Racial Justice Innovation – who, while maintaining different missions, have demonstrated unprecedented solidarity in response to anti-black police violence. We hope to encourage more organizations to endorse and participate in a network with a renewed purpose of conceptualizing policy recommendations.

We will also demand, through the network, that the federal government discontinue its supply of military weaponry and equipment to local law enforcement. And though Congress seems to finally be considering measures in this regard, it remains essential to monitor the demilitarization processes and the corporate sectors that financially benefit from the sale of military tools to police.

We will call on the office of US attorney general Eric Holder to release the names of all officers involved in killing black people within the last five years, both while on patrol and in custody, so they can be brought to justice – if they haven’t already.

And we will advocate for a decrease in law-enforcement spending at the local, state and federal levels and a reinvestment of that budgeted money into the black communities most devastated by poverty in order to create jobs, housing and schools. This money should be redirected to those federal departments charged with providing employment, housing and educational services.

BALTIMORE DEMANDS

Message from the Baltimore Grassroots:

WE DEMAND JUSTICE FOR FREDDIE GRAY AND POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY

SUMMARY:

The Maryland Law Enforcement Officer’s Bill of Rights (LEBOR) is the biggest obstacle to meaningful police accountability and transparency in Baltimore and around the state of Maryland. It creates barriers to gaining access to information about incidents of police misconduct/excessive force and impedes the public ability to punish officers who have abused and brutalized people in our community.

Many elected officials have made the statement that Maryland/Baltimore is not Ferguson. According to a recent report by the ALCU, 109 people have died in police custody since 2010. This is a damning refutation of a such an ignorant assertion. This has been happening for decades, but the community has had enough.

Public Safety is a public good. Public goods must be preserved through mechanisms of accountability to the institutions that are responsible for serving the community. The LEOBR keeps police from being accountable.

DEMANDS:

1) The State’s Attorney needs to do a thorough investigation and indict the officers responsible for the death of Freddie Gray.

2) All local officials must make a public commitments to substantively support efforts to move relevant reforms to the Law Enforcement Officer’s Bill of Rights during the 2016 MD Legislative session. (see attached for specified amendments). 3) A series of public mediated conversations with those who have been advocating police reform and the Fraternal Order of Police and other relevant parties.

WHY BALTIMORE IS DIFFERENT

Baltimore is saturated with non-profit institutions and controlled by the Democratic Party. These institutions engage in the practice of lifting up examples of the success of individual Black people as a sign of the collective empowerment of Black people.

This has led to a divestment in the development of independent Black led grassroots organizations. This has devastated our ability to effectively address these kinds of problems. Many of our elected officials are products of this system and have no real accountability to the masses of people in Baltimore.

We must use this opportunity to talk about building the institutional capacity, political and economic power to make our government respect our humanity. American civil society has demonstrated its lack of interest the humanity of our people, so we must build the institutions the protect our interest ourselves.

Even though we have come together to address the issue of police brutality, this is one element of a larger system of racism/white supremacy. Civil society is structured in such a way that undermines the humanity of Black people and other people of color. We need to begin to ground our words and action into sustainable mechanism for true empowerment.

We need to build the economic and political infrastructure in our communities so that we can have the capacity to build the power necessary to prevent tragedies like this from ever happening again.

THE PARTS OF THE LEOBR THAT WE WANT CHANGED

Investigations into police misconduct

CURRENT LAW: Only sworn law enforcement or a designee by the Governor or the Attorney General (or a designee of theirs) can investigate police misconduct.

DEMAND: We want people other than law enforcement to be able to be involved in investigating police misconduct. We need to allow for non-law enforcement agencies to conduct investigations as well.

• This is consistent with the recent recommendations from the US Federal Department of Justice to the Philadelphia Police Department in wake of events of police brutality in their department. 1

Police trial boards

CURRENT LAW: The only people that serve on the Police Trial Boards (which is responsible for making determinations about disciplining officers) are other Law Enforcement officials. Also, the current police trial board in Baltimore has NO citizen representative.

DEMAND: We want non-law enforcement residents to serve on police trial boards.

• This is consistent with the recent recommendations from the US Federal Department of Justice to the Philadelphia Police Department in wake of events of police brutality in their department. 2

Complaint filing with the police department

CURRENT LAW: Victims of police brutality only have 90 days to file a complaint.

DEMAND: We want to extend the amount of time that people can file a complaint to at least 180 days.

Abolish the 10 Day Rule

CURRENT LAW: Police Officers are entitled to a copy of their investigatory file 10 days before they appear before the hearing board.

DEMAND: Police officers should not receive information about the case made against them before the hearing.

1 47.3 – The police commissioner should enter into a memorandum of understanding with an external, independent investigative agency, through which the investigation of all OISs involving an unarmed person will be submitted for review.

2 40.3 – Voting board members should include command staff, a sworn officer one rank higher than the involved officer, a peer officer, and at least one citizen representative.

source: http://baltimoreuprising.org

March 2 Justice Demands

One of the most important aspects of the #MARCH2JUSTICE will be the opportunity to raise our collective voices and mobilize support in communities and Congress towards passage of what we are calling the “JUSTICE PACKAGE”.

The “Justice Package” is 3 pieces of federal legislation:

Juvenile Justice And Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA)
The End Racial Profiling Act
Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act

Below please find more information about each of these legislative imperatives we support.

JUVENILE JUSTICE AND DELINQUENCY PREVENTION ACT (JJDPA): (Protecting Children and Providing for Our Communities.) The JJDPA creates a federal-state partnership for the administration of juvenile justice and delinquency prevention by providing: a juvenile justice planning and advisory system, and a federal funding plan for delinquency prevention and improvements in state and local juvenile justice programs. The JJDPA also sets forth federal standards to ensure a minimum level of safety and equitable treatment for youth who come into contact with the juvenile justice system. For messaging, videos and other educational materials: MORE HERE

END RACIAL PROFILING ACT: (The End Racial Profiling Act (ERPA)) (H.R. 2851), would prohibit the use of profiling on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin or religion by law enforcement agencies. MORE HERE

MILITARIZATION BILL: (Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act) (H.R. 5478) – Amends the program under which the Secretary of Defense is authorized to transfer excess personal property of the Department of Defense (DOD) to federal and state agencies for law enforcement activities. Excludes counter-drug activities from the categories of law enforcement activities for which DOD property may be transferred under such program. The legislation lays out a number of changes to current law, and details can be found HERE

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The Young, Gifted and Black Coalition (YGB) and Freedom, Inc Demands

The Young, Gifted and Black Coalition (YGB) and Freedom, Inc. denounce the non-indictment decision and renew the call to grow the Black Liberation Movement with the following demands and actions:

1). Free the 350

Blacks make up just 6% of the general population in Dane County, WI, but almost 50% of jail inmates. This disparity demonstrates structural racism. Because of the Black poverty rate, many people sit in pre-trial detention- while they are still presumed innocent- merely because they cannot pay bail of $1,000 or less. Because anyone with bail as low as $1,000 does not represent a public safety threat, those human beings are in jail because they are Black and poor. If Matt Kenny, who killed a 19 year old, did not go to jail, then no one should. Therefore, we demand the release of 350 Black inmates to end the racial disparity of incarceration.

2). Independent Investigation

We demand a dual track independent investigation into the murder of Tony Robinson and the persistent racial disparities in poverty, education, housing, public services, incarceration and policing. Because the US Department of Justice has proven incapable of bringing justice to Black communities, we demand the independent investigations are conducted entirely by the human rights bodies in the United Nations and Organization of American States.

3). Community Control Over Police

In Black communities across the country, the police serve as an occupying force. We can never expect fair or just treatment from an occupying force. Therefore, we demand full Community Control Over Police, with the power to set priorities, policies and enforce the proper practice of those mandates. We do not want a review board or community policing, but Community Control Over Police.

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Campaign Zero Platform

We can live in a world where the police don’t kill people by limiting police interventions, improving community interactions, and ensuring accountability. The categories for policy solutions are as follows:

Click here to access the PDF with the full federal policy agenda

Click here to access the PDF with the full state policy agenda

Click here to access the PDF with the full local policy agenda

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Justice Or Else

by Hakeem Muhammad

A gathering demanding #JusticeOrElse took place outside the White House on October, 10th, 2015—the 20th anniversary of the Million Man March. The ultimate demand #JusticeOrelse came as a response to the ubiquitous cases of anti-black police violence, the disproportionate concentration of poverty in black communities, and a collective white power structure that devalues the life of black people.

In attendance was Sybrina Fulton, the mother of Travyon Martin, the family of Sandra Bland, Louis Head, the step-father of Michael Brown, as well as a plethora of organizations demanding justice. This included the Nation of Islam, Black Lives Matter, and Justice League. Tamika Mallory, an organizer of the event , called for the end of police tyranny against black people,”Twenty years ago, the death of Tamir Rice would have fallen on deaf ears and been left for the police to write a false report, not broadcast for the world to know.” However, in the 20th anniversary of the Million Man March, a world of black people came together stating they had enough, they exposed police misconduct, made their demands, and boldly declared #Orelse.

The #ORELSE

As result of systemic political terrorism in black communities and other social problems which emanate from a system of global white supremacy, NOI spokesman Nuri Muhammad spoke of an appalling sociological reality, “the black male is dying at the rate of an endangered species.” These are conditions that exists in black communities that necessities the #ORELSE,– as the social situation in black communities are so unbearable that they demand immediate change. These below are all courses of action that #JusticeorElse advocates plan to take if their demands are not met.

1) Economic Withdrawal:

Protestors at #JusticeorElse called for an economic withdrawal in form of a boycott of major corporations. This tactic of economic withdrawal was inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King, who said that we must go to “massive industries in our country, and say, ‘God sent us by here, to say to you that you’re not treating his children right.” Acting upon this, the organizer of Justice or Else has called for black people and those in solidarity with #BlackLivesMatter to boycott the consumerist culture of Black Friday and the Christmas holiday. Flyers, were shown stating, “Down with Santa, Up with Jesus.”

The organizer of #JusticeorElse hope to “redistribute the pain” in order to force big businesses and corporations to cease being complicit in the oppression of black people. This call for economic withdrawal was compounded with a call for an increase in black entrepreneurship and businesses, so that money will remain circulating in the black community.

(Information on which specific corporations to target for the economic withdrawal, will be forthcoming).

2) The Creation of a group of 10,000 men and women.

A common theme rearticulated by activists at #JusticeOrElse, is that Police have failed miserably in their attempts to “serve and protect” in the black community. As a consequence, the black community is replete with instances of political brutality, as well as gang-warfare as a result of institutional racism and societal neglect. Nuri Muhammad, proposed a solution to this in calling for a group of 10,000 fearless men and women who will,” “stand as a solid wall against oppression and tyranny” by confronting and combating the multiple deleterious behaviors that a system of white supremacy leads to in black communities: a pervasive drug economy, gang warfare, and police brutality.

3) Community Control of Education

Organizers of Justice or Else indicated the educational system of America has being soaked in system of white supremacy which is incapable of solving for the social ills of the black community; they called for black educators to take control of the educational systems in their communities and for black think tanks to come up with curriculums that will address social ills and problems of their communities and be supportive of black liberation.

4) Black involvement in Local Politics

Organizers at Justice or Else called for the black community to become more involved in the politics of their local community in order to force politicians to be more accountable to their communities in ruling with justice. They called for greater involvement in the school board meetings, city council meetings, or taking up a local issue for social justice. The end goal of this is greater cohesion and unity in the black community

5)Put the U.S government on Trial & Release the FBI Files on Malcolm

Prior to his assassination, Malcom X sought to put the U.S government on trial before the United Nations for its systemic crimes against black people. Continuing this tradition, a group of protestors at #JusticeOrElse held an image up of Malcolm X and called for the United States to be put on trial for its systemic human rights abuses against black people and to release all of the FBI files on Malcolm X.

Unity among Oppressed people against White Supremacy.

The #JusticeOrElse gathering represented unification between oppressed populations; Latino, Native-American, Palestinian activists were present in order to make demands to the government, and to oppressed populations.

Native American: Revoke the Sainthood of Francisan Friar Junipero

Native Americans, currently live with their lands colonized by the descendants of white European settlers and suffer from the lowest life expectancies and poverty rates in America. One unnamed Native American activist declared, “They have the entire race of indigenous[LA1] people on reservations, concentration camps.” The Native-American activists called for the freedom of Leonard Peltier and for the Catholic Church to both revoke the doctrine of Papal Bull and to revoke the sainthood of Francisan Friar Junipero Serra. The Native-American activists called for unity about oppressed people:”Let’s come together; the red and the black” against settler-colonialism emanating from a global system of white supremacy.

Palestine- Black Solidarity: Recognize White Supremacy as the Global Political System

Participants in #JusticeorElse demanded that white supremacy be recognized as a global political system that must be vigilantly opposed. Palestinian activist, Linda Sarsour, expressed solidarity with the black liberation struggle, stating,” the same people who justified the massacres of Palestinian people and call it collateral damage are the same people who justify the murder of black young men and women.” Sansour, called for the end of euphemisms to describe this system and for oppressed populations to unite against, “[the] common enemy, sisters and brothers, is white supremacy, let’s call it what it is.” Recognizing, white supremacy as a community enemy, was put forth as a perquisite for oppressed populations to realize to interconnectedness of their liberation struggles.

[Back to Table of Contents]

RESOURCES

Organizations and Coalitions

1. Black Lives Matter

#BlackLivesMatter was created in 2012 after Trayvon Martin’s murderer, George Zimmerman, was acquitted for his crime, and dead 17-year old Trayvon was post-humously placed on trial for his own murder. Rooted in the experiences of Black people in this country who actively resist our de-humanization, #BlackLivesMatter is a call to action and a response to the virulent anti-Black racism that permeates our society.Black Lives Matter is a unique contribution that goes beyond extrajudicial killings of Black people by police and vigilantes.

2. #ThisStopsToday

#ThisStopsToday is a collaboration of Communities United for Police Reform (CPR), Million Hoodies and Freedom Side. CPR organizations that are leading this effort include: Justice Committee, Make the Road New York, VOCAL-NY, ColorofChange, Jews for Racial & Economic Justice, New York Civil Liberties Union and Center for Popular Democracy.

3. We the Protestors

We, the protesters of Ferguson and beyond, in order to fulfill the democratic promise of our union, establish true and lasting justice, accord dignity and standing to everyone, center the humanity of oppressed people, promote the brightest future for our children, and secure the blessings of freedom for all black lives, do ordain and dedicate ourselves to this movement of radical liberation.

4. BmoreUnited

Baltimore United for Change (BUC) is a coalition of organizations and activists with a long track record of working for social justice in Baltimore. Though newly formalized, coalition members have worked strategically for years to gain concrete wins for justice in our community.

5. Justice League NYC

a task force of juvenile and criminal justice advocates, artists and experts, and formerly incarcerated individuals, brought together under the banner of The Gathering for Justice, a social justice organization founded by Harry Belafonte in 2005. JUSTICE LEAGUE NYC is coordinating efforts in and around NYC in response to the non-indictment of Officer Daniel Pantaleo in the death of Eric Garner. We are focusing our efforts and communities in two areas –direct and peaceful action and the immediate implementation of a list of demands for redress and accountability.

6. Millenial Activists United Legal Defense Fund

Millennial Activists United is a grassroots org founded in Ferguson, MO after the uprisings in response to the murder of Michael Brown. This fundraiser will provide funds for legal assistance to activists who are targeted by the state for prosecution

7. Muslims for Ferguson

Facebook page for American Muslims who are committed to seeking justice for Michael Brown and supporting relevant important campaigns in Ferguson.

8. The Organization for Black Struggle

founded in 1980 by activists, students, union organizers and other community members in order to fill a vacuum left by the assaults on the Black Power Movement.

9. The Dream Defenders

Dream Defenders is an uprising of communities in struggle, shifting culture through transformational organizing. We believe that our liberation necessitates the destruction of the political and economic systems of Capitalism and Imperialism as well as Patriarchy. We believe in People over profits. We believe that nonviolent resistance is “the only morally and practically sound method open to oppressed people in their struggle for freedom” and are fundamentally committed to nonviolence as our means of struggle against a violent oppressor.

• We want an immediate end to the police state and murder of Black people, other people of color, and other oppressed peoples in the United States, the immediate release of the 2.5 million prisoners of the United States’ War on the Poor, and trials by juries of our peers.

• We want an immediate end to all wars of aggression (domestic & abroad).

• We want a democracy that is fair and protects the right to vote for all.

• We want free, fully-funded public education for all that teaches us our true history and our role in present day society.

• We want community control of land, bread, housing, education, justice, peace and technology.

We want more. We deserve more. We will organize, train, act and win.

10. Prison Culture

Prison Culture is an attempt to document how the current prison industrial complex operates and to underscore the ways that it structures American society.

11. Justice Together

OUR MISSION IS SIMPLE: Ending police brutality in America.

12. LA Voice

We are an interfaith community organization hat unites people from diverse backgrounds to improve the quality of life of Los Angeles residents. It is our mission to transform Los Angeles into a city that reflect the human dignity of all communities, especially those in greatest need.

13. Muslims Make It Plain

Make it Plain is a group of concerned Muslims who are working to raise awareness to encourage, inspire, and support the mobilization of the Muslim community to respond to police brutality and the conditions that bring about the over policing of the Black/African American community. We are kicking off this movement in Philadelphia.

Actions, Convenings, and Marches

1. Ferguson National Response

Listing of planned Response Events for #Ferguson and all policebrutality & racial injustice nationwide.

2. The Movement for Black Lives Matter

Hundreds of Black freedom fighters from around the country came together for the inaugural Movement for Black Lives Convening in Cleveland, OH, from Friday July 24 to Sunday July 26th, 2015.

3. March 2 Justice

On Monday, April 13th, 2015, Justice League NYC and friends from across the country, will gather in New York City to MARCH to the nation’s capital – stopping in key cities and towns along the route for local rallies and mobilization. The MARCH2JUSTICE will culminate in a large Rally & Concert on The National Mall in Washington, DC on Tuesday, April 21st.

Justice League NYC will MARCH2JUSTICE with our coalition partners to deliver a “Justice Package” of criminal justice reform legislation that will end racial profiling, demilitarize our police forces, and invest in our communities. We MARCH in solidarity with our elders, our youth, our incarcerated brothers and sisters, and the families and communities of those impacted by police brutality. We MARCH on behalf of Eric Garner. And Akai Gurley. And Jesse Hernandez. And Rekia Boyd. And Tamir Rice. And Michael Brown. And Renisha McBride. And London Colvin. And John Crawford III. And Miriam Carey. And Anthony Baez. And Ramarley Graham.

4. Justice Or Else

Million Man March 20th Anniversary. Their Motto Is: WANT JUSTICE EQUAL JUSTICE UNDER THE LAW “If we are denied what rightfully belongs to us then there has to be unified action that we take that will force the justice that we seek.”

5. Justice Or Else Philly

Grassroots leaders throughout Philadelphia are mobilizing together to convene in Washington D.C. for the 20th Anniversary of The Million Man March.

6. Campaign Zero

A comprehensive package of urgent policy solutions – informed by data, research and human rights principles – can change the way police serve our communities developed by Samuel Sinyangwe, Brittany Packnett, Johnetta Elzie, and DeRay McKesson

7. Mass March and Protest Demonstration for Civilian Control of the Chicago Police

In alliance with community based organizations and victims of police crimes and torture the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression calls upon all our sisters and brothers and all strands of the people’s movement to join us in a mass protest and march on the Federal Building and City Hall this August 29, 2015. Join us in commemorating the 50th anniversaries of the March on Selma, the Voting Rights Act and the Watts Rebellion. And on this day we will stand in solidarity with Fergusons everywhere. The march will kick off at 12 Noon from the Federal Plaza, at Dearborn and Adams, in the Loop.

Reports/Statements/Articles

Reports

Criminal Justice and Mass Incarceration Center for Constitutional Rights
War Comes Home: The Excessive Militarization of American Policing by ACLU (June 2014)
Facts and Fictions About Islam in Prison
Investigation into the Ferguson Police Department by the Department of Justice (March 4, 2015)
Police Misconduct
Nazgol Ghandnoosh, (2015) Black Lives Matter: Eliminating Racial Inequality in the Criminal Justice System. The Sentencing project

Statements and Open Letters

CAIR Joins Call for Justice in Shooting of Trayvon Martin (December 22, 2012)
Open Letter to CAIR by Muhammad Khalifa (August 15, 2014)
Ferguson Action Demands
ISNA Condemns Excessive Force Used by Ferguson Police on Protestors and Reporters (August 14, 2014)
ICNA Calls for Investigation of Brown’s Killing (August 19, 2014)
Muslim for Ferguson Letter by Margari Hill (November 20, 2014)
CAIR CAlls for National Action on Racism After Ferguson grand Jury Decision (November 25, 2014)
CAIR Press Release on the Decision to Not Indict NYPD Chokehold Death of Eric Garner (December 3, 2014)
Muslims Make It Plain-Philly Statement (December 24, 2014)
Muslim Wellness Foundation Statement (December 25, 2014)
MuslimARC Responds to Statements by American Muslim Organizations by MuslimARC (April 30, 2015)
Statement of Catholic Theologians on Racial Justice (December 8, 2014)
Open Letter to Non-Black Muslims by Nashwa Khan (November 30, 2014)
Islamic Movement for Justice Condemns Police Brutality (May 2)
Controversy Over ISNA statement on Baltimore Uprising by Sheila Musaji (May 3, 2015)
U.S. Muslims Stand in Solidarity with Baltimore ( April 20, 2015)) M.G. Staff
Baltimore is a Muslim Issue (April 29, 2015) CAIR-Philadelphia
Muslims Make it Plain Statement on the Murder of Freddie Gray and Events in Baltimore (May 2, 2015)
Muslim Advocates Urges Release of Video And Law Enforcement Transparency in Killing of Usaama Rahim by Fatima Khan June 2, 2015

Books

Alexander, Michelle. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
Davis, Angela. Are Prisons Obsolete?
Gilmore, Ruthie. Golden Gulag: Prisons, Surplus, Crisis, and Opposition in Globalizing California
Blackmon, Douglas. Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II
Bernard E. Harcourt. Against Prediction: Profiling, Policing, and Punishing in an Actuarial Age
Stephen K. Rice and Michael D. White Roberts. Race, Ethnicity, and Policing: New and Essential Readings
Victor M. Rios, Punished: Policing the Lives of Black and Latino Boys
Robert F. Wintersmith. Police and the Black community
Roger G. Dunham, Geoffrey P. Alpert. Critical Issues in Policing: Contemporary Readings, Seventh Edition
Kenneth Bolton, Joe Feagin. Black in Blue: African-American Police Officers and Racism

Guides, Factsheets, and Toolkits

Films

Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee 1989)
Malcolm X (Spike Lee 1992)
American Violet (Tim Disney 2008)
I Am Sean Bell (Stacey Muhammad, 2010)
The Black Power Mixtape (Goran Hugo Olsson 2011)
Prison Blues (Mustafa Davis 2013)
Fruitvale Station (Ryan Coogler 2013)
For Colored Boys – Season 1 Redemption (Stacey Muhammad, 2013)
Slavery By Another Name (Sam Pollard 2014)
Selma (Ava Duvernay, 2014)
Straight Outta Compton (2015)

Music

Lauryn Hill. “Black Rage” https://soundcloud.com/mslaurynhill/black-rage-sketch
The Game “Don’t Shoot”
Yasiin Bey and Dead Prez “Made You Die”
Yasiin Bey “Umi Says”
Jazmine Sullivan “Baltimore” https://vimeo.com/126653166
Prince’s “Baltimore”
Prince- Baltimore
John Legend and Common “Glory” https://youtu.be/HUZOKvYcx_o
J. Cole “Be Free” https://youtu.be/_0LNMviSTTg
Suli Breaks “Be free cover” https://youtu.be/dVjmB7f4yZs
Jasiri X “Strange Fruit”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4mvb7LefAg
Hell You Talmbout http://www.theverge.com/2015/8/14/9153817/janelle-monae-hell-you-talmbout-song

Videos, Art, and Multimedia

10 Artists of the Black Lives Matter Movement
Solidarity demonstration in Nazareth: Ferguson to Palestine
From Ferguson to Baghdad Lighthouse Mosque and UMC (December 16, 2014)
Muslim Girl: Ferguson Now
Malcolm X, Black Lives Matter, & the Middle East w/ May Alhassen (March 17, 2015)
#LegacyX Black History Month Program
Donna Auston at Muslims Muslims make it Plain Protest (December 27, 2014)
Brandon Tate Brown’s Mother speaks Muslims Make it Plain Protest (December 27, 2014)
Lectures and Sermons by Muslim Leaders – Live Document Updated Occasionally
Anti-Racism Media
ColorLines Systemic Racism: Incarceration with Jay Smooth
Justice or Else! – Million Man March 20th Anniversary – English,
“The 6 Steps after ‪#‎JusticeOrElse” with Minister Nuri Muhammad on Ebro in the Morning on Hot 97 FM…

You can cite to this Toolkit using Hill, M. (2015). “#BlackLivesMatter: MuslimARC toolkit” retrieved from www.muslimarc.org/blacklivesmatter.

[Back to Table of Contents]

Questions? Comments? Additions? Broken Links?

CONTACT

[email protected]

Last updated Sunday 11/1/15 9:13 am PST

[1] Eric Garner’s words of resistance.

Amb. Samantha Power on Refugees, She’s NUTS

Posted on June 29, 2016June 29, 2016 by Denise Simon

There is SO much wrong in what she wrote here. If there was ANY foreign policy with regard to fighting wars and hostilities to swift victory, none of this would come to be. The U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power is delivering history, guilt and culpability of failure. Furthermore, she is demanding more money and wait for it…..Obama has his moment scheduled at the UN….this is not going to end well and will be yet another hit to our sovereignty.

This is an outrage, what say you?

What is especially interesting is as noted by Ambassador Power, these people want to go home.

Remarks on “The Global Refugee Crisis: Overcoming Fears and Spurring Action,” at the U.S. Institute of Peace

Ambassador Samantha Power

U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations

U.S. Mission to the United Nations

Washington, DC

June 29, 2016

****

AS DELIVERED

Thank you, Nancy, for that generous introduction, and more importantly, for your leadership on this and other critical issues, both when you were inside the government and now in this incredibly important role you’re in at the U.S. Institute of Peace.

Let me begin with a fact with which you are all familiar: We are in the midst of the greatest refugee crisis since the Second World War. Just like the people at the heart of it, this crisis crosses borders, oceans, and continents. And because it is global in scale, anything less than a global response will fall short of addressing it. Yet rather than spur a united front, a united effort, the challenge of mass displacement has divided the international community – and even individual nations – leaving the lion’s share of the response to a small number of countries, stretching our humanitarian system to its breaking point, and putting millions of people in dire situations at even greater risk.

Today I will make the case for why we must do better. I will first describe the gap between the unprecedented scale of the crisis and the growing shortfalls in the international response. I will then take on some of the most common concerns one hears when it comes to admitting refugees, showing that, while there are, of course, genuine risks, these are often distorted; the actual threats can be mitigated. Our current approach of leaving a small number of nations to bear most of the costs, by contrast, carries hidden dangers, risking the lives of countless refugees, while also weakening our partners and strengthening violent extremists and organized crime. A global response is urgently needed, and the United States must help lead it.

At the end of 2015, more than 65 million people were displaced worldwide, over half of them children. That is the highest number on record since the UN’s Refugee Agency started collecting statistics. To help put that number in perspective, that’s the equivalent of one in every five Americans being displaced. Some 34,000 people will be displaced today alone. Think about that. Thirty-four thousand.

Many rightly point to the role that the turmoil in Syria has played in this crisis. Roughly half of Syria’s pre-war population of 23 million has been uprooted since the conflict began in 2011 – some six-and-half million within Syria’s borders, and five million to other countries. But the conflict in Syria is far from the only driver of this problem. The wars forcing people from their homes are multiplying – with at least 15 conflicts erupting or reigniting since 2010. And conflicts are lasting longer, meaning people have to wait longer before it is safe to return home. Roughly one in three refugees today is caught in what is called a “protracted refugee situation.” In 1993, the typical protracted refugee situation lasted nine years; today, the median duration is 26 years and counting.

People do not become refugees by choice, obviously; they flee because their lives are at risk – just as we would do if we found ourselves in such a situation. And most want to go home. So we recognize that the most effective way to curb the mass displacement of people is by addressing the conflicts, violence, and repression that they have fled in the first place, and that continues to make it unsafe for them to return home. Consider a survey of Syrian refugees carried out early this year in Gaziantep, along Turkey’s southern border. It found that 95 percent of the Syrians polled said that they would return home if the fighting stopped. In May, a study of Nigerian refugees in Cameroon – most of whom had fled Boko Haram – found that more than three in four wanted to return home. I met with refugees in both of these places, and when I posed the question of who wanted to go home to groups of refugees, all hands shot up in the air. Many of you have had similar experiences.

Even as we recognize the need to work toward the solutions that will reduce the drivers of mass displacement, we also have to meet the vital needs of refugees in real time. And on that front we in the international community are coming up far short. For one, we are seeing record shortfalls in providing essential humanitarian assistance. In 2015, the UN requested approximately $20 billion to provide life-saving aid, only $11 billion of which was funded. This year, the $21 billion that the UN is seeking is less than one-quarter funded.

Often we find ourselves using bureaucratese – the language of “shortfalls,” and “masses” of refugee “caseloads” – sterile language that makes it easy to lose sight of the human consequences of our collective action challenge. So we must constantly remind ourselves that these gaps mean more people are left without a roof or tarp to sleep under; more families are unable to afford gas to keep warm in sub-zero temperatures; more kids are forced to drink water that makes them sick – poor parents have to watch that happen. Last year, the World Food Program had to cut back significantly rations to some 1.6 million Syrian refugees, and half a million refugees from Somalia and South Sudan in Kenya. In Jordan, in July 2015, approximately 250,000 Syrian refugees received news – often on their phone – that the UN aid they were receiving would be halved to the equivalent of 50 cents’ worth of aid a day. In Iraq, the shortfall forced the World Health Organization to shutter 184 health clinics in areas with high levels of displacement, resulting in three million people losing access to basic health care. The WHO’s director for emergency assistance described the impact as follows: “There will be no access for trauma like shrapnel wounds, no access for children’s health or reproductive health…A generation of children will be unvaccinated,” he said. Imagine, for just one minute, being the official forced to decide whose rudimentary health care to cut off. Imagine being the patient or the parent who receives the news that the aid you’ve been receiving – which is already insufficient to feed your kids or to deal with health ailments – will be cut in half.

Not only are countries giving far too little support to meet refugees’ critical needs, few countries – and in particular, few wealthy countries – are stepping up to resettle more refugees. As a result, a hugely disproportionate share of refugees are being housed by a small group of developing countries. At the end of 2015, 10 countries – with an average GDP per capita of around $3,700 – were hosting some 45 percent of the world’s refugees. The United States’ GDP per capita, by comparison, is approximately $54,600. Add in the dramatic cuts in humanitarian assistance, and you start to get a sense of the direness of the situation.

To be fair, it can take time for governments to lay the groundwork for admitting more refugees. We are dealing with this challenge right now in the United States, as we make the adjustments necessary to take in 10,000 Syrian refugees this year, out of a total of 85,000 refugees, a goal we, of course, intend to meet. Yet even as a country with experience admitting and resettling more than three million refugees in the last four decades, it has not been easy.

But the work required to scale up admissions is not what is preventing many countries from taking in more refugees. Instead, even as the crisis continues to grow, many countries are making no effort at all to do their fair share. Worse, some countries are actually cutting back on the number of admitted refugees, or they’ve said that they won’t take any refugees at all. Other governments have taken measures that cut against the core principles of the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, such as offering financial rewards for asylum seekers who withdraw their applications and return home, or confiscating the cash and valuables of those seeking refuge to offset the costs of hosting them. Meanwhile, with multiple countries – including our own – certain states, cities, and even towns have said that they don’t want to take refugees admitted by their respective national governments.

Now, why are so many countries resisting taking in more refugees? Let me speak to the two concerns that we hear the most often.

The first is, of course, security. Now, it is reasonable to have concern that violent extremist groups might take advantage of the massive movement of migrants and refugees to try to sneak terrorists into countries that they want to attack. In Germany, for example, suspected terrorists have been arrested in recent months who entered the country traveling amidst groups of refugees. We must constantly evaluate whether the procedures that we and our partners have put in place can effectively identify terrorists posing as refugees, as our nation’s law enforcement and intelligence agencies are doing.

At the same time, as with any threat, it is important that our policy response be commensurate with the risk. The comprehensive, rigorous review process implemented by the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program both protects our security and lives up to our long-standing commitment to give sanctuary to people whose lives are at risk. The program screens refugee applicants against multiple U.S. government databases – including the National Counterterrorism Center, the FBI, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Homeland Security – which incorporate information provided by partners all around the world. Refugees are interviewed, often several times, before ever being allowed to travel to the United States; and refugees from Syria are subjected to a thorough, additional layer of review. We do not rush; in all, the process usually takes more than a year. If your aim is to attack the United States, it is hard to imagine a more difficult way of trying to get here than by posing as a refugee.

While no system is foolproof, our record to date speaks to the system’s efficacy. Of the approximately 800,000 refugees who have been admitted to the United States since September 11, not one has carried out an act of domestic terrorism. Zero. But that has not made us complacent; we are constantly assessing new threats, and we spare no effort to make the program stronger.

Being able to measure accurately the relative gravity of threats and where they come from is critical to making smart policy and is critical to keeping the American people safe. That is why the efforts to halt our refugee program in the aftermath of the horrific attacks in Paris, and more recently in Orlando, were so misguided.

It is appropriate, and indeed, essential, in the aftermath of terrorist attacks to ask whether and how our policies should be changed to keep our citizens safe. What is not appropriate – what is, in fact, counterproductive – is using inaccurate characterizations of threats to justify shifts in policy, such as failing to see the difference between a homegrown terrorist and a refugee; or drawing misguided and discriminatory conclusions about entire groups of people based on the countries from which their families immigrated or the faith that they observe. Ignorance and prejudice make for bad advisors.

Yet that is what is driving the ill-informed and biased reactions we have seen to these and other attacks from some in our country. After the Paris attack, 31 U.S. governors and their states did not want to host any Syrian refugees, and several officials filed lawsuits aimed at blocking the federal government from resettling Syrians in their states. In the aftermath of Orlando, House Republicans announced that they will put forward legislation to ban all refugees from our country. That is not all. As you know, some are calling for even broader bans, such as banning immigrants based on their religion, or suspending immigration from parts of the world with a history of terrorism.

Now, I take this personally. I’m an immigrant to this country. My mother brought me and my brother to the United States from Dublin in 1979. It was a time when Ireland was still being roiled by violence related to The Troubles. And that violence included attacks that killed civilians – some of which were carried out in the city where I lived. So it’s not lost on me that were such a prejudiced and indiscriminate policy to have been applied when I was growing up – a policy that judges people collectively on the circumstances of their birth, rather than individually on the quality of their character – my family and millions of other Irish immigrants would never have been allowed to come to this country. That I, an Irish immigrant, now get to sit every day in front of a placard that says the United States of America, and to serve in the President’s Cabinet, is just a reflection of what makes this country so exceptional. And it sends the world a powerful message about the inclusive society that we believe in. Why on Earth would we want to give that up?

If the first concern one hears around admitting refugees is the security risk, the second is economic. People fear that refugees will place an additional burden on states at a time of shrinking budgets and a contracting global economy. The concerns tend to coalesce around two arguments in some tension with one another: either refugees will deplete government resources through a costly resettlement process, and through requiring public support for years; or they will find work quickly, taking jobs away from native-born citizens and driving down wages.

It is true that resettling refugees requires a substantial investment up front. Sufficient resources must be dedicated to ensuring that asylum seekers are properly vetted. And people who are admitted need support as they settle into a new, unfamiliar country and become self-sufficient – from finding places to live and work, to learning a new language. If we want to keep our citizens safe and give the refugees we take in a shot at becoming self-reliant, these up-front costs are unavoidable.

You might be surprised, though, to learn how little refugees actually receive from the U.S. government. Resettlement agencies are given a one-time amount to cover initial housing, food, and other essential expenses of $2,025 for each refugee. And while refugees can apply for additional federal assistance, such as funding for job training or special medical assistance – no supplementary support is guaranteed – and most lasts a maximum of eight months. Now imagine trying to survive on that amount in a new and unfamiliar place, with no job, no support system, and often without the ability to speak English. Refugees are also responsible for repaying the cost of their plane tickets to the U.S. within three and a half years.

Even in the short term, much of the assistance that goes toward supporting refugees ends up going back into our local economies, from the supermarkets where they buy groceries, to the apartments they rent. And a number of studies have found that refugees’ short-term impact on their host countries’ labor markets tends to be small, and is often positive, raising the wages of people in communities where they settle. And it is important to see these initial costs of taking in refugees for what they are: an investment in our shared future. You hear often about individual refugees who have made profound contributions to our nation – people like George Soros, Sergei Brin, and one of my predecessors as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, the great Madeleine Albright. There is no question that America would be a lesser country today without these individuals. Yet it is not only extraordinary individuals like these, but entire refugee communities who have made a lasting contribution to American prosperity.

Take the example of Vietnamese-Americans. After the fall of Saigon in 1975, America resettled more than 175,000 Vietnamese refugees in just two years. In 1979, a second wave of hundreds of thousands more Vietnamese refugees began arriving. Initially, politicians from both parties warned of the dire economic impact that the Vietnamese refugees would have on the communities where they were settled, and they asked that they be sent elsewhere. The Democratic governor of California at the time proposed adding a provision to legislation on assisting refugees that would guarantee jobs for Americans first, saying, “We can’t be looking 5,000 miles away and at the same time neglecting people who live here.” Seattle’s city council voted seven to one against a resolution welcoming them. Small towns where Vietnamese refugees were to be resettled, such as Niceville, Florida – [laughter] yes, Niceville – circulated petitions demanding they be sent elsewhere. A barber in Niceville told a reporter, “I don’t see why I ought to work and pay taxes for those folks who wouldn’t work over there.” The fears and reservations expressed in Niceville were hardly isolated; a 1979 poll found that 57 percent of Americans opposed taking in Vietnamese refugees.

And yet look at the 1.9 million Vietnamese-Americans living in our country today, many of whom either came to this country as refugees, or whose parents were refugees. They have a higher median household income than the national average, higher participation in the labor force, and lower unemployment. More, on average, attend college. Now this is not a success that has come at the expense of other Americans in a zero-sum economy; rather, the growth spurred by their success has benefitted both native born citizens and refugees, and repaid the costs of resettlement many, many times over.

Oftentimes, domestic debates about whether to do more for refugees are focused entirely on the question of what we risk by taking more people in. Is it safe? Will it help or hurt economically? These are important concerns to address, and I have tried to do so.

But there’s another question – often overlooked – which is particularly relevant today: What do we risk by not doing more to help refugees? That’s the question I would like to turn to now. And the answer is that, in the current crisis, not doing more puts global stability and our nation’s security at heightened risk. While we often overstate the security threats and economic costs of resettling more refugees, we routinely understate the likely consequences of failing to muster the global response that is needed.

For one, failing to mobilize a more robust and equitable global response will increase the pressure on the small group of countries already shouldering a disproportionate share of the crisis’ costs, possibly leading to greater instability. The influx of refugees to these countries has overwhelmed public services and institutions that were often stretched to begin with. Look at Lebanon, which has taken in a million Syrian refugees, and where one in five people is now a Syrian refugee. To give you a sense of scale, that would be the equivalent, in our country – which of course is much wealthier and has a much more developed infrastructure – of taking in 64 million refugees. There are more Syrian refugee children of school age in Lebanon – approximately 360,000 in all – than there are Lebanese children in public school. Roughly half of the Syrian refugee kids in Lebanon are out of school.

In the face of such demands, and absent greater help from the international community, it is not hard to see how the mounting pressure on these frontline countries could stoke sectarian tensions, fuel popular resentment of refugees, and even lead to the collapse of governments. It’s also not hard to imagine how, in such circumstances, some of these countries might decide they cannot take in any more refugees and seal off their borders altogether.

Failing to mount a more effective international response will also strengthen the hand of organized crime and terrorist groups that pose a threat to our security and prosperity. If people fleeing wars, mass atrocities, and repression cannot find a safe, legal, and orderly way to get to places where they and their loved ones will be safe, and where they can fulfill their basic needs, they will seek another way to get to places of refuge. We’ve seen it. They will always find smugglers who promise to take them – for a price. INTERPOL estimates that, in 2015, organized crime networks made between five and six billion dollars smuggling people to the European Union alone. These criminal networks have little concern for the lives of the people they transport – as they have demonstrated by abandoning their boats at sea, sometimes with hundreds of passengers locked in holds that they cannot escape – and whose members routinely rape, beat, and sell into slavery the people that they are paid to transport.

Of course, it is not only refugees who are threatened by these criminal networks. The same routes and transports used to smuggle people across oceans and borders are also used to move illicit arms, drugs, and victims of human trafficking. And the corruption that these groups fuel harms governments and citizens worldwide. The more refugees that are driven into the hands of these criminal networks, the stronger we make them.

Violent extremist groups like ISIL, al-Qa’ida, and Boko Haram also stand to benefit if we fail to respond adequately to the refugee crisis. A central part of the narrative of these groups is that the West is at war with Islam. So when we turn away the very people who are fleeing the atrocities and repression of these groups; and when we cast all displaced Muslims – regardless of whether they were uprooted by violent extremists, repressive governments, or natural disasters – as suspected terrorists; we play into that narrative. To violent extremists, simply belonging to a group is proof of guilt, and can be punishable by death – whether that group is defined by religion or ethnicity, by profession or sexual orientation. When we blame all Muslims, all Syrians, or all members of any other group because of the actions of individuals, when we fall into the trap of asserting collective guilt, we empower the narrow-minded ideology that we are trying to defeat.

On the contrary, when we and the parts of the Muslim world where people are suffering or have sought refuge, when we open our communities and our hearts to the people displaced by the atrocities committed by groups like ISIL, and repressive regimes like Assad’s, we puncture the myth that the extremists paint of us. We show that our conflict is not with Islam, but with those who kill and enslave people simply for what they believe, where they are born, or who they love.

Now, I have spoken to how many of the concerns that people have about admitting more refugees are overblown, driven more by fear than by fact. And I’ve highlighted the risk we run if countries continue to shirk doing their fair share in addressing this crisis. So what can we do to try to fix this problem? For starters, countries must dramatically increase their humanitarian aid to close the growing gap between what governments and agencies are providing and what refugees need to survive. And we need countries to increase the number of refugees they are resettling so that the burden does not fall so heavily on a small number of frontline states.

Now, some have argued that, because it’s more cost effective for wealthy countries like ours to provide humanitarian support for refugees in countries of first asylum, we should channel all the resources we allocate to this crisis into helping frontline states. Why take an additional 10,000 Syrian refugees in the U.S., some argue, when the resources that we would spend vetting and resettling these individuals could support 10 or even a hundred times as many refugees in places like Lebanon or Kenya?

Of course, we cannot resettle all 21 million refugees in the world, or even a majority of them. Nor do we need to. Many refugees are able to find sufficient opportunities to live with independence and dignity in the countries where they are given first refuge. And most prefer to stay close to the places to which they hope to return.

But there are some individuals and families who cannot stay in the countries where they have arrived first – because they are not safe there, because they have special vulnerabilities, or because their basic needs just are not being met. The UN estimates that around 1.2 million people fall into this category worldwide, and need to be resettled to other countries. The problem is the international community only resettled around 107,000 individuals last year – less than one-tenth of those who UNHCR judges need to be moved to a new host country. We need to bridge that gap.

By providing more opportunities for resettlement, we give experts the chance to review applicants through orderly, deliberate processes, rather than the large-scale, irregular flows that Europe faced last year, which brought more than a million people to Germany alone. These unstructured marches make it more difficult for countries to subject those who arrive to thorough and rigorous screening. And by practicing what we preach through resettling refugees, we stand a better chance of persuading others to do the same. How can we ask governments and citizens in other countries to take in refugees if we are not prepared to do the same in our own communities? How can we convince others that fear can be overcome and risk can be mitigated if we ourselves are ruled by fear?

In recognition of the urgent need for all countries to do more, President Obama is convening a refugee summit in September at the UN General Assembly. The purpose of this summit is to rally countries around three major lines of effort. First, we’re asking governments to make a deeper commitment to funding UN and humanitarian organizations and appeals, increasing overall contributions by at least 30 percent. Second, we’re asking governments to commit to welcoming more refugees into their countries, with the goal of doubling the number of refugee admission slots worldwide. Third, we are asking frontline countries – who already are hosting considerable numbers of refugees with awe-inspiring generosity – to do even more, allowing the refugees they host greater opportunities to become more self-reliant. Our aim is to put at least a million more refugee children in school, and grant a million more refugees access to legal work.

We recognize that the United States can and must do more as well. We are the leading donor of humanitarian aid, contributing more than $5.1 billion for the Syrian conflict alone, and we will continue to provide robust support. And not only are we scaling up our resettlement efforts to admit 15,000 additional refugees this year, but we will scale up by 15,000 more next year, to admit 100,000 refugees overall. That’s a 40 percent increase in just two years – while maintaining our extremely rigorous security standards.

The summit is by no means a panacea; even if we hit every target, our response will still not match the scale of the crisis. But it would represent a step – an important step toward broadening the pool of countries that are part of the solution. We also recognize that governments cannot solve this problem alone. We need businesses, big and small, to do much more too; which is why tomorrow, the White House is launching a private sector call to action, which will rally companies to do their part, from providing jobs to donating services to refugees. We need a humanitarian system that is more efficient and better at anticipating and preventing the crises that force people from their homes – which many countries committed to build at the recent World Humanitarian Summit. We need more civic institutions to help empower refugees, such as the growing number of American universities that are providing scholarships to refugees who were forced to abandon their studies – a cause that I urge the college students and faculty in the audience to take up. We need faith-based and civic institutions to adopt this cause as their own, as Pope Francis has done by constantly showing people the human face of this crisis, even welcoming refugees into his own home; and as the Southern Baptist Leadership Convention recently did, by adopting a resolution urging its members to “welcome and adopt refugees into their churches and homes.” Only when all these efforts come together will we have a chance of rising to the challenge that we face.

Let me conclude. In a letter dated May 16, 1939, a British citizen named Nicholas Winton wrote to then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt. “Esteemed Sir,” the letter began, “Perhaps people in America do not realize how little is being and has been done for refugee children in Czechoslovakia.” Winton went on to describe how a small organization that he had started had identified more than 5,000 refugee children in Czechoslovakia, most of them Jews who had fled Nazi Germany who desperately needed to be evacuated. He wrote, “There are thousands of children, some homeless and starving, mostly without nationality, but they all have one thing in common: there is no future if they are forced to remain where they are. Their parents are forbidden to work and the children are forbidden schooling, and part from the physical discomforts, the moral degradation is immeasurable.” Winton closed his letter with a direct request: “Is it possible for anything to be done to help us with this problem in America? It is hard to state our case forcibly in a letter, but we trust to your imagination to realize how desperately urgent the situation is.”

Winton’s letter reached the White House, which promptly referred the matter to the State Department. And the State Department, in turn, sent the letter to the U.S. Ambassador in London, with instructions to inform Winton that “the United States government is unable, in the absence of specific legislation, to permit immigration in excess of that provided by existing immigration laws.”

Now Winton was undaunted, because he was undauntable. In the coming months, he bribed officials, forged documents, arranged secret transport through hostile territory, and persuaded families in the United Kingdom to take in foster children – anything to get those children out. Ultimately, he helped 669 children escape in less than a year. Almost all 669 kids were orphaned by the end of the war, their parents killed in the concentration camps.

“Perhaps people in America do not realize how little is being and has been done for refugee children.” That was how Winton had opened his letter. Yet the unfortunate reality is that even those who were aware of the refugees’ plight were reluctant to take them in. In January 1939, a few months after Kristallnacht, “the night of the broken glass,” unleashed a savage wave of violence targeting Jewish homes, synagogues, and businesses, a Gallup poll asked Americans whether 10,000 Jewish refugee children from Germany should be taken into the United States. Sixty-one percent of Americans said no.

And this isn’t an isolated case. Unfortunately, it was not only refugees fleeing the Nazis and Vietnam who the majority of Americans opposed admitting. In 1958, as Hungarians faced a vicious crackdown from the Soviet Union, Americans were asked whether they supported a plan to admit 65,000 refugees. Fifty-five percent said no. In 1980, as tens of thousands of Cubans – Cuban refugees – took to boats to flee repression, 71 percent of Americans opposed admitting them. The list goes on. In nearly every instance, the majority of Americans have opposed taking in large numbers of refugees when asked in the abstract.

Listening to the rhetoric that is out there today, it can feel at times as though the same is true today. But look around the country – look deeply – and you will find so many people who not only support admitting more refugees, but who themselves are making tremendous efforts to welcome them. People like the owners of Wankel’s Hardware Store in New York, where I live, which for decades has been employing recently resettled refugees, including 15 of their 20 current employees. Wankel’s keeps a map on the wall of the store with pins marking the 36 countries from which their refugee employees have come. Many Americans are doing their part and wish to find a way to do more. When visiting the International Rescue Committee resettlement office – just a 10-minute walk from the UN – recently, I noticed that many of their individual offices seemed to be overflowing with boxes. When I asked whether the folks who worked at IRC were moving in or moving out of the space, I was told that after some U.S. politicians threatened to curb the flow of refugees, the IRC had received a huge, unprecedented surge in donations. And they simply had no other space to store all the clothes, toys, and home furnishings that had come flooding in, just from ordinary people. A similar outpouring occurred inside the U.S. government. When we announced our goal to admit an additional 15,000 refugees this year, many U.S. national security professionals volunteered to take extra trainings and work extra hours in their already long days to help us meet that goal.

These examples abound. The small Vermont town of Rutland has committed to taking in 100 Syrian refugees. The mayor, whose grandfather came to the U.S. after fleeing war in his native Greece, said of the decision, “As much as I want to say it’s for compassionate reasons, I realize that there is not a vibrant, growing, successful community in the country right now that is not embracing new Americans.” Local schools are preparing to support kids who cannot support English, and local businesses in Rutland have said that they will look to hire refugees. One of them is a regional medical center, whose director is the grandson of refugees from Nazi Germany. “I know there is a good-heartedness to this city,” he said. “If you come here and want to make the community better, Rutlanders will welcome you with open arms.” A poll some of you have seen that was released this month by the Brookings Institution suggests that most Americans feel the same way. Asked if they would support the U.S. taking in refugees from the Middle East after they were screened for security risks, 59 percent of Americans said yes. Yes.

Nicholas Winton passed away last June, at the age of 106. At the time, the 669 children he saved had some 6,000 descendants. Six thousand people who otherwise would not have enriched our world, but mostly for the efforts of one single individual. Imagine, for just a moment, what would have happened if the United States, or any other country, had shared his sense of urgency in that instance, or in so many others. Imagine what we could do if we were to bring a similar urgency, a similar stubbornness, a similar resilience to the crisis today.

If we are proudest of the Wintons in our history – as I think we all are – we know what must be done. So that when his question comes to us – “Is it possible for anything to be done to help us with this problem?” – our answer must be yes, there is so much we can do. So much more we can do.

Thank you.

The LEAVE Vote Won, What Brexit Means Now

Posted on June 24, 2016June 24, 2016 by Denise Simon

Populism and Elitism finally lost…the people have spoken and the battle for independence is long and hard but ultimately sweet. Citizens are disgusted with being ruled by Belgium.

The dynamics have not been determined and are impossible to predicts.

Given the drop in the value of the UK currency, the U.S dollar has risen however, the markets are going to be volatile for several days. France and Germany are in precarious positions and France has become the 7th largest economy by the drop in the value of the pound.

The Bank of England is working earnestly to calm markets across the globe.

Watch Scotland:

How Could Scotland Protect its EU Links After Brexit?

It is often presumed that Scotland will continue to be part of the EU, either through a UK-wide vote to remain in the EU referendum or by joining the EU after a successful second independence referendum, writes Kirsty Hughes. She argues, however, that it is possible that Scotland could find itself outside the EU following a vote to leave, and that it should consider how to develop a differentiated relationship with the EU distinct from England.

At issue going forward is Article 50:

1. Any Member State may decide to withdraw from the Union in accordance with its own constitutional requirements.

2. A Member State which decides to withdraw shall notify the European Council of its intention. In the light of the guidelines provided by the European Council, the Union shall negotiate and conclude an agreement with that State, setting out the arrangements for its withdrawal, taking account of the framework for its future relationship with the Union. That agreement shall be negotiated in accordance with Article 218(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. It shall be concluded on behalf of the Union by the Council, acting by a qualified majority, after obtaining the consent of the European Parliament.

3. The Treaties shall cease to apply to the State in question from the date of entry into force of the withdrawal agreement or, failing that, two years after the notification referred to in paragraph 2, unless the European Council, in agreement with the Member State concerned, unanimously decides to extend this period.

4. For the purposes of paragraphs 2 and 3, the member of the European Council or of the Council representing the withdrawing Member State shall not participate in the discussions of the European Council or Council or in decisions concerning it.

A qualified majority shall be defined in accordance with Article 238(3)(b) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

5. If a State which has withdrawn from the Union asks to rejoin, its request shall be subject to the procedure referred to in Article 49.

Prime Minister, David Cameron has resigned and will leave office by October. Cameron is expected to notify the EU this morning that the U.K. is invoking Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, under which the two sides will have an initial two years to agree how their relations will look in future.

Markets were generally unprepared for “Brexit” after the last opinion polls, and more important Britain’s widely watched bookies, before the vote had pointed to a victory for the Remain camp. The Bank of England, the IMF, and OECD, as well as the Fed’s Janet Yellen, have all warned of a severe bout of volatility after a “Brexit” vote, with longer-lasting damage to the economy as a result of higher uncertainty, lower investment and more obstacles to trade. More here from Forbes.