Ethnic profiling

RECENT POSTS

November 8, 2011 | 10:44 AM | By

Readers sound off on racial-ethnic profiling

Photo by Jeffrey Beall/Flickr (Creative Commons)

A post from Friday that featured five American Muslims discussing racial-ethnic profiling in light of the New York Police Department’s Muslim profiling case, a report on FBI profiling and other recent news drew a long string of comments over the weekend, and the discussion among readers continues on the site.

The reactions have been surprisingly civil, considering. Some readers believe that law enforcement officials are within their rights to target specific ethnic communities for surveillance, while others hold firm that this kind of law enforcement action is an infringement on the civil rights of law-abiding Americans. Here’s a taste of the discussion that’s been taking place:

The first comment this weekend came from Jason Van Bemmel, who wrote:

How do we expect anti-terror law enforcement to protect us from future terrorist attacks if they do not monitor communities most likely to have terrorists in them?  The terrorists who have attacked us and who have plotted to attack us are Muslims.  That doesn’t mean that all Muslims are terrorists or even that most Muslims harbor or sympathize with terrorists.  However, if you’re looking for Islamic terrorists, the place to watch is Islamic communities.  That’s really just common sense and good police strategy.  We cannot realistically expect them to do otherwise.

The comment was rebuked by several readers, including Larry Woller, who replied:

Threats to my ability of pursuing life, liberty and freedom does not come from terrorists threats or Muslims but from within..only when law enforcement practices the same vigorous monitoring of all aspects of American society that they do Muslims and others will I concede they are not racial profiling..

Sulayman also replied:

That doesn’t mean the police can treat the entire community of millions of Muslim-Americans as suspects. When the JDL was terrorizing people, they didn’t start bugging mosques and compiling lists of all Jewish-owned businesses like the NYPD is doing today against Muslims.

Come on, that just goes against state and federal law. Police can’t target someone solely because they’re Muslim, courts have determined that it goes against the First Amendment.

Another reader has pointed out parallels between what Muslims in the U.S. are experiencing today and what Japanese Americans experienced in the era of internment camps during World War II. And reader Liam Foote brought up post-September 2001 hate crimes against people perceived to be Muslim, which the interviews in the post didn’t get into:

The story doesn’t mention other victims such as Sikh merchant Balbir Singh Sodhi, shot and killed by wingnut Frank Roque simply because he wore a turban and beard.

What are your thoughts on racial-ethnic profiling? Join the discussion here.

FILED UNDER: Culture/Identity, Politics/Justice, Ethnic profiling, FBI, FBI counteterrorism training, Islam, Muslims, NYPD, Racial profiling
November 4, 2011 | 12:19 PM | By

Five American Muslims on racial-ethnic profiling: ‘This is my country. I feel insulted.’

Photo by Jeffrey Beall/Flickr (Creative COmmons)

Over the past several weeks, a growing number of law enforcement documents have surfaced pointing to the institutional profiling of Muslims in the decade after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks. First, an Associated Press investigation revealed a large-scale New York Police Department effort to collect intelligence on Muslims in the New York area, with police conducted surveillance on Muslim neighborhoods, mosques and businesses, even checking out immigrants who changed their names to sound more American.

Also controversial has been the use of counterterrorism training materials by the Federal Bureau of Investigations, under fire for using materials portraying Muslims in a negative light. And late last month, the American Civil Liberties Union issued a report alleging that the FBI targeted specific ethnic communities across the United States based on race, ethnicity, religion and nationality for potential criminal investigation.

While Muslims weren’t the only ones scrutinized, the organization said that FBI documents obtained via the Freedom of Information Act showed that agents monitored Muslim and Arab-American communities in Michigan as a probable terrorist recruitment ground. Law enforcement officials have contended they were engaging in effective crime mapping, not ethnic profiling.

KPCC intern Yasmin Nouh spoke with several American Muslims in California after the latter report was released, some of them community leaders, others rank-and-file citizens. Some have been subject to law enforcement scrutiny themselves, including the president of an Orange County, Calif. mosque infiltrated by an FBI informant.

While most aren’t surprised by the recent news, it’s disappointing, they say. Some have chosen not to engage with law enforcement for lack of trust; others see an opportunity to foster dialogue. “If you’re not at the table,” one man said, “you’ll be in the menu.” Some of their thoughts:

We continued to maintain our relationship because at the end of the day, although we were disappointed, we still gave the FBI the benefit of the doubt that they are doing what they need to do to protect citizens of the U.S..

It doesn’t make us happy to hear that FBI agents are being trained about Muslims and Islam by individuals that don’t know anything about Muslims and Islam and they’re feeding law enforcement agents with incorrect and inaccurate information. I’m pleased to see and hear that Muslim organizations have spoken out against this and as a result, Muslims are being called to the table to meet with law enforcement, and review materials, because if you’re not at the table, you’ll be in the menu.

  • Shakeel Syed, head of the Shura Council of Southern California, an umbrella organization of local mosques and Muslim groups. After meeting with the FBI regularly since mid-2004, the council officially suspended relations with the agency in 2008, after Syed found out that the agency was collecting information on his activities. In 2007, the Shura Council and several other Muslim groups filed a lawsuit against the FBI over surveillance.

In terms of alienation, I don’t feel alienated. This is my country. I feel insulted. I feel betrayed. You fool me once, shame on you. You feel me twice, shame on me. And hence we [Shura Council] continue to remain engaged for the purpose of everything else except mutual understanding and dialogue, and all that time wasted on meeting with the FBI.

But if there is an imminent situation, they can reach out to us for the sake of communication. Our engagement will remain in the area of advocacy and righting these wrongs but not in getting to know one another.

FILED UNDER: Culture/Identity, Politics/Justice, Ethnic profiling, FBI, FBI counterterrorism training, Islam, Muslims, NYPD, Racial profiling