(SACRAMENTO, CA, 8/25/2008) - The California chapters of the Council on American- Islamic Relations (CAIR-CA) recently held their fourth annual Muslim Youth Leadership Program (MYLP) conference at the state capitol building in Sacramento.
 
The four-day conference featured workshops on community organizing and advocacy, public speaking and media activism. The highlight of the conference was the 'Mock Legislature' session on the Senate floor, during which participants served as legislators as they debated public policy issues. Thirty-five high school students from throughout California participated in the conference.

SEE: CAIR-CA: Teens Attend Muslim Youth Leadership Program (Press-Enterprise)
 
"It is important that we empower the youth with a message of unity and hope," said CAIR-CA Chairman Masoud Nassimi. "We anticipate that this program will empower American Muslim youth to pursue leadership positions that will help strengthen this nation."

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CONTACT: CAIR-SV, Basim Elkarra, 916 441-6269, E-Mail: sacval@cair.com; CAIR-SFBA, Safaa Ibrahim, 408-986-9874, E-Mail: sibrahim@cair.com; CAIR-LA, Hussam Ayloush, 714-776-1847, E-Mail: hayloush@cair.com; CAIR-SD, Edgar Hopida, 858-278-4547 E-Mail: ehopida@cair.com

(CINCINNATI, OH, 8/26/08) – Some 300 members of the local Muslim community attended a cookout hosted by the Cincinnati office of CAIR-Ohio on Sunday, August 24. There were games and prizes for children, as well a presentation on civil rights. Candidates for public office also attended the event and shared their election platforms with the picnickers.

“This was an important opportunity for Muslim community members to get better acquainted and to strengthen social ties,” said CAIR-Cincinnati Chairperson Zeinab Schwen. “We are also very happy to educate community members about their civil rights and about the need to vote for the candidates of their choice in the upcoming election.”

CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties and advocacy group has 35 offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

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CONTACT: Karen Dabdoub, 513-281-8200, E-mail: kdabdoub@cair.com; Zeinab Schwen, zschwen@fuse.net

This November's election promises to have the most participation ever, and local Muslims are doing their part to get voters registered.

In Clifton this Friday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) was handing out information to encourage people to register.

"I think it is an election year when the Muslim community really is beginning to understand the importance of making their voices heard as American citizens," said Karen Dabdoub, CAIR director.

The Muslim voter registration drive will run after Friday prayer services at each Cincinnati area mosque through the end of September.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO.

Muslim leaders are urging movie executives at Warner Bros. to retitle their new movie TOWELHEAD because the word is "offensive and exploitative".

Los Angeles members of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) insist the derogatory term is offensive to American Muslims and Arab-Americans. They go so far as to state the term 'towelhead' as "a racial and religious slur".

In a letter sent to studio executives, the Islamic civil rights and advocacy group has asked that the film, directed by Alan Ball, be called Nothing is Private - a title previously used in some markets.

CAIR-LA Executive Director Hussam Ayloush writes, "The word is commonly used in a derogatory manner against people of the Muslim faith or Arab origin... We have no desire to inhibit the creative process or your right to produce any film you wish. However, I ask you to take the above concerns into consideration and examine the social implications of releasing the film under its current title.

"It is unfortunate that a major film studio would choose to exploit an ethnic slur as a sensational promotion for a movie. Mainstreaming a bigoted term in this manner will only serve to legitimize and normalize anti-Muslim prejudice in our society."

The film, starring Aaron Eckhart, Summer Bishil and Toni Collette, is adapted from Alicia Erian's novel about a young Arab-American girl's struggles with life and sexual obsession. The heroine of Erian's story is dubbed 'Towelhead' by some ignorant and bigoted Americans.

Most of the crowd at Saturday's grand opening of the Crescent Community Clinic appeared to be family members of some 40 primarily Islamic physicians who are donating their professional services to the needy and uninsured in Hernando County.

Patients have been trickling in since early June, when the clinic began opening its doors every Saturday.

But on this Saturday, Martina Smith of Nobleton arrived with daughter, Leah, 11, and son, Steven, 8, to learn about the care available.

Smith said she has a good job as a network engineer in Kissimmee. Her husband has a job as a concrete worker in the slow construction trades. Neither of the jobs provide health insurance.

"We're not in medical need now," said Smith, "but you never know when an infection will come. It's $100 to walk into a walk-in clinic."

She and her children were pleased with what they saw: welcoming professionals, fresh and spotless examination rooms and medical instruments, easy access with plenty of parking in the strip mall at Broad Street and Ponce de Leon Boulevard.

The tight-knit community of Muslim doctors has long considered opening such a facility to give back to the community that has fostered them. Said the clinic's executive director, Alex Galvan, himself a convert to Islam: "Charity is one of the five pillars of Islam. It's an unwritten rule, we should help others."

A patient's only qualifications for free medical care are a lack of health insurance and living at the poverty level. (MORE)

An Islamic civil rights and advocacy group has asked Warner Bros. to change the title of its upcoming film "Towelhead," saying "the word is commonly used in a derogatory manner against people of the Muslim faith or Arab origin."

The studio said it plans to keep things as it is and stand by the filmmakers, who chose the title to point out racial stereotypes, though it added, "We apologize for any offense that is caused by the title."

"Towelhead," directed by Alan Ball and adapted for the screen by Alicia Erian from her novel of the same name, looks at the life of a 13-year-old Lebanese-American girl in the early '90s. A Warner Independent specialty title now being handled by Warners, it is scheduled to open in limited release in New York and Los Angeles on Sept. 12.

The Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said Monday that since the moniker is a "racial and religious slur," Warners should consider calling the film "Nothing Is Private," the title under which it debuted at last year's Toronto International Film Festival. (MORE)

As travel season reaches its highpoint, more and more American travelers to international destinations are concerned with acquiring proper vaccinations, obtaining the right visas, and, not surprisingly, the potential for being "harassed" at the airport upon arrival back into the States. Many travelers have recently complained of their encounters with agents or officers as soon as they leave the aircraft, and who have to sit through an hour or more of questioning by agents and have their luggage rummaged through.

The following is a breakdown of why people are targeted for this extra questioning when entering the US at the airport or the border, what your rights are if you are selected, and what to do to help to make it a smoother process and avoid secondary security checks in the future. Please note that the following does not apply to checking-in for flights or boarding aircraft within the United States or when leaving the country.

In order to enter or re-enter the United States, travelers must go through two processes at U.S. ports of entry: immigration and customs. Customs and Border Protection officers, a division of the Department of Homeland Security, handle both aspects at the border.

All air travelers must provide to CBP a valid passport, proper immigration paperwork if they are seeking admission into the US, and follow CBP regulations on prohibited items.

CBP officers have the statutory right and responsibility to verify the identification of travelers, their admissibility to the United States, and that travelers have not been engaged in illicit activity that poses a threat to national security.

CBP is also granted the statutory authority to search all persons, baggage, and merchandise arriving into the United States. Interestingly, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that a search of a traveler’s laptop files at LAX was neither an illegal search nor seizure, and instead was similar to routine luggage inspection.

Now here’s where secondary questioning and inspection comes in. In addition to selecting someone because of "individualized behavior" patterns, because a person has arrived from a "high-risk" country, or because of a "completely random referral," CBP relies on the Interagency Border Inspection System to determine which travelers will be targeted for secondary examination. IBIS is a system used by 20-plus governmental agencies to track people involved in actual or suspected criminal or terrorist activities.

Information in the IBIS system is derived from various sources, including the Terrorist Screening Center consolidated watchlist.

You may have heard of the "no-fly list." The "no-fly list" is essentially the highest terrorist-related classification of names derived from the TSC database. Those people whose names are on the "no-fly list" are prohibited from flying.

The next classification is "selectee," and if you face repeated delays at ports of entry, you may be classified as a selectee, or your name may be similar to that of someone classified as such. (MORE)

Ameena Mirza Qazi is a staff attorney for the Greater Los Angeles-area chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

The women in Roqaya Al Ghasara's home town in Bahrain are so proud of their pioneering Olympic sprinter that some of them got together to design and sew a set of tailor-made aerodynamic veils for her to run in.

Egyptian fencer Shaimaa El Gammal, a third-timer at the Olympics, will don Islamic headgear in Beijing for the first time. She says it is a sign she is come of age and she feels more empowered than ever.

This year's Games will see a sizable sprinkling of veiled athletes who are determined to avoid offending devout Muslims back home while showing skimpily dressed rivals there is nothing constricting about wearing a hijab.

Two of them, Bahrain's Al Ghasara and veiled Iranian rower Homa Hosseini, won the honor of being flag bearers for their countries at the opening ceremony's parade of athletes.

"The hijab has never been a problem for me. In Bahrain you grow up with it," said Al Ghasara, wearing a white baseball cap over a black veil that covers her hair and neck. Her baggy running gear exposes only her face and hands.

"There are more women in sport all the time from countries like Qatar and Kuwait. You can choose to wear the hijab or not. For me it's liberating," added Al Ghasara, whose close-fitting running veils come in red or white, the Bahraini colors.
 
Proud to be Muslim

This year an unprecedented half a dozen Egyptian athletes, three Iranians, an Afghan and a Yemeni will compete with covered heads like Al Ghasara. They say they want to inspire other women in their countries to break away from Muslim stereotypes.

"People see us wearing the scarf and think we ride camels. But Muslim women can do anything they want," said El Gammal, a bubbly 28-year-old whose sister will compete in the same event, also wearing Islamic head cover.

"When I fence I'm proud that I'm a Muslim. It's very symbolic for women in my country," El Gammal told Reuters.

Beijing's athletes' village has laid on halal food for the hundreds of Muslims staying there, but it only has a mosque for men, despite scores of Muslim women, mostly bare-headed, from countries such as Tunisia, Iran and Pakistan.

The Gulf nations of United Arab Emirates and Oman have sent women athletes to the 2008 Olympics for the first time. Three Iranian women, in headscarves, will compete in rowing, taekwondo and archery. Afghanistan has veiled sprinter Robina Muqimyar running the 100 meters. (MORE)

Click here to see the video.

Two weeks ago Maryam Abdi, 16, walked into Old Country Buffet in Fridley with an application in hand, hoping to land a job as a cashier.

But as soon as she sat down for the interview, Abdi claims the manager asked about what she was wearing on her head.

"(She asked) ‘do you always wear that scarf on your head?’ I told her ‘yes, it's part of my religion’," Abdi said.

And with that, Abdi says the interview was over.

"She told me right on the spot, ‘I can't even give you this interview because you're violating the uniform regulation’," Abdi said.

"She didn't even give me a chance," Abdi said. ‘She just judged me on what I wear and not who I am."

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS called Old Country Buffet corporate headquarters. A member of the legal team said, "We are a solid member of a diverse community and are serious about being an equal opportunity employer. We are investigating this matter."

Those with the Council on American Islamic Relations say this is a typical case of discrimination.

Taneeza Islam says the Minnesota Human Rights Act allows employees the right to practice their religion at work. She has already reached out to Old Country Buffet to educate management.

"We'd like to sit down with them and talk about the law," Islam said. "We'd like to offer our diversity training for them so they understand how religious accommodation works." (MORE)