Religious Persecution

A few weeks ago Representative King (R. NY) held hearings on the Muslim American radicalization were pure bigotry. By focusing on the Muslim community, he is using the hearings for political gains and to demonize the Muslim community. If Rep. King wanted to hold hearing on terrorism, I would not be writing this, but by excluding of sources of terrorism he has made his hearing a vendetta against Muslims.

The terrorist attempt you've never heard of
Salon
By Justin Elliott
Feb 19, 2011

One month ago, a bomb was found along a Martin Luther King Day parade route in Spokane, Wash., an area with a troubled history of violence by white supremacist groups. The FBI quickly announced that the backpack bomb, which was found by chance not long before marchers were scheduled to walk by, was sophisticated and could have caused "multiple casualties." Authorities even used the phrase "domestic terrorism" to describe the incident.

Or

Rally at Oregon State draws 150 to decry mosque burning in aftermath of Portland bomb plot
The Oregonian
By Candice Ruud,
December 02, 2010

Despite the closure of the Memorial Union Quad at Oregon State University because of ESPN Game Day's coverage of the Civil War, about 150 people showed up on the MU's steps to tie on white arm bands at the Rally for Peace, a response to Sunday morning's burning of a Corvallis mosque.

Then there was this…

Fire at Tenn. Mosque Building Site Ruled Arson
Construction Equipment at Site of Planned Islamic Center Torched; Vocal Protests Against Mosque Have Been Ongoing
CBS News
Aug. 28, 2010

Federal officials are investigating a fire that started overnight at the site of a new Islamic center in a Nashville suburb.

Ben Goodwin of the Rutherford County Sheriff's Department confirmed to CBS Affiliate WTVF that the fire, which burned construction equipment at the future site of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro, is being ruled as arson.

Special Agent Andy Anderson of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives told CBS News that the fire destroyed one piece of construction equipment and damaged three others. Gas was poured over the equipment to start the fire, Anderson said.

Do you remember this incident…
August 2008

Police: Killer targeted church for liberal views 2 people killed, seven hurt, after man opens fire in Tennessee church
MSNBC
Associated Press
7/28/2008

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — An out-of-work truck driver accused of opening fire at a Unitarian church, killing two people, left behind a note suggesting that he targeted the congregation out of hatred for its liberal policies, including its acceptance of gays, authorities said Monday.

Back in 2004 USA Today wrote this article on domestic terrorism,

>Domestic terrorism: New trouble at home
USA Today
By Larry Copeland
Posted 11/14/2004

[…]
But some of the alleged domestic terrorists who have been arrested had ambitious plans. The people and groups range from white supremacists, anti-government types and militia members to eco-terrorists and people who hate corporations. They include violent anti-abortionists and black and brown nationalists who envision a separate state for blacks and Latinos. And they have been busy.

"Not a lot of attention is being paid to this, because everybody is concerned about the guy in a turban. But there are still plenty of angry, Midwestern white guys out there," says U.S. Marshals Service chief inspector Geoff Shank.
[…]
Among the incidents since 9/11:

• Last month in Tennessee, the FBI arrested a man who agents say hated the federal government and was attempting to acquire chemical weapons and explosives to blow up a government building. Demetrius "Van" Crocker, 39, of McKenzie, Tenn., pleaded not guilty Nov. 5. His attorney, public defender Stephen Shankman, did not return calls.

• In May, Krar, 63, of Noonday, Texas, was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison after he stockpiled enough sodium cyanide to kill everyone inside a 30,000-square-foot building. Krar, described by federal prosecutors as a white supremacist, also had nine machine guns, 67 sticks of explosives and more than 100,000 rounds of ammunition. Investigators and the federal prosecutor said they didn't know what Krar intended to do with the potentially deadly chemicals. Krar's common-law wife, Judith Bruey, 55, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess illegal weapons and was sentenced to nearly five years.

• Last month in Utah, two men described by the U.S. attorney there as "domestic terrorists" pleaded guilty to setting separate arson fires related to eco-terrorism. Justus Ireland, 23, admitted starting a fire that caused $1.5 million damage at a West Jordan lumber company and spray-painting "ELF" at the site. The Earth Liberation Front has been connected to dozens of acts of vandalism and arson around the country since 1996. Joshua Demmitt, 18, of Provo, pleaded guilty to starting a fire at Brigham Young University's Ellsworth Farm, where animal experiments are conducted, in the name of the Animal Liberation Front. A third man, Harrison Burrows, 18, also of Provo, pleaded guilty earlier.

• In May, the FBI's domestic terrorism unit charged seven members of an animal rights group with terrorism after investigating what they said was a marked increase in crimes to stop the use of animals for product-testing. The activists, arrested in New York, New Jersey, California and Washington state, are members of Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty. The group seeks to shut down Huntingdon Life Sciences, a New Jersey product-testing company.

Prosecutors allege that the activists set fire to Huntingdon employees' cars, vandalized shareholders' homes and threatened their families. They are charged with conspiring to commit terrorism against an enterprise that uses animals for research and could face up to three years in prison if convicted.

• In May, a Brookfield, Wis., man labeled a domestic terrorist by federal prosecutors received an eight-year prison sentence for interfering with Madison police radio frequencies. Rajib Mitra, 26, had blocked police radio signals and later broadcast sex sounds over police radios. His attorney argued that the transmissions were an accident.

Mitra was one of the first defendants sentenced under guidelines changed after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The changes, effective Nov. 5, 2003, impose stiffer penalties for domestic terrorism. Under the previous sentencing guidelines, Mitra probably would have been sentenced to 18 to 24 months.

There have been many other incidents around the country, the Southern Poverty Law Center reported that,

U.S. Hate Groups Top 1,000
SPLC
02/23/2011

The number of active hate groups in the United States topped 1,000 for the first time and the antigovernment “Patriot” movement expanded dramatically for the second straight year as the radical right showed continued explosive growth in 2010.

Several factors fueled the growth: resentment over the changing racial demographics of the country, frustration over the lagging economy, and the mainstreaming of conspiracy theories and other demonizing propaganda aimed at minorities and the government.

Rep. King’s hearing totally ignored the real threat to the country when he only focused on Muslims. He is grandstanding for his Tea Party constituents at the expense of the Muslim community. His committee hearings create an climate when people think that it is permissible to attach minorities.

In answer to Rep. Kings hearings, Sen. Dick Durbin (D Il) conducted his own hearings

SPLC Testifies About Rising Anti-Muslim Sentiment
by Booth Gunter
March 29, 2011

Anti-Muslim bigotry is once again on the march, thanks in large part to hate groups like Stop Islamization of America, which helped gin up nationwide hysteria last year over a planned Islamic cultural center near the site of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in Manhattan.

Since the controversy over the “ground zero mosque” erupted last May, we’ve seen a steady drumbeat of news accounts of hate crimes and bias incidents aimed at Muslims – too many to ignore. And U.S. Rep. Peter King’s Islamophobic hearings almost three weeks ago on the radicalization of Muslims in America didn’t help matters.

So the hearings that began today in the Senate, conducted by Sen. Dick Durbin, are a welcome development. Durbin, chair of the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights, announced last week that he would hold hearings “in response to the spike in anti-Muslim bigotry in the last year including Quran burnings, restrictions on mosque construction, hate crimes, hate speech and other forms of discrimination.”

This week, religious bigoted pastor burned the Quran setting off demonstrations around the world against the US, killing dozens of people.

Obama decries Quran-burning, violent responses
By the CNN Wire Staff
April 2, 2011

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- The deadly protests in northern Afghanistan over a Quran burning spread to the country's war-torn southern region on Saturday, with provincial government officials reporting at least nine civilians dead and dozens injured.

The violence struck the city of Kandahar when demonstrators took to the streets to protest the torching of Islam's most sacred book by a U.S. church.

The unrest followed a demonstration on Friday in the northern town of Mazar-e Sharif, in which five demonstrators and seven U.N. employees were killed when an angry throng stormed the U.N. compound there.

Pastor Terry Jones remains defiant over the deaths that he has caused. According to the British Guardian, “Pastor Terry Jones insisted last night that his actions bore no responsibility for the murders in Mazar-e-Sharif.”

It is time to end this Islamophobia that is sweeping the country and denounce the hate groups that are fueling the fires.

Stop the Hate!