AJC Statement to Congress on Protecting Civil Rights of Muslim Americans

["Ari Gordon" <gordona@ajc.org>]

AJC Statement to Congress on Protecting Civil Rights of Muslim Americans

>Statement of Richard T. Foltin, Esq.

>Director of National and Legislative Affairs

Office of Government and International Affairs

>American Jewish Committee

Submitted on behalf of the American Jewish Committee to

>The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee 

on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Human Rights

Hearing on "Protecting the Civil Rights of American Muslims"

>Held on March 29, 2011

>The Statement begins as follows:

My name is Richard Foltin.  I am Director of National and Legislative
Affairs in the Office of Government and International Affairs of the
American Jewish Committee.  I appreciate the opportunity to submit a
statement on behalf of AJC for the record of this hearing on "Protecting the
Civil Rights of Muslim Americans." 

Since its establishment in 1906 in response to persecution of Jews taking
place in Russia, AJC has been strongly committed to the security of our
country and the American Jewish community, as well as to protecting the
civil rights and civil liberties of the Jewish community and of all
Americans.  It has long been a priority of AJC's mission to promote better
relations and interfaith understanding among the nation's faith communities,
including the Muslim community. 

It is appropriate and praiseworthy that this committee hold a hearing on
civil rights issues impacting the Muslim American community.  As we are all
aware, this hearing comes at a time when many of our Muslim fellow civilians
feel vulnerable and uncertain as they face continuing-and, we have reason to
fear in light of the harsh rhetoric of the last several months, even
increasing-violence and discrimination directed at Muslims and those who are
perceived as Muslims. 

There is no question that our nation faces a threat of homegrown terrorism
inspired by Islamic extremist ideology and its continuing impact on our
country-not the only such threat, to be sure, but one that looms large,
especially when one considers that the Jewish community has been
specifically targeted by Islamic extremist homegrown terrorists.
Nevertheless, even as we must not hesitate to identify and confront the very
real threat of an Islamic extremist ideology and its purveyors that imperils
our nation's security, we must also be ever-vigilant against discrimination.
It is essential that we all tread carefully-avoiding rhetoric that smacks of
stereotyping members of a particular faith and avoiding actions that amount
to discrimination against, much less persecution of, members of a faith
group based on their identity or beliefs, or on the illegal actions of a
few.

Read the rest of the statement at: 

http://www.ajc.org/atf/cf/%7B42d75369-d582-4380-8395-d25925b85eaf%7D/SJC_CIV
IL_RIGHTS_MUSLIMS_03292011.PDF 

>Posted by:

>Ari M. Gordon
>Special Advisor 
>Interreligious and Intergroup Relations
>American Jewish Committee
>165 E56th Street
>New York, NY 10022
>(212) 891-6717