Muslims' growing voice
By SHARON TUBBS, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published February 3, 2003
When Ahmed Bedier heard about the Seminole podiatrist
arrested last August with an arsenal of weapons,
explosives and a hit list of area mosques, he picked
up the phone. "We have a major story here," he said.
"What's the next step?"
Leaders of the Council on American-Islamic Relations
were on the other end. The next step was posting the
story on CAIR's Web site, so Muslims nationwide would
hear about it. They later called the U.S. attorney
general's office and Gov. Jeb Bush's people. Florida's
Muslim community wanted more information: Were they in
danger? Was Robert Goldstein only the tip of an
organized plot against them?
Four days after the arrest, Bush held a teleconference
with Islamic leaders. He told them he had ordered the
state Department of Law Enforcement to call mosques
from Key West to Pensacola.
CAIR, an 8-year-old grass roots organization that
started out combating Muslim stereotypes in movies and
discrimination in the workplace, has become the voice
for Muslim rights.
Since Sept. 11, 2001, discrimination complaints have
poured into its 21 chapters and liaison groups and its
national office in Washington, D.C. Membership and
contributions more than doubled, to 15,000 and
$2.5-million, respectively. Plans are under way to
expand CAIR's presence in central and northern
Florida.
But as its membership and budget prosper, so, too, do
CAIR's adversaries. Some say the organization is
trampling free speech rights and belittling an ongoing
threat of terrorism by fanatic Muslims.
CAIR presses on, nonetheless.
In recent months, CAIR has taken on a Tallahassee
newspaper columnist and an editorial cartoonist, a
Baptist preacher in Jacksonville, Western Union and
the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
"The caseload expanded so much, it exploded,
basically," said CAIR founder Omar Ahmad from his home
in San Jose, Calif. "The issues we deal with are so
much bigger and serious."
Debate over a cartoon
Someone who saw Doug Marlette's political cartoon on
the Internet called CAIR. Marlette, who works for the
Tallahassee Democrat, had drawn a man in Muslim garb
carting a missile in a Ryder truck, similar to the one
used by 1995 Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.
"What would Mohammed drive?" the cartoon read. It was
a play on the "What would Jesus drive?" movement
started by religious environmentalists who want to
discourage people from buying gas-guzzling SUVs. The
Democrat posted the cartoon on its Web site edition.
CAIR countered with an "action alert" on its Web site
that petitioned Muslims to protest with calls and
e-mails to the paper. More than 4,500 did over the
next few days.
"We have built a large infrastructure, a large
network," Ahmad says. "We utilize the Internet in a
very efficient way."
Newspaper executives pulled the cartoon from the Web
site the same day; the cartoon never made it into the
next day's printed edition. But that didn't end the
matter. The cartoon was still circulating, featured on
a CAIR news release, so more and more Muslims could
see what the paper might have printed had CAIR not
intervened. At least one outraged Muslim contacted
Democrat political writer and columnist Bill
Cotterell.
Cotterell's reply said in part that Arab nations need
to get over the creation of Israel and make peace.
"OK, they can squat around the camel-dung fire and
grumble about it, or they can put their bottoms in the
air five times a day and pray for deliverance; that's
their business," Cotterell wrote. "And I don't give a
damn if Israel kills a few in collateral damage while
defending itself. So be it."
The woman who received that e-mail called CAIR.
Another action alert was issued, this time about
Cotterell.
Cotterell apologized, saying he wished he had never
written those things. The newspaper suspended him for
a week without pay, and executive editor John Winn
Miller issued a formal apology, also posted on CAIR's
Web site.
Media pundits weighed in on the debate. CAIR had used
political correctness to stop free speech, some said.
Marlette responded in an editorial titled "No
Apologies for Free Speech." The cartoon was not a
comment against Islam, but rather the distortion of
the religion by "murderous fanatics," he said.
"My cartoon has prompted a firestorm of reaction
orchestrated by a lobbying group called CAIR," he
wrote. The objective of political cartooning, Marlette
said, is "to jab and poke in an attempt to get at
deeper truths, popular or otherwise. The truth, like
it or not, is that Muslim fundamentalists have
committed devastating acts of terrorism against our
country in the name of their prophet."
CAIR praised Cotterell's suspension but lamented that
Marlette wasn't sanctioned, too.
"We are for freedom of speech, but it's not freedom of
speech to misinterpret me in any way," Ahmad said. He
questioned whether the newspaper would have even
considered printing a cartoon that depicted
African-Americans or Jews in a negative light.
The infamous church sign
A CAIR board member in Jacksonville saw the sign
outside First Conservative Baptist Church:
Jesus forbade murder
Matthew 26 -- 52
Muhammad approved murder
Surah 8 -- 65.
He called Altaf Ali, executive director of CAIR's
Florida chapter, in Miami. Ali joined in on a
conference call with the church's pastor, the Rev.
Gene Youngblood.
The conversation started politely enough, Ali says.
"We're calling you regarding the sign you have out
there," he said. "We want you to understand that by no
means does Islam condone murder."
Youngblood countered that the sign was a matter of
free speech.
The sign quotes a surah, a passage in the Islamic
sacred text, the Koran.
"Oh Prophet! rouse the Believers to the fight," it
reads. "If there are twenty amongst you, patient and
persevering, they will vanquish two hundred: if a
hundred, they will vanquish a thousand of the
unbelievers: for these are a people without
understanding."
Ali says that Youngblood refused CAIR's request for a
meeting.
Youngblood, a biblical apologist, says he has taught
courses on world religions. First Conservative
routinely teaches comparisons of Christianity and
other beliefs. The church has recently studied Islam
and posted such comparisons on the sign, which has
been vandalized more than a dozen times, Youngblood
said in a press release. Church members have been
threatened, he said.
"First and foremost, I want the world to know that we
love the Muslim people," the release said. "We would
like to see multitudes of them come to know the Son of
God, Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. . . . We stand
firmly on our First Amendment Right: The Freedom of
Speech is Fundamental to American Liberty."
CAIR sent out a press release to non-Muslim religious
leaders throughout Florida. Soon, news of the sign had
circulated to churches and mosques as far away as
California.
Support poured in for CAIR. Newspapers wrote stories
about the sign. Some leaders wrote or called
Youngblood in protest.
From the Rev. Fred Morris, executive director of the
Florida Council of Churches: "I want to repudiate in
the strongest terms possible the outrageous and
hateful expressions of the First Conservative Baptist
Church in Jacksonville, as they accuse the Prophet
Muhammed of approving of murder."
And this from the Rev. Alan Jones of San Francisco's
United Methodist Mission: "Just wanted to let you know
that there are many Christians . . . such as myself
who are horrified by the Jacksonville church."
Problems continue
Muslims were the bad guys in the 1994 movie True Lies,
plotting to thwart Arnold Schwarzenegger's heroics.
But real-life Muslims said the movie was stereotypical
and inflammatory.
Omar Ahmad, an engineer in California, was one of
them. He was tired of book writers, media, movie
producers and corporate executives spewing misleading
images of Muslims.
He called Nihad Awad and Ibrahim Hooper, Muslims with
whom Ahmad had chatted at conferences. Muslims needed
an advocate, an organized political voice in America,
they agreed. They started CAIR, which is classified as
a nonprofit social welfare organization. They set up
headquarters in Washington because it is a "high
profile" area, Ahmad said.
CAIR has grown steadily. It started with two paid
employees and now has 35, including lawyers and a paid
communications staff.
Others volunteer for CAIR, such as Bedier in St.
Petersburg, who learned about the group last year. A
CAIR director flew in from Washington to give a
workshop at Bedier's mosque in Pinellas Park. The
event encouraged Muslims to be open about their faith
and opinions. Before then, Bedier said, he had never
thought about talking with the media and government
officials.
"I didn't really know all my options and how effective
I could be," he said.
Today CAIR is involved in other initiatives, some
far-reaching.
truncated pl see link......
By SHARON TUBBS, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published February 3, 2003
When Ahmed Bedier heard about the Seminole podiatrist
arrested last August with an arsenal of weapons,
explosives and a hit list of area mosques, he picked
up the phone. "We have a major story here," he said.
"What's the next step?"
Leaders of the Council on American-Islamic Relations
were on the other end. The next step was posting the
story on CAIR's Web site, so Muslims nationwide would
hear about it. They later called the U.S. attorney
general's office and Gov. Jeb Bush's people. Florida's
Muslim community wanted more information: Were they in
danger? Was Robert Goldstein only the tip of an
organized plot against them?
Four days after the arrest, Bush held a teleconference
with Islamic leaders. He told them he had ordered the
state Department of Law Enforcement to call mosques
from Key West to Pensacola.
CAIR, an 8-year-old grass roots organization that
started out combating Muslim stereotypes in movies and
discrimination in the workplace, has become the voice
for Muslim rights.
Since Sept. 11, 2001, discrimination complaints have
poured into its 21 chapters and liaison groups and its
national office in Washington, D.C. Membership and
contributions more than doubled, to 15,000 and
$2.5-million, respectively. Plans are under way to
expand CAIR's presence in central and northern
Florida.
But as its membership and budget prosper, so, too, do
CAIR's adversaries. Some say the organization is
trampling free speech rights and belittling an ongoing
threat of terrorism by fanatic Muslims.
CAIR presses on, nonetheless.
In recent months, CAIR has taken on a Tallahassee
newspaper columnist and an editorial cartoonist, a
Baptist preacher in Jacksonville, Western Union and
the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
"The caseload expanded so much, it exploded,
basically," said CAIR founder Omar Ahmad from his home
in San Jose, Calif. "The issues we deal with are so
much bigger and serious."
Debate over a cartoon
Someone who saw Doug Marlette's political cartoon on
the Internet called CAIR. Marlette, who works for the
Tallahassee Democrat, had drawn a man in Muslim garb
carting a missile in a Ryder truck, similar to the one
used by 1995 Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.
"What would Mohammed drive?" the cartoon read. It was
a play on the "What would Jesus drive?" movement
started by religious environmentalists who want to
discourage people from buying gas-guzzling SUVs. The
Democrat posted the cartoon on its Web site edition.
CAIR countered with an "action alert" on its Web site
that petitioned Muslims to protest with calls and
e-mails to the paper. More than 4,500 did over the
next few days.
"We have built a large infrastructure, a large
network," Ahmad says. "We utilize the Internet in a
very efficient way."
Newspaper executives pulled the cartoon from the Web
site the same day; the cartoon never made it into the
next day's printed edition. But that didn't end the
matter. The cartoon was still circulating, featured on
a CAIR news release, so more and more Muslims could
see what the paper might have printed had CAIR not
intervened. At least one outraged Muslim contacted
Democrat political writer and columnist Bill
Cotterell.
Cotterell's reply said in part that Arab nations need
to get over the creation of Israel and make peace.
"OK, they can squat around the camel-dung fire and
grumble about it, or they can put their bottoms in the
air five times a day and pray for deliverance; that's
their business," Cotterell wrote. "And I don't give a
damn if Israel kills a few in collateral damage while
defending itself. So be it."
The woman who received that e-mail called CAIR.
Another action alert was issued, this time about
Cotterell.
Cotterell apologized, saying he wished he had never
written those things. The newspaper suspended him for
a week without pay, and executive editor John Winn
Miller issued a formal apology, also posted on CAIR's
Web site.
Media pundits weighed in on the debate. CAIR had used
political correctness to stop free speech, some said.
Marlette responded in an editorial titled "No
Apologies for Free Speech." The cartoon was not a
comment against Islam, but rather the distortion of
the religion by "murderous fanatics," he said.
"My cartoon has prompted a firestorm of reaction
orchestrated by a lobbying group called CAIR," he
wrote. The objective of political cartooning, Marlette
said, is "to jab and poke in an attempt to get at
deeper truths, popular or otherwise. The truth, like
it or not, is that Muslim fundamentalists have
committed devastating acts of terrorism against our
country in the name of their prophet."
CAIR praised Cotterell's suspension but lamented that
Marlette wasn't sanctioned, too.
"We are for freedom of speech, but it's not freedom of
speech to misinterpret me in any way," Ahmad said. He
questioned whether the newspaper would have even
considered printing a cartoon that depicted
African-Americans or Jews in a negative light.
The infamous church sign
A CAIR board member in Jacksonville saw the sign
outside First Conservative Baptist Church:
Jesus forbade murder
Matthew 26 -- 52
Muhammad approved murder
Surah 8 -- 65.
He called Altaf Ali, executive director of CAIR's
Florida chapter, in Miami. Ali joined in on a
conference call with the church's pastor, the Rev.
Gene Youngblood.
The conversation started politely enough, Ali says.
"We're calling you regarding the sign you have out
there," he said. "We want you to understand that by no
means does Islam condone murder."
Youngblood countered that the sign was a matter of
free speech.
The sign quotes a surah, a passage in the Islamic
sacred text, the Koran.
"Oh Prophet! rouse the Believers to the fight," it
reads. "If there are twenty amongst you, patient and
persevering, they will vanquish two hundred: if a
hundred, they will vanquish a thousand of the
unbelievers: for these are a people without
understanding."
Ali says that Youngblood refused CAIR's request for a
meeting.
Youngblood, a biblical apologist, says he has taught
courses on world religions. First Conservative
routinely teaches comparisons of Christianity and
other beliefs. The church has recently studied Islam
and posted such comparisons on the sign, which has
been vandalized more than a dozen times, Youngblood
said in a press release. Church members have been
threatened, he said.
"First and foremost, I want the world to know that we
love the Muslim people," the release said. "We would
like to see multitudes of them come to know the Son of
God, Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. . . . We stand
firmly on our First Amendment Right: The Freedom of
Speech is Fundamental to American Liberty."
CAIR sent out a press release to non-Muslim religious
leaders throughout Florida. Soon, news of the sign had
circulated to churches and mosques as far away as
California.
Support poured in for CAIR. Newspapers wrote stories
about the sign. Some leaders wrote or called
Youngblood in protest.
From the Rev. Fred Morris, executive director of the
Florida Council of Churches: "I want to repudiate in
the strongest terms possible the outrageous and
hateful expressions of the First Conservative Baptist
Church in Jacksonville, as they accuse the Prophet
Muhammed of approving of murder."
And this from the Rev. Alan Jones of San Francisco's
United Methodist Mission: "Just wanted to let you know
that there are many Christians . . . such as myself
who are horrified by the Jacksonville church."
Problems continue
Muslims were the bad guys in the 1994 movie True Lies,
plotting to thwart Arnold Schwarzenegger's heroics.
But real-life Muslims said the movie was stereotypical
and inflammatory.
Omar Ahmad, an engineer in California, was one of
them. He was tired of book writers, media, movie
producers and corporate executives spewing misleading
images of Muslims.
He called Nihad Awad and Ibrahim Hooper, Muslims with
whom Ahmad had chatted at conferences. Muslims needed
an advocate, an organized political voice in America,
they agreed. They started CAIR, which is classified as
a nonprofit social welfare organization. They set up
headquarters in Washington because it is a "high
profile" area, Ahmad said.
CAIR has grown steadily. It started with two paid
employees and now has 35, including lawyers and a paid
communications staff.
Others volunteer for CAIR, such as Bedier in St.
Petersburg, who learned about the group last year. A
CAIR director flew in from Washington to give a
workshop at Bedier's mosque in Pinellas Park. The
event encouraged Muslims to be open about their faith
and opinions. Before then, Bedier said, he had never
thought about talking with the media and government
officials.
"I didn't really know all my options and how effective
I could be," he said.
Today CAIR is involved in other initiatives, some
far-reaching.
truncated pl see link......
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