January
2007
An Interfaith Appeal and Open Letter to Senator Barbara Boxer
Many of you are familiar with CAIR—the Council on American Islamic Relations—and know it to be an entirely reputable civil rights organization. We work closely with CAIR in Southern California, where it forms a bulwark of the interfaith world committed to peace and justice.
CAIR urgently needs our help as it seeks to undo a mistake made in haste by Senator Barbara Boxer. Not long ago, Sen. Boxer’s office gave an award of recognition to CAIR’s very able representative in Sacramento, Basim Elkarra. This award triggered an immediate outburst of sniper fire from extreme Islamophobes Joe Kaufman and Steve Emerson so that—in a panic response—Sen. Boxer hastily rescinded the award.
Senator Boxer needs to say forthrightly that she can find no evidence to the effect that CAIR endorses terrorism or offers support and comfort to groups engaged in terrorism. Ranking FBI officials have said on many occasions that CAIR is an important partner in working against terrorism and the hatreds that fuel terrorism; Sen. Boxer should find it possible to say something similar with no difficulty.
Please let Senator Boxer know that you are a concerned person of faith who supports the work and contributions of CAIR by signing the following petition at http://www.fvcommunity.org/cair/cairletter.html.
Please Reject Islamophobia and
Restore the Good Name of CAIR
(Council on American Islamic Relations)
Dear Sen. Boxer:
As interfaith leaders and concerned citizens, we are alarmed that you hastily rescinded the appropriate recognition your office had given to Basim Elkarra, who represents the Council on American Islamic Relations in Sacramento.
You took this action rashly after the award came under intense attack from Joe Kaufman, Steve Emerson, and others who make it their particular business to discredit and defame Islamic organizations based in the U.S. You did not consult people like ourselves before rescinding the award. We could and would have freely and accurately characterized CAIR as a responsible and highly-esteemed force for reconciliation and sanity, both in international affairs and in deepening interfaith understanding here in the United States.
Our purpose, however, is not to scold but to ask very simply that you not put CAIR at further risk of isolation and defamation. You can do this by stating clearly that you have not found any evidence to the effect that CAIR endorses terrorism or offers support and comfort to groups that engage in terrorism. The FBI will be happy to assist you in this.
We believe that the staff who advised you to rescind the award to Mr. Elkarra did so out of a panic response, recognizing that people like Kaufman and Emerson are capable of doing damage to your own reputation and exposing you to ridicule for allegedly consorting with a questionable organization. We believe that much greater damage to your reputation is being done every single day that your actual and grave mistake�rescinding the award rather than taking time to discover the facts�is allowed to stand. But more than this, we are profoundly disturbed by the immense long-term damage now being done to CAIR�s reputation, to intergroup relations, and to American principles as a result of a tempest precipitated by some extreme right-wing Islamophobes.
We in California have particularly sad memories of what can happen when a minority group is unfairly and unjustly isolated, accused, and convicted in the public�s mind as disloyal and dangerous. The internment camps for Japanese Americans stand as a stark reminder of the danger and tragedy that loom near when entire groups are subjected to character assassination and false charges.
Please show us that you understand the danger, that your principles remain strong, and that you are committed to a truly open society in which a particular faith tradition or ethnic background may never again be automatically equated with disloyalty. State clearly and unambiguously what we all know and attest to be true: that CAIR is a worthy participant in our ongoing democratic discourse and in our interfaith community life.
To sign, please visit http://www.fvcommunity.org/cair/cairletter.html.
Dear Sen. Boxer:
As interfaith leaders and concerned citizens, we are alarmed that you hastily rescinded the appropriate recognition your office had given to Basim Elkarra, who represents the Council on American Islamic Relations in Sacramento.
You took this action rashly after the award came under intense attack from Joe Kaufman, Steve Emerson, and others who make it their particular business to discredit and defame Islamic organizations based in the U.S. You did not consult people like ourselves before rescinding the award. We could and would have freely and accurately characterized CAIR as a responsible and highly-esteemed force for reconciliation and sanity, both in international affairs and in deepening interfaith understanding here in the United States.
Our purpose, however, is not to scold but to ask very simply that you not put CAIR at further risk of isolation and defamation. You can do this by stating clearly that you have not found any evidence to the effect that CAIR endorses terrorism or offers support and comfort to groups that engage in terrorism. The FBI will be happy to assist you in this.
We believe that the staff who advised you to rescind the award to Mr. Elkarra did so out of a panic response, recognizing that people like Kaufman and Emerson are capable of doing damage to your own reputation and exposing you to ridicule for allegedly consorting with a questionable organization. We believe that much greater damage to your reputation is being done every single day that your actual and grave mistake�rescinding the award rather than taking time to discover the facts�is allowed to stand. But more than this, we are profoundly disturbed by the immense long-term damage now being done to CAIR�s reputation, to intergroup relations, and to American principles as a result of a tempest precipitated by some extreme right-wing Islamophobes.
We in California have particularly sad memories of what can happen when a minority group is unfairly and unjustly isolated, accused, and convicted in the public�s mind as disloyal and dangerous. The internment camps for Japanese Americans stand as a stark reminder of the danger and tragedy that loom near when entire groups are subjected to character assassination and false charges.
Please show us that you understand the danger, that your principles remain strong, and that you are committed to a truly open society in which a particular faith tradition or ethnic background may never again be automatically equated with disloyalty. State clearly and unambiguously what we all know and attest to be true: that CAIR is a worthy participant in our ongoing democratic discourse and in our interfaith community life.
i agree 100% with this letter to senator boxer, its time to remove the hatemongers out of our political stage. senator boxer is and should be too smart to fall into their trap of trying to spread hate amongst muslim,jews and christians.
CAIR works for harmony, dialogue, and justice in the arena of the plurality of religions in the U.S. CAIR is proactive to work in cooperation with Jews and Christians to reduce tension, terrorism, and misunderstanding in the socio-religious tinderboxes of Iraq and the Middle East. CAIR has supplied an inspiring Imam as speaker for our church, Sage Granada Park United Methodist Church, Alhambra, CA. I was chair of the Committee for Interfaith Dialogue for this church.
I agree 100% with this letter to senator boxer, its time to remove the hatemongers out of our political stage. senator boxer is and should be too smart to fall into their trap of trying to spread hate amongst muslim,jews and christians.
It is time to stop bashing the innocent muslims who are good citizens of United States of America.