A report on the status of Muslims’ civil rights for 2003 was released on May 3, 2004 by the Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), revealing a 70 percent increase in anti-Muslim incidents in the United States, compared to 2002, and jumping by 278 percent when compared to 2001, prior to the attacks of September 11.
CAIR, one of the largest American Muslims civil rights organizations, reports a 121 percent increase in the number of hate crimes inflicted on American Muslims from 2002 to 2003, leading to damage to property and institutions, in addition to the murder of some individuals. For instance, a sniper in New York state was convicted for killing four people in the period between Feb. 8 and March 20, 2003, in revenge for the 9/11 attacks. The victims included an Arab, an Indian, an Ukrainian and a citizen from Guyana.
The document also reports a sharp increase in the number of incidents of discrimination in government institutions, reaching 33 percent of the overall reported cases, compared to 23 percent for 2002. This ranks government institutions’ discrimination first among the different sources of discrimination against American Muslims in 2003.
Discrimination in the workplace ranked second at 23 percent, falling from first place in previous year. In 2003, discrimination decreased in American airports as well as in Florida, Massachusetts, North Carolina, and Michigan.
Meanwhile, Arizona, New York, California and New Jersey witnessed a sharp rise in discrimination incidents committed against Muslims in 2003, ranging between 233 and 485 percent increase. The report attributes this to five main reasons:
- The environment of fear and concern since 9/11.
- The war on Iraq and the mounting support for this war.
- Widespread increase in anti-Muslim and anti-Islam rhetoric, depicting American Muslims as followers of an evil religion and as enemies of America.
- The Patriotic Act and its selective application had dangerous and negative implications on the rights and liberties of American Muslims.
- The active increase of American Muslims reporting incidents of discrimination, which helped CAIR to document the rise in the number of cases in year 2003.
The report includes some recommendations to stem the violations on the rights and liberties of American Muslims, including appealing to Congress to organize a series of hearings to investigate policies that led to this situation, sanctioning the use of enforcement laws in racial profiling, strengthening special laws that prevent hate crimes, and limiting violations related to the applications of the Patriotic Act.
CAIR announced the results of this report at a press conference held on May 3, 2004 at the National Press Club in Washington, attended by representatives of CAIR, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and Smart.
Professor Mohammad Nemr, editor of the report and head of the research department at CAIR, mentioned that in 2003, different chapters of the organization received more than 1750 letters from Muslim victims of discrimination. CAIR investigated and documented those petitions before recording the 1019 cases, included in this ninth annual report.
Nemr said that this “troubling increase in the number of discrimination cases against American Muslims is a wakeup call to talk shows’ presenters who are misusing their public positions to spread hatred against Muslims.”
On behalf of the ACLU, Gregory Nujeim said during the conference that CAIR’s report clarifies “how far some of the American security policies went, much further than what is requested and is necessary after the unfortunate 9/11 attacks; and how in many occasions, the government made unnecessary violations of civil rights, which had no real positive effect on public safety... while clearly harming American Muslims, and especially Arabs and South Asians.”
Omar Ahmad, president of CAIR’s National Board, affirmed that with this report CAIR aims to improve the environment of freedom in the United States by raising awareness about these cases and attempting to limit them. He commented on the bi-partisan encouragement and cooperation they have received for this initiative, as well as the support from non-profit organizations, especially the local ones, and the cooperation of Muslim Americans themselves in reporting what they are going through. Ahmad considered that more resources, more offices and a larger staff would help CAIR to expose more discrimination cases in the coming years. He summarized the results of the ninth annual report as follows:
- The increase of overall discrimination incidents, from 602 to 1019, represents a 70 percent rise since 2002 and a 278 percent increase since 2001 prior to 9/11, when 366 incidents were reported. CAIR has periodically reported on these incidents since 1995, when some media and political resources quickly held American Muslims responsible for the Oklahoma City bombing, provoking a wave of unfair popular attacks.
- One of the important results of this report was showing that hate crimes against American Muslims had increased in 2003 at a rate of 121 percent compared to 2002.
- A map of discrimination incidents based on geography, with California and New York at the top.
- A distribution map of discrimination based on places of incidents, with government institutions at the top after an increase of 33 percent in 2003, compared to 23 percent in 2002. Work environment came in second place at 23 percent (234 incidents), and schools at 7 percent (71 cases), both remaining at same level as 2002. Schools kept the same pace regarding discrimination involving 7 percent (71 cases), while the number of incidents at U.S. airports decreased from 14 percent in 2002 (84) to 4 percent in 2003 (41).
- The report indicates that the workplace is the most common site for discrimination with 16 percent, while prohibiting Muslims to perform their religious rites in public institutions came in second place (15 percent), with verbal harassment ranks verbal harassment, racial profiling and selective application of the law in third place at 13 percent of the overall discrimination incidents in 2003.
