AHRC urges the Arab and Muslim American community to be vigilant, and to report suspicious activity to the authorities:
In light of the drastic increase of bigoted and misinformed anti- Muslim rhetoric and Islamophobia that recently increased as a result of the horrific terrorist attacks in Paris, AHRC urges the Arab and American community to remain vigilant and report suspicious activity to the authorities.
AHRC is deeply alarmed by the nature of public comments on the social media that are fanning the flames of hate against Arabs and Muslims. AHRC is most disheartened by the rising number of elected officials and candidates for political office who are shamelessly using the terrorist attacks for political gains by pandering to Islamophobia.
We at AHRC, along with countless fellow human beings around the globe, grieve for the victims and unequivocally condemn all terrorist attacks as crimes against humanity. However, condemnation of a whole demographic group based on faith or national origin only and casting the shadow of the blame on all based on guilt by association is immoral, unfair, and un-American.
AHRC reaffirms its position that terrorism recognizes no religion, no nationality, no race and no borders. The threat requires our unity, division plays into the terrorists’ hands. Under no circumstances should we surrender our values and our moral code as a thoughtless reaction for the terrorism of a tiny minority.
AHRC recognizes that ignorance, hate and bigotry are our common enemies that always victimize the innocent and rarely the guilty. AHRC continues to urge members of the Arab and Muslim American communities to exercise caution and be vigilant. Advocates of hates continue to promote hatred against people of the Muslim faith in America and around the world. It is unfortunate that certain American US Media outlets are contributing to this intensification of Islamophobia against law- abiding citizens. AHRC salutes fellow Americans and elected officials who have offered their solidarity condemning any act of hate against any fellow citizen stressing that our unity as Americans.
AHRC salutes President Obama’s and candidate Hilary Clinton’s strong stand that America’s war is not with Islam but with those radicals and extremists who commit horrific crimes under all kinds of pretexts.
In this tense environment, AHRC commends the work of local, national, and federal law- enforcement agencies who have reached out to the community at large noting their readiness to act swiftly against any act of hate. We have full trust and confidence in law enforcement, especially the local police and the FBI. AHRC calls upon all members of the community to immediately notify authorities of any threats and not take matters into their own hands.
“Unfortunately, again, the overwhelmingly law- abiding people in the Muslim and American communities find themselves at the mercy of the public’s reaction to the terrorist acts of a few individuals,” said Imad Hamad, AHRC Executive Director. “We urge politicians to think long and hard of the implications of the statements they make and the position that they make in these extraordinary times. When it comes to Islamophobia and hate crimes, the statements they make and the positions they take can make a huge difference,” said Hamad.
Ray Hanania is an award winning political and humor columnist who analyzes American and Middle East politics, and life in general. He is an author of several books.
Hanania covered Chicago Politics and Chicago City Hall from 1976 through 1992 at the Daily Southtown and the Chicago Sun-Times. He began writing in 1975 publishing The Middle Eastern Voice newspaper in Chicago (1975-1977). He later published “The National Arab American Times” newspaper (2004-2007).
Hanania writes weekly columns on Middle East and American Arab issues as Special US Correspondent for the Arab News ArabNews.com, at TheArabDailyNews.com, and at SuburbanChicagoland.com. He has published weekly columns in the Jerusalem Post newspaper, YNetNews.com, Newsday, the Orlando Sentinel, Houston Chronical, and Arlington Heights Daily Herald.
Hanania is the recipient of four (4) Chicago Headline Club “Peter Lisagor Awards” for Column writing. In November 2006, he was named “Best Ethnic American Columnist” by the New American Media. In 2009, Hanania received the prestigious Sigma Delta Chi Award for Writing from the Society of Professional Journalists. He is the recipient of the MT Mehdi Courage in Journalism Award. He was honored for his writing skills with two (2) Chicago Stick-o-Type awards from the Chicago Newspaper Guild. In 1990, Hanania was nominated by the Chicago Sun-Times editors for a Pulitzer Prize for his four-part series on the Palestinian Intifada.
His writings have also been honored by two national Awards from ADC for his writing, and from the National Arab American Journalists Association.
Hanania is the US Special Correspondent for the Arab News Newspaper, covering Middle East and Arab American issues. He writes for the Southwest News newspaper group writing on mainstream American issues.
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