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Ammar Campa-Najjar Appointed to California Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board (RIPA)
On Monday May 24, 2021, California Speaker Rendon announced his appointment of former 50th Congressional candidate, Ammar Campa-Najjar, to the Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory (RIPA) Board — as part of Dr. Weber’s 2016 AB953.
According to national political commentators, in 2018 Ammar was the target of one of the most xenophobic and bigoted attacks in modern history by Duncan Hunter Jr.
At the direction of the Legislature, as a RIPA board member, Ammar is charged to eliminate racial and identity profiling, and improve diversity and racial and identity sensitivity in law enforcement.
Ammar Campa-Najjar released the following statement:
“As someone who has dealt with discrimination, xenophobia, and bigotry personally, I’m honored to be part of the solution. It’s true that law enforcement, and American society as a whole, has a problematic history with racial and identity profiling that all of us must work together to overcome. From slave patrols to escalated traffic stops, policing has a history of systemic discrimination in America that continues to have fatal consequences; from a failed war on drugs that disproportionately targets Black and Brown communities; to the post 9/11 Patriot Act which authorized the use of profiling, surveilling, interrogating, detaining and sometimes the use of physical force against Muslims, South Asians and Arab Americans without due process; to the surge of hate crimes and deadly violence against the LGBTQ+ community, Asian Americans and Jewish Americans by the hands of Domestic Violent Extremists,” Campa-Najjar said.
“I’m honored to join a diverse group of members that represent the public, law enforcement and educators, and look forward to being an active voice for our communities.”
One of the responsibilities of the RIPA Board has been to develop the stop-data collection process. RIPA’s goal is to listen to marginalized communities, collect empirical and anecdotal data, and provide lawmakers with an annual report of recommendations, remedies, and solutions. The RIPA Board aims to strengthen law enforcement-community relations in California through collaboration, transparency, and accountability. The California Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General, has the primary oversight of the RIPA Board.
Ammar Campa-Najjar is a former Obama Administration official, small business owner, San Diegan, and the first Palestinian-Mexican American to run for Congress.
Editor’s Note: Ammar Campa-Najjar has repeatedly responded to requests for information and interviews. His Republican opponent, Darrell Issa has repeatedly refused to respond to interview requests, inquiries or any issue involving the rights of Arab Americans.
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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