August 3, 2011

Earlier today, the Muslim Public Affairs Council applauded the efforts of the White House’s national strategy report, “Empowering Local Partners to Prevent Violent Extremism in the United States,” in countering violent extremism, one of MPAC’s core issues and initiatives.

SEE: White House Report “Empower Local Partners to Prevent Violent Extremism in the United States”

The White House report echoes MPAC’s long-standing position of emphasizing community-based solutions in addressing violent extremism. The report recognizes that communities are the greatest force against any attempt to take advantage of the most vulnerable populations in our society.

“Communities are the first line of defense against every kind of extremism,” said MPAC President Salam Al-Marayati. “The vital efforts to prevent radicalization must be rooted at the local level and must respect the division of labor between communities and law enforcement agencies.”

The report also calls upon the government to facilitate partnerships between local communities and law enforcement. MPAC has long encouraged such collaborations, most notably in our recent report, "Building Bridges to Strengthen America,” which outlines a model for establishing a community-law enforcement partnership based on the idea of division of labor.

Prominent figures such as Los Angles County Sheriff Lee Baca have spoken about the importance of their relationship with MPAC and the Muslim Community.

In addition, the White House report demands rigorous standards to ensure law enforcement is being properly trained. This comes in the wake of recent media investigations by NPR and CNN of counterterrorism training done by bigoted Islamophobes such as Walid Shoebat.

MPAC has continuously tackled the problem of violent extremism, both in the aforementioned report and a 2004 National Grassroots Campaign to Fight Terrorism. We remain committed to defending our nation from all possible threats to security.