November 9, 2012

On Friday, Nov. 9, Haris Tarin, the Director of MPAC's DC Office, will testify at U.S. Commission on Civil Rights briefing on “Federal Civil Rights Engagement with the Arab and Muslim American Communities Post 9/11.”

The briefing will take place at Commission headquarters (1331 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite 1150, Washington, DC 20425), and interested members from the public are invited to attend.

In the wake of 9/11, federal government enforcement components made proactive engagement with the Arab and American Muslim community a new, distinct, national civil rights priority.

At the same time, the sustained national security emergency that began on 9/11 prompted new anti-terrorism programs with resources and attention from federal agencies which saw in religious, national and ethnic communities the seeds of a national security challenge — especially within the Arab and American Muslim community.

Some of these programs have created real concerns for their civil rights impacts on these American communities. Evaluating the success and failure of the federal government in engaging the Arab and American Muslim community post 9/11 is significant in terms of redressing the real discrimination faced by that community, but may be also instructive of how the federal government should respond in national crises or similar future events. 

This briefing will consist of experts from civil rights organizations, academic institutions and the federal government who will assess the government’s outreach to Arab and American Muslimcommunities over a decade after the 9/11 tragedy. 

Others testifying before the Commission include scholars and representatives from the Arab American Institute, Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, the American Islamic Congress, the Muslim Bar Association of New York, Brandeis University, Boston College, UCLA School of Law, Texas Wesleyan School of Law, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division.

In his capacity as the DC Director, Tarin engages various agencies within government including the White House, Department of Justice, State Department, Department of Homeland Security and offices on Capitol Hill. This past summer, President Obama chose to call three leading young Americans to discuss various policy issues; the President called and then met with Haris to discuss policies pertaining to national security, countering violent extremism, the American Muslim community and civic engagement.