January 14, 2008

On Friday, January 11, award-winning author and Georgetown Law School Professor David Cole spoke at a special event co-sponsored by MPAC at the UCLA School of Law entitled "Guilty Until Proven Innocent: Civil Rights Abuses Against Muslim Americans and Middle Easterners."

Co-hosted by the UCLA School of Law Critical Race Studies Program and MPAC, the panel also featured MPAC Senior Advisor Dr. Maher Hathout and Dr. Laila Al-Marayati, chairperson of KinderUSA.

Before a standing room only audience, Professor Cole discussed his latest book Less Safe, Less Free: Why America Is Losing the War on Terror. He described how the Administration has shifted towards a "preventative paradigm" since 9/11, targeting individuals or groups based on predictions of behavior rather than on evidence of what has been done. Cole cited examples such as preventive detention measures, coercive interrogations, and the war in Iraq.

Cole also mentioned that a total of 96,000 people have been singled out in post-9/11 detentions, the INS Registration Program, and other domestic counterterrorism efforts. However, not a single person has been found guilty of any terrorism-related charges.

The result of these actions according to Cole, are that not only has the U.S. sacrificed what it stands for in the name of fighting terror, but it has also made the world less safe. Cole also argued that the tactics of the U.S. have given Al-Qaeda the best possible propaganda they could use in gaining opposition to the U.S.

The consensus across the panel was that there is hope for the future. As long as civil society groups, students, courts, and people in general continue to challenge unconstitutional actions of the government, change is inevitable.

"What has forced the government to retreat on its preventive measures is resistance from the U.S. courts, law students, and civil society groups -- such as MPAC, CAIR, American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and Human Rights Watch -- who are speaking out, writing reports, filing law suits, etc.," said Cole. "It is these people and groups that have been and are continuing to make a difference."

Dr. Al-Marayati shared her first hand experience on the impact of preventative measures taken by the government against KinderUSA, a U.S. charity that serves Palestinian children. She described how since its inception in 2002, the organization has been subjected to what she called "government harassment" and how this has jeopardized Muslim American donors' ability to fulfill their religious obligation toward almsgiving.

Dr. Hathout closed by saying that the civil rights issues faced by American Muslims must be translated and understood as American issues.

"The anti-democratic practices that have been taking place ought to be stopped before it is too late to save this great nation," Hathout said. He also warned that our democracy is threatened not with the speed of a heart attack but that of a cancerous death, and reminded the audience that they hold the responsibility to protect our nation's democratic values.