Can You Do These Two Things?

As-salaamu 'alaikum (Peace to you),

“We have too many mosques in this country,” said Rep. Peter King (R-NY) in 2007.

By now you’ve probably heard about the hearings that Congressman King, as chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, has pledged to hold on “the extent of radicalization in the American Muslim community.”

Yesterday he held the first one, and many of your concerns that the hearing would perpetuate stereotypes and fear were borne out. However, we were heartened by the strong support from other members of Congress and witnesses who challenged the biased premise of the hearings.

“There is no redeeming factual information that we’re hearing today. It has already been tainted, this hearing,” declared Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) during the hearing. “It has already been classified as an effort to demonize a whole broad base of human beings.”

Congressman Mike Honda (D-CA) said in an interview: "I'll be damned if I'm going to stay quiet and not say something. We have to show people that as Americans, we're not going to put up with this kind of nonsense."

Representatives Loretta Sanchez (D-CA), Laura Richardson (D-CA), Keith Ellison (D-MN), Andre Carson (D-IN), John Dingell (D-MI), and others also spoke up for the Muslim community and challenged the misinformation and slanted perspective that Rep. King and some of his colleagues put forward.

Today I am asking you to do two things.

The first is to contact those who stood up for the Muslim community yesterday and thank them of their support. [Clickhere for their contact information.]

I’m also asking you to donate to CAIR. You may have noticed that CAIR was singled out for attacks by Rep. King and others at the hearing yesterday. We believe this is because for years CAIR has been very visible in challenging King’s anti-Muslim statements and false allegations about our community.

CAIR is in the front line fighting for you. The ferocious attacks on CAIR are a testament to our effectiveness, and we are proud of our service to the American Muslim community and defense of the Constitution.

(CAIR submitted written testimony for the hearing, which refutes the false information King put forward about American Muslims and about CAIR. You can read our testimony here. Also watch C-SPAN video of our news conference held the day before the hearing.)

We will not allow bigots to achieve their goal of making Islamophobia mainstream. As a community, we will stay united and strong.

Please thank the courageous members of Congress who stood up to Rep. King’s modern day witch hunt against American Muslims, and show your support for CAIR so we can continue to defend Islam and the American Muslim community.
This was only the first in a series of such biased hearings and we need your support to keep up the challenge.