Anti-Muslim Bias Complaints Increasing

By JOSH POLTILOVE The Tampa Tribune

Published: Jun 21, 2007

TAMPA - Ahmed Sheikh-Khalil applied for citizenship about three years ago and passed the interview phase of his citizenship exam in March 2004.

He's still not a citizen. When he calls to complain, he said, he is not told a legitimate reason why it is taking so long.

Sheikh-Khalil, 50, a Tampa car salesman who was born in Syria and lived in Cuba for 20 years, said the reason is obvious why his approval has been delayed: "I am sure that it's my name. That's it."

He is one of a growing number of people who have told the Council on American-Islamic Relations that they have faced anti-Muslim harassment, discrimination and violence.

CAIR, a Muslim civil rights and advocacy group, held a press conference Wednesday to discuss the organization's annual report released this month on the status of Muslim civil rights. The report shows 2,467 civil rights complaints made to CAIR nationally in 2006, with 168 coming from Florida. There were 55 complaints from the Tampa region.

"This is just a fraction of what's probably out there," Ahmed Bedier, executive director of CAIR's Tampa chapter, said of the documented complaints.

CAIR reported 50 percent more complaints of anti-Muslim harassment, discrimination and violence in Florida in 2006 than it had the previous year.

That's well above the 25 percent average increase throughout the United States, according to the report.

Bedier attributed the increases to several factors, including an increase in anti-Muslim rhetoric, the continued war on terror and the fact that more Muslims are willing to come forward and report complaints. He said there has been a large increase in Florida complaints because of immigration issues such as citizenship and naturalization.

Most of the complaints nationally were about a person's ethnicity or religion, but other complaints included a person's Muslim name, activism and holidays.

Each year since the reports began in 1996, CAIR has seen an increase in the total number of incidents, according to the organization. The organization issued a separate report analyzing complaints CAIR received in the six months after Sept. 11, 2001.

Florida had the third-largest percentage of civil rights complaints to CAIR of any state, accounting for 7 percent of all its complaints. California accounted for 29 percent of CAIR's complaints.

The report lists 167 reports of anti-Muslim hate crimes, a 9 percent increase from the previous year.

Florida reported 12 hate crimes in 2006, the same number as in 2005.

CAIR, a Washington-based group with 32 chapters nationwide, recommended changes in public policy to reduce anti-Muslim sentiments. Those recommendations include:

• Urging elected officials and religious and community leaders to speak out against hate.

• Asking American Muslims to educate people about Islam.

• Holding congressional hearings on the increase of anti-Muslim sentiment.

• Speeding up the processing of citizenship/naturalization applications.

• Creating foreign and domestic policies reflecting the United States' traditions of justice and respect for the human dignity of all.

Reporter Josh Poltilove can be reached at (813) 259-7691 or jpoltilove@tampatrib.com.