The NYPD Against Muslim-Americans

New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly’s involvement in a blatantly anti-Muslim film used to train cadets has leaders of Muslim-American groups calling for his resignation. Debbie Almontaser, who chairs the Muslim Consultative Network, documents some of the NYPD’s acts of aggression against the Muslim community. –ARK

Debbie Almontaser, The Guardian, Comment is free:

In 2007, the NYPD released the Radicalization in the West: The Home Grown Threat report specifically targeting Muslim New Yorkers. Then, this past summer, Commissioner Kelly crossed another line by partnering with the CIA. Under his leadership, the NYPD has engaged in programs that have no regard for civil liberties. Practices such as data-mapping of Muslim American communities, extensive and unwarranted surveillance of individuals, mosques, community leaders and organizations have become common practices.

In October 2011, the AP reported that the NYPD goes as far as monitoring “Muslims who change their names to sound more traditionally American, as immigrants have done for generations, or who adopt Arabic names as a sign of their faith, are often investigated and catalogued in secret New York Police Department intelligence files.” This revelation further alienated Muslim immigrants and converts from integrating in to their desired communities by criminalizing their first amendment right to change their names, be it for a wish for assimilation or because of religious conversion.

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