The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organisation, on Saturday congratulated President-elect, Joe Biden on his victory and encouraged the incoming administration to promote civil rights, racial equality, a just foreign policy, and the inclusion of American Muslims in diverse government roles.
In a statement, CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said: “CAIR congratulates President-elect Joe Biden on his electoral victory, and for building an inclusive election campaign focused on the unity of our nation.
“President-elect Biden has pledged to end the Muslim ban on his first day in office, include Muslims at every level of his administration and address issues of racial and religious discrimination.
“We plan to join other American Muslim leaders and organizations in ensuring that the Biden administration fulfills these promises. We also plan to continue holding our government accountable when it errs.”
Awad said the American Muslim community is a key resource for state and national policy-makers, and is urging Congress and President-elect Biden to enact and implement the following civil rights reforms:
▪︎Ending bigoted and discriminatory immigration policies such as the Muslim and Africa travel bans, the Visa Waiver Program Improvement and Terrorist Travel Prevention Act of 2015, “extreme vetting programs”, and the detainment of asylum seekers;
▪︎Mandating state and local law enforcement to report use-of-force incidents to a federal database as a condition of receiving federal funding and requiring equal treatment of the American Muslim community by federal law enforcement and the criminal justice system;
▪︎Defending Constitutional rights in schools, the workplace, and elsewhere by supporting the adoption of new policy strategies to address religious-based bullying in schools by state and federal departments of education, and protecting Middle Eastern studies courses and Palestinian student activists from the Department of Education’s attempts to suppress free speech on college campuses;
▪︎Supporting faith-based initiatives by ensuring American Muslims equal access to federal and state aid available to those impacted by COVID-19, requesting HHS provide more funding to American Muslim clinics, and providing greater capital access for faith-based communities, including American Muslims;
▪︎Establishing equity in federal government hiring practices, including the overhaul of vetting systems that rely on biased Islamophobic resources and the promotion of Muslim-American ideas and employment;
▪︎Ending the national security overreach by reforming the unconstitutional Terrorist Screening Database, rejecting new domestic terrorism statutes, and defunding DHS anti-radicalization initiatives biased toward the Muslim community, including the Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention grant program, and its predecessor, the Countering Violent Extremism grant program.
CAIR is America’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
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