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Eid Mubarak!
We hope you were all granted vacation for Eid Al-Fitr and enjoyed your day off. Contact CAIR-WA if you need assistance obtaining vacation for
Eid Al-Adha
on
September 1, 2017
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| 2017 Civil Rights Team; not pictured: Noor AlSaleh |
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Welcome to our Quarter 2 Newsletter!
This month we will be sharing with you different meetings, events, and cases we had between April and June 2017. The Civil Rights team has worked on 266 complaints. We also welcomed a new Civil Rights Team intern, Noor AlSaleh.
As always feel free to contact us with any concerns or questions. Our civil rights department will be happy to help you.
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CAIR-WA Welcomes Our Newest Civil Rights Intern, Noor AlSaleh
Noor AlSaleh was born and raised in Kuwait City, Kuwait. She is a PhD candidate at the University of Washington's Jackson School of International Studies.
She studied Government and Hebrew at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, and received her MA in International Politics at New York University.
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Your Monthly Tip!
International Travel Plans? Here are 3 tips to prepare:
1-
Ensure all your travel documents are valid and updated
3-
Provide a friend with your arrival time into the US and the lawyer's information from airpoirtlawyer.org.
If the friend does not speak with you 3 hours after your arrival time, call CAIR-WA at 206.367.4081
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Complaints Received in 2017 so far: 266
Including:
10 Denial of Religious Accommodation
99 Travel Ban/Executive Order
3 Physical Violence
23 Employment
14 Harassment
6 FBI
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How CAIR-WA Addressed Ramadan and Eid Accommodations
In preparation for Ramadan and Eid, CAIR-WA sent informative letters to 25 local companies. This preemptive effort intends to kindly remind companies of their legal obligation to provide Ramadan accommodations and Eid vacation.
In response, CAIR-WA received a thank you note from a large, popular corporation. We hope this outreach leads to greater cultural responsiveness training and promotes inclusive work environments.
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Take Action! If you or someone you know has been denied their right to prayer, or any other religious accommodation, please click
here so that our Civil Rights Department can contact you and find the best way to help you.
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Challenging Islamophobia Study
The CAIR-WA Civil Rights Team collaborated with the Muslim Community Resource Center (MCRC) to conduct a study on the effects of Islamophobia and the 2016 presidential election on school-aged children. In this study, we interviewed 42 students from 4 school districts, 1 private school, and the University of Washington.
Findings showed that:
- 52% of surveyed students felt more concerned about being targeted or bullied at school because of their religion.
- 61% of students felt more fearful for their safety while out in public, and;
- 64% felt more fearful for their family's safety since the 2016 election.
- On a positive note, we found that 69% of students did not feel the 2016 election affected their confidence in declaring their Muslim identity, with an additional 9% feeling more confident in their identity since the election.
- A significant finding is that many students have experienced bullying or harassment at school and the incidents were not reported.
Our findings reveal that Islamophobia is impacting our students' learning environment, and that children are not immune to perpetuating Islamophobic stereotypes. Moving forward, CAIR-WA strives to:
- Partner with the MCRC to conduct more community events on hate crimes and incidents, including how to respond to such incidents
- Partner with the MCRC to conduct more training sessions on bullying and encourage more reporting of incidents
- Partner with school districts to create more cohesive, accepting, and informed learning environments, for both students and teachers.
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| Jasmin Samy presenting at the CLE |
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FBI Cases and CLE for Pro Bono Attorneys
CAIR-WA continues to receive complaints of clients being contacted the FBI agents. This year, 6 clients have reported being contacted by the FBI, and our Civil Rights Team is working to expand our attorney base and train more lawyers on assisting with FBI interviews.
On June 29 2017, CAIR-WA, the ACLU-WA and Davis Wright Tremaine LLC hosted a CLE for pro bono attorneys assisting with FBI interviews. With 90 attorneys in attendance, the event sought to prepare attorneys for civil rights, immigration, and criminal issues that might arise during an interview.
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CAIR-WA Civil Rights Team in the Community
The CAIR-WA Civil Rights Team is proud to announce that in May, we extended a grant with the Seattle Office for Civil Rights to launch a new round discrimination testing for housing and employment in the community.
During our second quarter, the Civil Rights Team made 7 presentations at schools and local events.
Megan Fair and Jasmin Samy presented at the Triennial Washington State Student Services Commission Conference, reaching over 40 university-level administrators. Megan Fair also attended the Highline College Resource Fair to support immigrant students at Highline College and provide information about their rights and about responding to the hostile political climate.
Additionally, CAIR-WA made presentations at Rose Hill Middle School, Global Connections High School, and Lakeside School.
We want to recognize the amazing response from Rose Hill Middle School, where staff and faculty and working to ensure all Muslim students are supported. These efforts include adding books about Ramadan in their library, equipping teachers with resources to discuss Ramadan with their students, and accommodating students during Ramadan with flexible testing times.
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Jasmin Samy with CAIR-WA Civil Rights Team Members Megan Fair and Jim Maher
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TEDxUofW
In June 2017, CAIR-WA Civil Rights Manager Jasmin Samy presented at the TEDxUofW event, at the University of Washington.
At this event, Jasmin Samy discussed the results from the aforementioned study on the impact of Islamophobia on school-aged children.
The presentation emphasized the importance of recognizing and challenging Islamophobia in workplaces, in public, and in schools. She also encouraged audience members to promote inclusive, welcoming environments in their communities.
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Access to Justice Conference
CAIR-WA Civil Rights Manager Jasmin Samy also presented at the Access to Justice Conference in Yakima.
Jasmin Samy discussed CAIR-WA's work, especially how we respond to hate crimes and incidents. Additionally, she discussed CAIR-WA's recent study on Islamophobia and emphasized the importance of challenging Islamophobia in our daily lives.
CAIR-WA is honored to have received acknowledgement from Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal in her keynote speech at the Access to Justice conference.
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Case Spotlight: Global Entry Status
CAIR-WA has received multiple reports from Muslim individuals that their Global Entry Status has been revoked.
In response, CAIR-WA is working with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to file Freedom of Information/Privacy Act requests on behalf of these individuals. This partnership seeks to understand why the Global Entry Status has been revoked for so many Muslims across the country and resolve the matter.
If your Global Entry Status has been revoked, please contact the CAIR-WA Civil Rights Team at info@cairseattle.org or call 206.367.4081.
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Case Spotlight: Denial of Religious Accommodation
CAIR-WA was contacted by two men from the same company who were denied prayer time by their employer, an equipment manufacturing company in Washington state. Proper prayer accommodations were previously provided, but recently, all Muslim employees were informed that their prayer times would no longer be accommodated. An HR representative even threatened that the men would be fired if they continued to pray.
CAIR-WA sent a letter to the company outlining the importance and legality of providing religious accommodations for employees. In response, the company sent CAIR-WA a thank you letter and provided the employees with proper prayer time and space.
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Case Spotlight: Harassment and Intimidation
The CAIR-WA Civil Rights Team was contacted by a family whose school-aged daughter was accused of writing a hate note on school grounds. Before an investigation was conducted, the police handcuffed the girl and took her to the local police station.
CAIR-WA immediately connected the family with an attorney, whose efforts relinquished any blame or association with the client and the hate note.
The attorney is carefully monitoring events at the school and with the police investigation to ensure and just investigation and no additional civil liberty violations occur.
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CAIR-WA Swag!
We recently ordered customized mugs and prayer rugs! Be on the lookout for CAIR-WA staff at local events, we will be distributing the items to lucky recipients in the community.
Additionally, we are ordering Challenging Islamophobia Pocket Guides.
If you would like to distribute the guides at one of your events, please contact CAIR-WA.
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We Want Your Feedback!
CAIR-WA will be conducting a survey to better understand client satisfaction. If you previously had a case with the CAIR-WA civil rights team, please be on the lookout for a phone call from a member of our staff.
For more information please email: info@cairseattle.org
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