(CLEVELAND, OH, 7/15/16) – On Monday, July 18, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, will hold a news conference at the site of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, to challenge the anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim stance of the GOP’s presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump and of other party officials and representatives.
WHAT: CAIR GOP Convention News Conference to Challenge Republican Party Islamophobia
WHEN: Monday, July 18, 10:30 a.m.
WHERE: Downtown Cleveland on “Mall A” (Across from Key Tower, Between St. Clair Ave. NE & Rockwell Ave, Just Off of West Mall Drive)
WHO: National and local Muslim leaders, including CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad; CAIR National Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw; CAIR-Cleveland Executive Director Julia Shearson; and others
CONTACT: CAIR-Cleveland Chapter Executive Director Julia A. Shearson, 216.440.2247, jshearson@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202.744.7726, ihooper@cair.com
“It is time the GOP and its presumptive presidential nominee repudiate Islamophobia and the politics of fear targeting Muslims and other minority groups,” said CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad.
Earlier today, CAIR condemned yesterday’s terror attack in France and also condemned a suggestion by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich who responded to the attack by calling for Inquisition-style religious “testing” and possible deportation of “every person here who is of a Muslim background.”
SEE: CAIR Condemns Terror Attack in France, Newt Gingrich’s Call to ‘Test’ and Deport American Muslims
Since yesterday’s attack in France, CAIR has received reports of a number of hate incidents targeting American Muslims and their institutions.
CAIR: Muslim Group Reports Vandalism at Rhode Island Mosque
NY: Cops Investigating Hate Crime Outside Bay Ridge Mosque
CAIR recently demanded that Donald Trump “stop the bigotry” after he falsely claimed on Fox News that assimilation of American Muslims is “pretty close” to nonexistent and that a “percentage” of American Muslims “want to do what this maniac did in Orlando.” Trump also repeated his call for surveillance of American mosques.
Earlier this year, CAIR said Donald Trump’s continued use of a debunked myth about U.S. Gen. John Pershing executing Muslim prisoners in the Philippines using bullets dipped in pig’s blood was endangering ordinary American Muslims who were already facing a surge in hate.
CAIR has previously stated that Trump’s pig’s blood claim and other instances of his Islamophobic rhetoric, including his calling for a ban on all Muslims entering the United States, his false claim that “Islam hates us,” his refusal to rule out special IDs for American Muslims, and his willingness to consider closing down American mosques place millions of innocent, law-abiding citizens in the American Muslim community at risk.
SEE: CAIR Says Donald Trump’s ‘Hibi-Jabis’ Reply Endangers Muslim Women
CAIR has reported an unprecedented spike in anti-Muslim incidents nationwide since the Paris terror attacks, the San Bernardino shootings and Trump’s bigoted call for a complete ban on Muslims entering the United States.
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At the press conference, CAIR will distribute free packets of “ISLAMOPHOBIN,” a mock-medicine designed to “cure” Islamophobia. (NOTE: ISLAMOPHOBIN is actually sugar-free-chewing gum.)
SEE: CAIR Launches Satirical ‘ISLAMOPHOBIN’ Public Awareness Campaign to Challenge Anti-Muslim Bigotry
The Washington-based Muslim civil rights group is asking Muslim community members to report any bias incidents to police and to CAIR’s Civil Rights Department at 202-742-6420 or by filing a report at: http://www.cair.com/civil-rights/report-an-incident/view/form.html
CAIR is America’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.
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CONTACT: CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202.744.7726, ihooper@cair.com; CAIR-Cleveland Chapter Executive Director Julia A. Shearson, 216.440.2247, jshearson@cair.com, CAIR-Ohio, Cleveland Chapter Board Member, Isam Zaiem, 216.337.7928, isamz@sbcglobal.net