Durbin leads hearing on intolerance against Muslims

Washington, D.C. — A large, crowded room went quiet as Sen. Dick Durbin stood and called his committee and its audience to order. His tone and face were serious as he addressed the room.

“Many of our nation’s founders fled religious persecution and they placed great importance on religious freedom,” Durbin said. “Despite the framers’ best intentions, throughout our history many religious minorities have faced intolerance.”

Durbin, a Springfield Democrat, was focusing on intolerance toward American Muslims as he conducted the first hearing Tuesday before a Judiciary subcommittee on the topic.

While each of the hearing’s speakers emphasized the importance of addressing anti-Muslim discrimination, it was not the only topic of conversation. Two Republican senators addressed the opposing side of the issue, as well — the radicalization of American Muslims.

“There are efforts to recruit and radicalize young Muslims in America that have to be dealt with,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican and ranking member of the subcommittee.

“Political correctness cannot stand in the way of identifying those who would do us harm,” Sen. John Kyl, an Arizona Republican, said.

Kyl went on to ask why Muslims were singled out for the hearing.

“If we’re concerned about the most egregious religious hate crimes, then I wonder why we’re not talking about crimes against Jews and Christians,” he said.

According to the Department of Justice, 71.9 percent of hate crimes based on religion stemmed from anti-Jewish bias, 8.4 percent from anti-Islamic bias and 6.4 percent from anti-Christian bias.

The same concern was expressed by Rep. Peter King, a New York Republican, in conducting a hearing on the dangers of American Muslim radicalization several weeks ago.

Yet, anti-Muslim bigotry remained a passionately argued issue to those testifying at Tuesday’s hearing.

Assistant Attorney General Tom Perez, the Obama administration’s top civil rights official, cited cases of discrimination against Muslim children in schools, saying those are the most prevalent discrimination cases handled by the attorney general’s education department.

Testimony brought up several cases from Illinois, with Durbin referring to a 2003 case in Burbank, where a man was sentenced to 15 months in prison for blowing up the van of a Palestinian-American family that was parked in front of the family’s home.

In December, the Justice Department filed a complaint against Berkeley School District 87 for denying a teacher an unpaid leave of absence in 2008 to perform Hajj, a pilgrimage to Mecca that is part of her religion.

Ahmed Rehab, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Chicago, said Muslim discrimination is an issue in the Chicago area that needs to be addressed.

“The general atmosphere of fear mongering, at this point, it’s an alarming rate of growth,” he said.