National

Muhammad Ali Jr. was Detained and Questioned for Hours for Being a Muslim (Videos)


FLORIDA–(ENEWSPF)–February 25, 2017

By Frank Vyan Walton

Muhammad Ali Jr.

On February 7th, four days after Trump’s Muslim Country travel ban was stayed by a Federal Judge in Washington, the son and mother of one of the most famous Muslim-Americans in the nation were detained and question for hours in a Florida Airport because of their Arab sounding names and religion.

Muhammad Ali Jr., 44, and his mother Khalilah Camacho-Ali, the second wife of Muhammad Ali, were arriving at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on Feb. 7 after returning from speaking at a Black History Month event in Montego Bay, Jamaica. They were pulled aside while going through customs because of their Arabic-sounding names, according to family friend and lawyer Chris Mancini.

Immigration officials let Camacho-Ali go after she showed them a photo of herself with her ex-husband, but her son did not have such a photo and wasn’t as lucky. Mancini said officials held and questioned Ali Jr. for nearly two hours, repeatedly asking him, “Where did you get your name from?” and “Are you Muslim?”

When Ali Jr. responded that yes, he is a Muslim, the officers kept questioning him about his religion and where he was born. Ali Jr. was born in Philadelphia in 1972 and holds a U.S. passport.

Muhammad Ali’s conversation to Islam, changing his name from Cassius Clay and then refusing to go to Vietnam as a conscientious objector which cost him his title of Heavy Weight Boxing Champion is about as high profile for a Muslim American as you can get with the possible exception of Kareem Abdul Jabar — who was formerly Lou Alcinder before converting to Islam — or former Nation of Islam spokesman Malcolm X.

This is classic profiling and prejudice. This is bigotry.  As they should, the Ali family is considering filing a class action discrimination suit after this experience.

American press hasn’t said much about this but it has been reported widely in the international press for example by India Today.

https://youtu.be/Tl54etYPezE

If this is the kind of treatment the son of ex-wife of Muhammad Ali can expect less than one year after his death, exactly what can other Muslims, either native or foreign born expect?  That exact issue is why one Muslim woman Rumana Ahmed who had been working in the White House on the National Security Council resigned in protest after just 8 days once Trump’s Muslim focused travel ban was announced.  She wrote the following explaining her decision for The Atlantic.

Former National Security Advisor Rumana Achmed

In 2011, I was hired, straight out of college, to work at the White House and eventually the National Security Council. My job there was to promote and protect the best of what my country stands for. I am a hijab-wearing Muslim woman––I was the only hijabi in the West Wing––and the Obama administration always made me feel welcome and included.

I debated whether I should leave my job. Since I was not a political appointee, but a direct hire of the NSC, I had the option to stay. The incoming and now departed national security adviser, Michael Flynn, had said things like “fear of Muslims is rational.” Some colleagues and community leaders encouraged me to stay, while others expressed concern for my safety. Cautiously optimistic, and feeling a responsibility to try to help them continue our work and be heard, I decided that Trump’s NSC could benefit from a colored, female, hijab-wearing, American Muslim patriot.

The days I spent in the Trump White House were strange, appalling and disturbing. As one staffer serving since the Reagan administration said, “This place has been turned upside down. It’s chaos. I’ve never witnessed anything like it.” This was not typical Republican leadership, or even that of a businessman. It was a chaotic attempt at authoritarianism––legally questionable executive orders, accusations of the press being “fake,” peddling countless lies as “alternative facts,” and assertions by White House surrogates that the president’s national security authority would “not be questioned.”

I might have lasted a little longer. Then came January 30. The executive order banning travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries caused chaos, without making America any safer. Discrimination that has existed for years at airports was now legitimized, sparking mass protests, while the president railed against the courts for halting his ban. Not only was this discrimination and un-American, the administration’s actions defending the ban threatened the nation’s security and its system of checks and balances.

Alt-right writers, now on the White House staff, have claimed that Islam and the West are at war with each other. Disturbingly, ISIS also makes such claims to justify their attacks, which for the most part target Muslims. The Administration’s plans to revamp the Countering Violent Extremism program to focus solely on Muslims and use terms like “radical Islamic terror,” legitimize ISIS propaganda and allow the dangerous rise of white-supremacist extremism to go unchecked.

She also appeared on MSNBC with Chris Hayes to explain her decision to leave the White House in person.

https://youtu.be/XSqS2J7wUYE

If the regime’s goal is truly to “Make America Safe”, then displaying out-and-out bigotry against Muslims without probable cause or even a reasonable suspicion in clear violation of due process and their rights under the 4th Amendment their going about it the wrong way.  It shouldn’t take two hours to figure out that Muhammad Ali Jr is not a member of ISiS or a supporter of al Qaeda.  Although Minister Farrakhan has strongly criticized American Foreign policy arguing that “al Qaeda and ISIS are the illegitimate children” of U.S. policy no member of the Nation of Islam has ever proclaimed allegiance and support for murderous terrorism. This behavior by the regime is far more likely to disgust and alienate Muslims who are the primary targets of al Qeada and Daesh either for murder or recruitment.

Whether you are Muslim or not you must recognize that this is Un-American.  This is not how we show our values, it’s not how we respect and protect the freedom and liberty of all Americans and all persons without our legal jurisdiction. This is how craven cowards behave.

In full disclosure, although I am not personally acquainted with the Mr. Ali Jr. or his immediate family, one of my oldest friends is Kran Clay, who is a first cousin to Muhammad Ali.

Source: http://dailykos.com

 


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