[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 58 (Tuesday, May 3, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2616-S2617]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   THE CIVIL RIGHTS OF ALL AMERICANS

  Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, I recently joined Senator Durbin and 
Senator Graham at an important Senate Judiciary Committee hearing 
focused on the civil rights of American Muslims. This bipartisan 
hearing was a positive statement from the committee that its members 
believe strongly that all Americans enjoy the rights and freedoms 
provided by our Constitution and our civil rights laws.
  Today, I wanted to highlight a recent column written by the U.S. 
attorney in Cleveland, OH, Steven Dettelbach, which addressed the same 
subject. As one of our leading Federal prosecutors, Mr. Dettelbach is 
known for protecting the people of northern Ohio by enforcing our 
Federal laws. But he is also known for his wise counsel which is no 
doubt why the Attorney General selected him to serve on his advisory 
committee.
  At the Attorney General's direction, several U.S. attorneys have been 
trying to better understand the needs of American Muslims. This is a 
laudable initiative, given that there have been attacks targeting the 
American Muslim community in the past few years.
  To make matters worse, some leaders have sought to sow fear and 
divisiveness against American Muslims. Fanning the flames of hate 
against those with different faith traditions runs contrary to our 
American values because this Nation was founded in large part on the 
importance of religious freedom.
  In his April 29 piece, Mr. Dettelbach wrote, ``Our enemies seek not 
only to kill our citizens and destroy our cities, they also want to 
attack the most fundamental American principle of all--our free, open 
and diverse society. We cannot and will not let them succeed.''
  I could not agree more.
  All Americans deserve civil rights protections and the freedoms 
provided in the Constitution. This does not end with the vital 
protections afforded by the first amendment. It continues to ensure due 
process and equal protection. It is bolstered by important civil rights 
laws that we have passed to protect the practice of religion without 
discrimination.
  Religious freedom has long been a bipartisan issue in the Senate, but 
more importantly it has been a consistent American value. American 
Muslims, like all Americans, must be protected by the rule of law that 
upholds these constitutional and statutory protections.
  I agree with Mr. Dettelbach when he noted that, ``[w]e find ourselves 
facing foreign-based terrorists, including al-Qaida, seeking to 
radicalize people here in the United States in new ways. Using sleek ad 
campaigns on the Internet, these terrorists try to recruit Americans to 
attack their neighbors. We must counter these efforts, but must do it 
wisely and without sacrificing our ideals. ``
  As the President said when he announced the news that the world's No. 
1 terrorist was dead, Osama bin Laden was not a Muslim leader. He had 
killed scores of Muslims. I hope that in the coming days, we will not 
see misguided passions lead to more attacks on American Muslims. In 
order to live up to our American values we must protect all Americans 
from attack. I thank the President and the Attorney General for their 
unwavering leadership on civil rights issues.
  I ask unanimous consent that Mr. Dettelbach's short article be 
printed in the Record. I hope all Senators will read it.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

            [From the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Apr. 29, 2011]

                     Ohio's Muslim, Arab Neighbors

                       (By Steven M. Dettelbach)

       Those of us in law enforcement know all too well that 
     terrorists continue to target the United States. We have seen 
     the dangerous consequences take hold in places like Fort 
     Hood, Texas, and Times Square in New York, and even reach 
     here in Ohio, where our office and the FBI prosecuted a 
     homegrown terror cell plotting to kill Americans abroad. 
     Preventing these kinds of attacks is our top priority.
       Our enemies seek not only to kill our citizens and destroy 
     our cities, they also want to attack the most fundamental 
     American principle of all--our free, open and diverse 
     society. We cannot and will not let them succeed.
       We find ourselves facing foreign-based terrorists, 
     including al-Qaida, seeking to radicalize people here in the 
     United States in new ways. Using sleek ad campaigns on the 
     Internet, these terrorists try to recruit Americans to attack 
     their neighbors. We must counter these efforts, but must do 
     it wisely and without sacrificing our ideals.
       Some, however, have wrongly resorted to portraying American 
     Arab or Muslim communities, or the Islamic faith itself, as a 
     threat to our country. While we must repel attempts by 
     foreign terrorists to radicalize Americans, vilifying Islam 
     or all Arab-Americans will not make our nation safer. Indeed, 
     suggesting these Americans are less loyal than their 
     countrymen is not only inaccurate and irresponsible, it also 
     adds an air of legitimacy to violent extremism of another 
     kind: directed not by American Muslims and Arabs, but at 
     them.
       In the past year, a passenger stabbed a New York cabbie 
     after learning he was Muslim, and an arsonist in Tennessee 
     burned a mosque, among other examples. Such acts are not only 
     illegal, they are also profoundly at odds with one of our 
     nation's bedrock values: ``E pluribus unum,'' or ``Out of 
     many, one.''
       Stigmatizing Muslim communities not only contradicts our 
     nation's commitment to religious freedom, it also makes it 
     easier for al-Qaida to radicalize Americans. Since the day a 
     band of religious refugees stumbled off their ship near Cape 
     Cod in what eventually would become the commonwealth of 
     Massachusetts, practitioners of every faith have come and 
     worshiped freely in this country.
       Acts of violence and hostility against American Muslims 
     risk obscuring these truths and feeding the enemy's false 
     narrative that America is at war with Islam.
       We must recognize that American Muslim and Arab communities 
     are a vital part of the solution to the problem of 
     radicalization. Terrorists do not radicalize entire 
     communities; they recruit individuals. American Muslims and 
     Arabs who recognized threats have worked with law enforcement 
     when they suspect a problem. For this we owe them gratitude, 
     not sideways glances.
       In an effort to improve communication, collaboration and 
     trust with Muslims and Arab-Americans, I have been part of a 
     group of U.S. attorneys across the country having a series of 
     conversations to better understand the needs of these 
     American communities. The people of these communities should 
     understand that the Department of Justice is here to protect 
     them.
       I have met with hundreds of American Muslims in Northern 
     Ohio over the past few months. Not surprisingly, they want 
     for their children what everyone wants--a good education, 
     freedom from bullying and the opportunity for their children 
     to grow and become productive citizens.
       I heard troubling stories from parents whose children's 
     trust in this country was shaken by various indignities 
     suffered in our community, which they perceived to have 
     stemmed from their religion or ethnicity. This is wrong. It 
     is not the Ohio I know and love, and none of us should stand 
     silently by and tolerate such intolerance.
       I heard from doctors, architects and workers who have a 
     deep love for their nation. I spoke with their American-born 
     children who, just like the youth in our Irish, Italian and 
     Eastern European communities, are working on their resumes, 
     fiddling far too much with their Blackberrys and who think of 
     themselves as American more than anything else--because that 
     is who they are.
       Law enforcement alone cannot eradicate the root causes of 
     terrorism and hate crimes. Each of us must do all we can to 
     forge lasting relationships with our Muslim and Arab 
     neighbors. We need to affirm loudly that they, too, are 
     Ohioans, our neighbors in a wonderfully diverse state that 
     thrives on its many faiths, languages and ethnicities.

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