Americans mistreated at US high school graduation

[dave () farber net]

...... Forwarded Message .......
From: Dave Mackenzie <davemack () UDel Edu>
To: dave () farber net
Date: Tue, 25 May 2004 09:44:49 -0400
Subj: Americans mistreated at US high school graduation



Investigation Demanded Into Mistreatment at High School Graduation in
Louisiana

Westwego, LA (May 22, 2004) - Maha Askar, an American-born 26-year-old
Loyola University New Orleans graduate in Biology, was removed with
excessive force from the Alario Center. She was there to see her brother
graduate from West Jefferson High School, the same school which, earlier
this year, had an incident with a teacher pulling off a Muslim student's
headscarf in class.

Ms. Askar was standing in the entrance line when a security guard removed
her and spent five minutes examining her ticket to see if it was a forgery.
When she complained, the police were called and placed her and her three
teenage cousins in handcuffs after shooting one of them with a tazer.

Throughout the ordeal, which was witnessed by numerous by-standers, both the
Alario Center security guards and police made statements indicating a
prejudicial and pre-judgmental attitude. When Maha asked the security guard
why he had singled her out for inspection, as well as other women who were
wearing the Islamic headscarf, the guard responded, "Y'all people always
have fake tickets."  When the police officer grabbed her to put her in
handcuffs, her sister-in-law, who was accompanying her, told him "you can't
touch her like that," to which he replied, "This is how we do it in this
country."

At one point, during the commotion, her cousin complained, "You don't have
to do it like that," to which the officer responded by shooting him with a
tazer in front of dozens of witnesses who, by this time, were gathered
around, filming and photographing the event. After the teen was already on
the ground, witnesses report that the officer kept pushing the button on the
tazer to continue to administer the electric shock. Later, after being taken
into custody, he asked the police officer if he could see the video. The
officer told him jokingly that he could watch it on America's Funniest Home
Videos.

Eventually, the General Manager of the Alario Center, upon being informed of
the disturbance, arrived and shouted to the police to "Get her out of here,
get her out of here." Maha Askar was then taken into the police station and
had her headscarf forcibly removed, even after she specifically pointed out
that she considered that a violation of her person.

Maha had received the ticket from her graduating brother, who was given,
along with all graduating seniors, five tickets by the school so that his
family could attend his graduation. When asked how she felt about what
happened, Maha replied, "Something like this makes me feel like a foreigner
in my own country. I live here, went to school here, work here, and then
after 26 years, something like this happens. It's really quite
 unbelievable."

The Muslim American Society's Freedom Foundation is currently talking to the
Jefferson Parish Police Department and will be filing a complaint with the
Internal Affairs division concerning the events. The department has assured
the Muslim community that if there was any improper conduct, it would be
addressed and action would be taken. Further, the Muslim community is asking
that Maha receive an apology from the Alario Center and that appropriate
disciplinary action be taken with respect to the security guards involved in
the incident. They will also be contacting the Civil Rights Division at the
Department of Justice regarding what is becoming a pattern of discrimination
against the Muslim residents of Jefferson Parish.

In the past, the Islamic Shura Council of Greater New Orleans has been
invited by the Homeland Security Department to give seminars explaining law
enforcement issues on dealing with the Muslim community. The New Orleans and
Jefferson Parish Police departments have attended these seminars, along with
24 other local law-enforcement agencies.

###

The MAS Freedom Foundation is attempting to build an integrated empowerment
process for the American Muslim community through civic education,

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