On here, more info http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/31/13592659-muslims-hosting-events-to-coincide-with-charlotte-dnc-face-blowback?lite
By Kari Huus, NBC News
In the run-up to the Democratic National Convention, several hundred Muslims attended "Jumah," or Friday prayer, in a park in Charlotte, N.C., as part of an effort to mobilize Muslims and get them engaged in political discourse. But the event sparked some of the same negative reaction that the organizers were hoping to combat.
Organizers said they hoped to use the prayers, a town hall meeting planned for Saturday and cultural festival to open events to non-Muslims and bring attention to problems that they believe disproportionately affect Muslims but are ignored by both political parties.
They cite what they consider invasive practices under the Patriot Act, discrimination against mosque construction through the use of zoning laws, "anti-shariah" bills being passed by state and local governments and more generally a climate of Islamophobia.
"One of the reasons for pulling folks together is to stay focused," said Jibril Hough, one of the organizers from the nonprofit Bureau of Indigenous Muslim Affairs, or BIMA. "A lot of our issues that we are going to be bringing up will not be discussed by RNC or DNC. Both parties have supported deals that are eroding our civil liberties."
2 Name: arka !chvok4/SZI : 2012-09-01 09:43 ID:caYsm9vc [Del]
I say good for them. They tried to make a positive impact by holding jumah prayers in public.That another group appeared and began to protest aqainst them doesn't change the fact that a good idea is a good idea. Of course, there were apparently a lot of negative reactions, and the event might have been better planned (in general, my opinion is that more planning is always good). As to them being Islamic extremists, WTH?
I'm agreeing with Arka here - This was pretty cool for the muslim side, and pretty xenophobic of the political side. Way to set a good example for the rest of the US, politicians.
I somewhat disagree with the Muslims. Yeah, if they're facing problems then attention should be brought to it (which with freedom of religion, I'm not clear on what problems they face). But doing this was pretty stupid. I mean had they stopped and thought "would this cause any kind of controversy, or cause us to be seen in a negative light?" then the obvious answer is yes, and they were kinda asking for it. I do still think the politicians over reacted though.
I think the politicians were being stupid, but I also think the Muslims were being stupid.
That last part only stands if I'm reading the situation right.
They're trying to fight against the anti-shiriah laws? Why the fuck would they even? This country is supposed to have religion and politics separate. If you don't like that, then go another country!
Not to mention that fighting against them with a group of their own religion is even further suggesting that they want to pressure the government into following their own religion's ideals, which is just screwed up. Keep your religion out of our government.
