Religion

Houston: Islamic group hosts Sanders and Castro and braces for rightwing rally


In Houston, an annual Islamic convention hosting presidential hopefuls Bernie Sanders and Julian Castro is bracing for an armed far-right protest and a counter-demonstration.

Billed as one of the largest yearly events held by Muslim American advocacy groups, on Friday night the 56th Islamic Society of North America (Isna) convention featured an appearance by Daily Show host Trevor Noah. Castro and Sanders are slated to take the stage for one-on-one presidential forums on Saturday.

Organizers estimated around 30,000 people would attend the three-day convention, held in the George R Brown Convention Center and focused on American Muslim empowerment.

“We are really happy [Castro and Sanders] are coming in to address our community,” Lubabah Abdullah, an Isna board member, told the Guardian. “We’ve recently realized the Muslim community has a strong voting bloc, if we do go out and register and actually show up to vote.”

Abdullah, also executive director of the Council for American Islamic Relations’ (Cair) Houston chapter, added that organizers have worked closely with local and federal law enforcement to ensure everyone’s safety.

“Unfortunately [anti-Muslim sentiment] has become the norm … and unfortunately we’ve seen a dramatic rise in hate crimes and Islamophobia,” Abdullah said.

Liza Acevedo, the deputy press secretary for Castro’s campaign, said American Muslims “play a critical role in shaping our nation’s culture, economy and political process”.

“At a time when our president continually scapegoats and vilifies the Islamic faith for political gain, candidates should show up and speak directly to these communities about their plans to support them in the years ahead,” Acevedo said.

In the weeks leading up to the convention, the far-right, anti-Muslim Texas Patriot Network and local radio host James “Doc” Greene called for a demonstration against what it claimed was evidence of collusion between “leftists” and the “Muslim Brotherhood”, according to a now-defunct Facebook page.

Informing participants that the “Texans Against Radical Islam” protest was “open carry”, the Facebook page described the Isna convention as a “terrorist fundraiser” and stated: “Texans will stand against this tyranny”.

On his show last Friday, Greene called on supporters to attend Saturday’s rally. “We want to go down there and preach the love of Jesus to these Muslims because they have no plan of salvation,” he said.

At the time of publication, Texas Patriot Network had not replied to requests for comment through its website and Facebook page.

Rightwing groups have targeted Isna for years, apparently owing to its inclusion as an unindicted co-conspirator in the widely criticized Holy Land Five case in 2007. A US district court judge later ruled the government violated the rights of Isna and other Muslim groups.

In response to Saturday’s planned anti-Muslim rally, a coalition of civil rights groups, anti-racist organizations and anti-fascist activists announced a counter-protest.

The coalition included the Houston Socialist Movement (HSM), the National Domestic Workers Alliance and Familias Inmigrantes y Estudiantes en la Lucha (Fiel), among others.

The counter-demonstrators had obtained a sound permit and hoped to “outshout” their counterparts, said David Michael Smith of the HSM.

“This is nothing but racism and religious bigotry on the part of the fascists,” Smith told the Guardian. “Beyond that, we don’t think fascists should have a platform … so we’d like to basically drive them off the streets on Saturday.”

A Houston police spokesperson said the department was aware of the dueling demonstrations but could not provide an estimate of how many people were expected to attend.

“HPD is there to ensure citizens are able to express and exercise their constitutional rights,” the spokesperson said. “We are there to ensure that it is a safe environment, and we staff accordingly to ensure the safety of everyone involved.”

Last year, the Texas Patriot Network and Doc Greene called for a similar protest against Isna’s annual convention, also held in Houston. Around two dozen far-right demonstrators came out, although they were conclusively outnumbered by anti-racist protesters.

Leaked chat logs from that rally revealed that rightwing protesters identified potential targets for assault, among them Smith and other counter-demonstrators, Houston Press reported earlier this week.

‘People are afraid’

In the 2018 midterm elections, Muslim Americans in four key states – Florida, Michigan, Ohio and Virginia – showed up to the ballot box at a rate of 25% higher than the 2014 midterms, according to a study by the advocacy group Emgage.

After coming to office in January 2017, the Trump administration introduced a travel ban targeting mostly Muslim-majority countries, slashed the number of refugees admitted to the US to an all-time low of 30,000 per year, and drummed up the threat of “unknown Middle Easterners” attempting to cross the southern border.

John Esposito, director of Georgetown University’s Bridge Initiative, a research project focusing on Islamophobia, said Trump’s policies and rhetoric “play into an idea of a white nation” while demonising Muslims, immigrants, refugees and others.

“People are afraid to go to a mosque or a meeting of a major Muslim organization,” he said, adding: “The most dangerous part is when you’ve got the president of the United States … engaging in this kind of [violent rhetoric].”

In late July, the California-based Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism (CSHE) found hate crimes have swelled by 9% in 30 large US cities.

In addition to 75 hate crimes targeting Muslims during the first half of 2019, Cair recorded at least 759 anti-Muslim bias incidents, a pace expected to reach a 22% increase this year over 2014.

In Houston, the Isna organizers and participants hope the demonstrations pass without incident.

“We are cautiously optimistic that it will be a great and safe environment for us and our families and our children, who are coming from all over the US and Canada,” said Cair-Houston’s Lubabah Abdullah.



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